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Comprehensive Support for Teachers in Offering Four CS Courses and Certification - No CS Experience Necessary

Robin Flatland, Jim Matthews, and Pauline White

Jamboard for attendees: bit.ly/Attendees2023 ← Add sticky note to let us know you are here!

Link to presentation slides: bit.ly/Siena2023

Supported by NSF Grant #1923378

CSForNY 2023 State Summit

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Computer Science

Preparing our scholars with 21st Century skills to find their place in a competitive economy.

CS IS Life!!!

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OUTLINE

Why CS in high school?
Siena CSforAll growth
Four Siena supported high school CS courses
High school CS stories (Middletown, Schoharie, Goshen, Saratoga)
Siena supported professional learning community
High school partners

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Why CS in High School

What percent of students take a high school math course?

What percent of students take a high school science course?

What percent of students take a high school CS course?

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The STEM problem is in computer science

Source: Bureau of Labor and Statistics Employment Projections (2022 and projected 2032, Table 1.2)

Jim

It is not just about recruiting majors or correcting the field’s gender imbalance and lack of minorities. Computer science has become an integral part of nearly all STEM jobs. “people need to know what computation can do for them. What are the parts of your job that could be solved computationally? Would you know what kinds of tools to ask for and how to put them together to solve your particular problem?”

--Jan Cuny NSF program officer

Notes from code.org on this slide:

What I’d suggest is that we have a major computer science problem when it comes the alignment between access to K-12 CS science education and opportunities in our modern economy.
This chart shows the projected STEM jobs in our US economy broken out by computing jobs and all other STEM jobs
And this chart shows students graduating with STEM degrees broken out by CS versus all other math/science subjects
These graphs generally speak for themselves – we clearly have a disconnect in our education system

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Source

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Source

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What Are the Challenges

Need CS teachers
Need quality CS course offerings
Need leadership/commitment
New NYS CS learning standards 2024

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Growth of Our Program

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Growth of Our Program

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Siena Comprehensive Support for High School CS

Developed over 10 years and supported by three NSF grants
Leverages strong college/high school partnerships
Extensive PD & full curriculum support for 4 courses:

Discovering CS (high school level)
Intro to CS with Multimedia and Python (dual-enrollment)
Intro to Java Programming (dual-enrollment)
Web Design (dual-enrollment)

Tuition scholarships for in-service teachers taking CS courses for certification
Vibrant professional learning community

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Discovering CS Course

High school credit course for all students grades 9-12

No experience required
Elective credit, 3rd year math or science credit

Creativity, self expression, collaboration
Course materials, optional activities, teacher’s guide
Currently offered by 36 teachers in 28 school districts

Hands-on lab and project based

Block-based, web, and Python programming
Unplugged CS fundamentals and special topics
Career exploration; individual, community, and societal impacts
Diversity and Laws & Regulations Special Projects
Course long, reflective web-based portfolio

Meeting all NY CS 9-12 Learning Standards

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Discovering CS Core Values

We foster a growth mindset in every student.
We incorporate equity based, culturally responsive teaching strategies.
We utilized inquiry-based learning practices.
We value open communication and collaboration across the curriculum.

We develop communication and collaboration skills.
We practice working in diverse teams.
We utilize pair-programming.

We will adjust the classroom space to meet the needs of underrepresented students rather than require the students to do the changing.
We make CS in the News, the Diversity Project, and the Laws, Regulations, and Privacy Project the core of this course.
We have a public space - physical and/or digital - to showcase student work in our schools.

We nurture a sense of belonging and confidence in the CS classroom for all students

that translates to the CS field.

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Discovering CS: Block Programming Sample Work

Kaleidoscope Lab

Playing with Polygons Lab

Cultural Expression Reflective Work

Sound and Animation Lab (Left, Right)

(Click the Stop Sign and then the Green Flag to hear the sound.)

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Discovering CS: Python Programming Sample Work

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Discovering CS: Web Programming Sample Work

Idea Book Unit Project

Custom Calculator

Wallpaper Designs

All About Me Unit Project

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CSIS110 - Intro To CS with Python & Multimedia

Has been offered since Fall 2009 at Siena
Currently being offered at 26 high schools
Curriculum map
Covers both concepts and programming
Similar in spirit to the AP CS Principles course
$200 for 3 credits, fee waived for students qualifying for free/reduced lunch

� (Siena Dual-Enrollment Course)

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CSIS110 - Intro To CS with Python & Multimedia

Conceptual Topics

History, Societal Impact
Data representation
Boolean logic & circuits
Hardware
Assembly & machine languages
Operating systems
Cybersecurity
Artificial intelligence

Python Programming

JES multimedia library
Images
Sounds
Animations

� (Siena Dual-Enrollment Course)

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Sample Student Work: Image Sequence

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Sample Student Work: Image Collage

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Sample Student Work: Animations

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Two Additional Siena College Dual-Enrollment Courses

Siena College Intro to Software Development

programming in Java
similar to AP CS A

Siena College Web Design

design fundamentals for implementing effective, user- friendly websites.
HTML, CSS

Robin

The third course we offer is an introduction to Java programming, similar to the AP CS A course. We have 6 schools offering it. It is lab and projected based, and like our other dual-enrollment course, we provide curriculum materials that teachers can use or adapt for their class. Similar to the AP CS-A course.

Different from AP course in following ways:

Of the 10 AP CS A units, CSIS-120 does not address units 9 (inheritance) or 10 (recursion). However, units 9 and 10 are only covered on part 1 of the exam (multiple choice). This means that students only know how to read and evaluate code in these units; students do not have to be able to write or design their own code.

Siena’s CSIS-120 course addresses units 1-8 (i.e., primatives, objects, conditionals, iteration, classes, array, arraylist, & 2D array). Students need to be able to read, write, and design using concepts from all 8 units. Students will do 11 labs and 5 larger projects using these concepts, which is far above the minimum 20 lab hours requirement for AP-CS-A. The CSIS-120 course also addresses these topics not covered in the AP CS-A course.

Use of constants (I couldn't find this in the exam description, but it may be there.)
Evaluating the char data type
Number bases
Formatted printing
switch statements
Test case creation and driver classes
Enumerated types
Non-square arrays
Basic use of try-catch; throws; throw
More extensive use of the String class, Math class, wrapper classes, and ArrayList class
StringTokenizer, Random, Scanner including keyboard and file processing, PrintWriter classes
Designing and implementing a multi-class project based on a description of the deliverables.

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Teacher Support

Siena provides

Extended PD experience, including equity teaching strategies and practices
Full curriculum materials
“Hot line” support for questions
Tuition waivers for in-service teachers taking CS courses, which may count towards an additional teaching certification in CS

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The Middletown Story!

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Middletown’s Context

Middletown, NY (Orange County)
Large urban high-needs school district (~2,550 HS students)
All students receive free lunch
62% Hispanic, 22% Black, 10% White, 2% Asian, 4% 2 or more races

NC

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The Schoharie Story!

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Context of Schoharie

Rural school district in town in Schoharie County (west and south of Albany)
The High School has about 75 students per grade
Diversity:

3.5% Hispanic-Latino
5% Black
4% Asian
91% White

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Schoharie

Until three years ago, no CS courses.
Business teacher (a Practical Arts faculty member) teamed with us and is offering Discovering CS and two of our dual enrollment courses, Intro with Python and our Java Programming course.
They are also now teaching CS in their middle school.

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The Goshen Story!

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Context of Goshen

Somewhat rural town in Orange County
The High School has about 250 students per grade
Diversity:

15% Hispanic-Latino
5% Black
4% Asian
75% White

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Goshen’s Computer Science Story

Started their Computer Science journey during the 2019-2020 school year.
Began by offering AP Computer Science Principles and an Introductory Computer Science Course
Shortly into the school year, replaced the Introductory course with Discovering Computer Science (DCS)

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Where is Goshen now?

Currently offering:

2 sections of DCS
1 section of Python and Multimedia
1 section Java and Data Structures

Other offerings outside of Siena
Currently teaching 2 courses over due to the number of students signing up for the courses.
We were awarded with the 2023 Program of Excellence Award by ITEEA (International Technology and Engineering Educators Association).

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How has enrollment been?

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Where are they going?

They are hoping to add the CS and Web Design course offered by Siena.
Drone Course with Python Coding
Hoping to hire another teacher to offer more sections of DCS and the dual enrollment courses.

Currently cutting sections due to staffing

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The Saratoga Story!

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Context of Saratoga Springs

The High School has 450 to 500 students per grade.
Diversity:

4.5% Hispanic-Latino
1.6% Black
2% Asian
88% White

15.7% free and reduced lunch

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Saratoga Springs

Physics teacher taught a couple of AP and non-AP CS courses for decades. Recently retired.
The district is working with us to offer CS for All (Discovering CS) and the college level courses.

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Vibrant Professional Learning Community

Teachers engage regularly through

Shared CS curriculums
PD meetings
Taking CS courses at Siena
CS Teacher Association NY Capital District Chapter
Annual high school programming contest
College visits for CS Students

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36 High School Partners

High School	Year In Program	# Students	Econ. Disad- vantaged
Bethlehem	9	1,635	10%
Mohonasen	8	946	33%
Glens Falls	6	599	43%
Chatham	6	355	37%
Middletown	5	2,157	76%
Schenectady	5	2,635	83%
Ichabod Crane	5	590	30%
Guilderland	5	1,570	17%
Columbia	5	1,280	21%
Duanesburg	5	361	28%
Schalmont	5	635	26%
Goshen	5	960	28%
Greenwich	5	500	29%
Berlin	4	413	54%
Troy	4	1,276	68%
Sharon Springs	4	261	62%
Greenville	4	369	37%
OESJ	3	285	56%

High School	Year In Program	# Students	Econ. Disad- vantaged
Schoharie	3	384	47%
Fallsburg	3	628	66%
Shaker	2	2038	28%
North Salem	2	355	19%
Saratoga Springs	2	2040	23%
Burnt Hills/Ballston Lake	2	1005	20%
Little Falls	2	331	66%
Hudson	2	452	69%
North Warren	2	140	41%
Huntington	1	1371	57%
Hillside Arts & Letters	1	418	70%
Mamaroneck	1	1627	20%
Valley Central	1	1366	37%
Lansingburgh	1	643	68%
La Salle	1	213
Putnam Valley	1	550	21%
South Glens Falls	1	901	33%
IAM HS	1	251	78%

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New High School Partners

Welcomes all high schools
Teacher qualities

Enthusiastic
Enjoys problem solving
Loves to learn
Willing to take risks and learn along with students
CS knowledge???

Talk with us today or anytime if you are interested

Robin Flatland (flatland@siena.edu)
Jim Matthews (matthews@siena.edu)
Pauline White (pwhite@siena.edu)
Or leave your email on Jamboard bit.ly/Attendees20 23

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Questions

Link to Siena’s CSforAll:RPP web site with more information.