The 2004 CS&IT Symposium
J. Philip East
University of Northern Iowa
The fifth symposium this year continued the success of past years and
was the
most highly attended with about 115 computer science educators
participating
in the 2004 Computer Science and Information Technology Symposium. The
CS&IT
Symposium is co-hosted by ISTE and ACM and has been sponsored (i.e.,
paid for)
by Microsoft in all but the first year. This year, however, there was
a significant
change. The Symposium was held in conjunction with the SIGCSE
conference rather
than with NECC. The Special Interest Group for Computer Science
Education (SIGCSE)
is affiliated with ACM (the Association for Computing Machinery) and
mostly
consists of educators from higher education who are interested in the
curriculum
and teaching of computer science in post-high-school education.
However, a strong
contingent of high school computing teachers attend SIGCSE.
This year (2004-2005) there are plans to hold the Symposium in
conjunction
with both SIGCSE (February 23-27 in St. Louis) and NECC (June
27-30 in
Philadelphia). Generally, the two conferences appear at substantially
different
locations and attract different audiences. Both conferences, however,
are attractive
to many K-12 computing teachers. Keep an eye out for announcements
about the
CS&IT Symposium in the months before these conference dates. If
you can
attend, please consider doing so.
For now, however, you will have to be content with reviewing the
presentations
from the 2004 Symposium held in Norfolk, VA. The actual presentation
files (PDF,
.doc, .ppt, etc.) are located on the ACM Web site (http://www.acm.org/education/k12/csits/).
In the space below you can see both the abstracts prepared by the
presenters
and session descriptions prepared by the Symposium Committee members.
The sessions
were either a general session, meaning everyone attended, or breakout
sessions,
meaning attendees selected one of two or three concurrent sessions.
(Asterisks
beside presenter names indicate general sessions.) The order reflects
the order
of sessions during the Symposium.
Eric Roberts *
Educating the Next Generation of Computer Scientists: The Critical
Role of High
School Teachers
Abstract:
Professor Roberts will underscore the importance of high-school
coverage of
computer science to the challenge of generating enough well-trained
computer
scientists to meet the needs of the 21st-century economy. The talk
will include
an assessment of the problems that face high-school teachers today and
offer
suggestions as to how universities and professional societies can help
to mitigate
those difficulties.
Description by Doug Peterson:
Eric provided a very high energy, insightful beginning to the CS&IT
Symposium.
Much of Eric’s presentation was insightful for those in
attendance as he
provided example after example of opportunities for jobs and growth,
if there
was only a person qualified in Computer Science to fill it! The trend
was clearly
identified with the graphic illustrating "The Incredible
Shrinking Pipeline".
Net result? For every posted Computer Science teaching position, there
is only
1 qualified applicant. Other interesting statistic to note is that
only approximately
50% of those employed in Computer Science positions actually have
degrees in
the field.
One of the points sure to make high school AP teachers happy is the
desire
to clearly identify a subset of the Java language that would be used
on the
exams.
Eric concluded with a tremendous success story. Charged with the task
of creating
a new course in CS for Bermuda, Eric described how the course evolved
and was
well received by the students. Complete details are at: http://bermuda.stanford.edu.
The site also includes some downloadable resources to illustrate the
content
of the new course.
Presentation link (.pdf) [http://www.acm.org/education/k12/csits/presentations/roberts.pdf]
Fran Trees
Trees, Trees, and More Trees
Abstract:
Although intended particularly for APCS AB teachers, everyone is
welcome! This
session will focus on trees as they are presented in the Advanced
Placement
Computer Science curriculum. In addition to traveling through forests
of applications,
awesome animations, and effective teaching techniques, we will briefly
explore
the TreeSet and the TreeMap. Sample assignments and multiple branch
questions
will be shared. Hopefully, each participant leaves with something new
and exciting
to include in the classroom.
Description by Chris Stephenson:
Fran and the audience discussed both the challenges and rewards
covering this
fairly advanced concept within the AP curriculum. In her discussions
of recursive
tree algorithms, pre- and post-order tree traversal, queues, tree
sets, and
tree maps, Fran helped the audience work through several examples of
different
kinds of tree structures, selecting which would be most appropriate
for a given
assignment. Using the example of the fish simulation, she also pointed
to ways
in which the AP marine biology simulation case study could be
incorporated into
the coverage of essential computer science concepts.
Presentation link (.pdf) [http://www.acm.org/education/k12/csits/presentations/trees.pdf]
Content link (.pdf) [http://www.acm.org/education/k12/csits/presentations/TreeMapUnboundedEnv.pdf]
Elizabeth Sklar
Tales of Educational Robots
Abstract:
In this talk, I will discuss our work in the area of "Educational
Robotics"—the
use of robots as a hands-on learning environment for topics other than
specifically
robotics. I will share experiences teaching with robots at various
levels, from
K-12 settings to undergraduate classrooms. The talk will include a
description
of the equipment used (hardware and software) and some of the
methodologies
employed to help motivate students, such as robot contests. In
particular, I
will talk about RoboCupJunior, an international initiative designed to
introduce
students to robotics and artificial intelligence, providing them with
an opportunity
to learn about technology while having fun with friends.
Description by Sandy Graham:
Elizabeth Sklar initiated a program called the Columbia Technology
Integration
Partnership (TIP) where university students assist high school
teachers with
their curriculum. RoboCup is a challenge, in the tradition of going to
the moon,
to university researchers in Artificial Intelligence. Its goal is to
create
robots that are good enough to compete with human soccer players at
the world
cup level. RoboCupJunior is for students of all ages. There are two
levels of
RoboCupJunior: a dancing robot for middle school students and a rescue
robot
for high school students. The combination of TIP and RoboCupJunior
provide opportunities
for non-university students to study computer science concepts with a
tangible
and engaging manipulative. These are examples of educational
robots.
Educational robots are not just toy robots; there is an emphasis on
the artificial
intelligence aspects of robotics. Also, the non-obvious and soft
skills such
as teamwork are important for long-term success in the field. Working
with educational
robots does not need to happen in the school nor in the classroom
since it is
self motivating activity that is intriguing to outsiders. Creating the
robots
takes a collaborative effort; schools would usually need to have the
math and
science teachers involved. The presentation contains an outline of a
middle
school curriculum includes creating the physical structure and the
programming
component of the project.
There are a few issues teachers need to consider before implementing
educational
robots in their classrooms. First is that these programs have
relatively high
start up cost, both in terms of money and in terms of time. Second, it
is tougher
to integrate this well in the high school curriculum because of the
need for
collaboration in terms of time and topics. Finally, the female
participation
in RoboCupJunior has been low, but there is hope with high numbers
participating
in the dancing robots project and female mentorship.
Presentation link (.pdf) [http://www.acm.org/education/k12/csits/presentations/sklar.pdf]
Shane Torbert
Ongoing Computer Science Curriculum Development
Abstract:
Jefferson High offers a unique situation in that all our students are
required
to take at least one year of computer science, usually done in ninth
grade or
in the summer following ninth grade. Jerry Berry (also at TJ) began a
curriculum
project in the early 1980s for computer science, to develop classroom
materials
and reach out to other schools. He began with materials developed by
Mary Johnson,
Janet Mulloy, and Sally Bellacqua (then at Lake Braddock). These
original materials
were in Pascal, and Jerry had them modified when the AP language
switched to
C++. I came into the project during the final years of C++ and have
modified
the course for Java. Jerry continues to coordinate monthly meetings
for CS teachers,
bi-annual inservices, and summer workshops, for the benefit of the
computer
science teacher community in Northern Virginia. The goal of my talk
will be
to describe this professional arrangement, its obvious benefits to
what is otherwise
an often lonely course to teach, and the curricular results our
students enjoy
as a result of this kind of collaboration and structure. I will share
our first-year
course materials and our model for AP Computer Science.
Description by Betty Parys:
Shane presented the development and the history of the computer
science program
at Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology which is a
Fairfax
County, VA public school. He briefly touched on the Karel project and
subsequent
units developed by the staff for their introductory classes. These
materials
can be found at http://academics.tjhsst.edu/compsci/.
Presentation link (.ppt) [http://www.acm.org/education/k12/csits/presentations/torbert.ppt]
Lawrence Snyder *
Fluency with Information Technology
Abstract:
The term fluency was adopted in a National Research Council study to
describe
the next step after traditional computer literacy. Today, many people
are literate—that
is, they know standard computer applications such as e-mail, word
processing,
Web searching-especially high school and college students. The report
asserted
literacy does not have the scope or "staying power" to prepare people
for effective
lifelong use of IT. Changes and advances outdistance traditional
literacy content.
People must become fluent. The presentation describes Fluency with
Information
Technology and explains how its rich content is both accessible and
appropriate
for general audiences. The NRC-recommended Skills, Concepts, and
Capabilities
will be reviewed, and the unifying role of projects will be explained.
The opportunities
and challenges of teaching fluency's rich content to students often
described
as "techno-phobic" will be reviewed. The matter of where to
incorporate the
fluency content in high school and college curricula will be
discussed.
Description by Philip East:
As one of the committee members preparing the Fluency Report, Larry
Snyder provided
a knowledgeable overview of the report and its implications. The
report was
an answer to, "What should everyone know about information
technology?":
- computer use skills, including some programming (though some
folks argue
against including it)—the list of skills will change over
time
- enduring computing/IT concepts supporting lifelong understanding
and learning
- general intellectual capabilities for solving problems involving
IT
Professor Snyder also addressed the question as to why people should
know something
about IT. He also provided several ideas as to how fluency might be
included
in the K-12 (mostly high school) environment.
Presentation link (.pdf) [http://www.acm.org/education/k12/csits/presentations/snyder.pdf]
Irene Lee *
PDA Participatory Simulations
Abstract:
PDA Participatory Simulations Use Palm OS or Pocket PC handheld
computers to
embed participants within simulations. Interactions between players in
the game
are mediated by peer-to-peer beaming. These simulations have been used
with
students (from fourth grade through graduate school), teachers (in
science,
math, technology, and social sciences), and many other professional
development
contexts. In this problem-solving activity, using Palm Zires provided
to participants,
the group will determine the rules governing a virus outbreak by
choosing strategies
to figure out the dynamics of the disease.
Description by Betsy Frederick:
Irene Lee had all of the 102 participants in her post-luncheon PDA
simulation
session up and beaming. MIT has developed several problem solving
simulations
for the Palm Zire family of handheld computers. These games take
advantage of
the infrared capabilities for exchanging information among the
players.
In the Virus simulation Irene presented, participants beamed to each
other
information about their susceptibility, immunity, and whether or not
they were
sick. Ms. Lee noted that usually one would want more than 45 minutes
for a several-round
game so that participants can try several strategies and discuss fully
what
they are observing. Even so, players were able to see the potential
for students
to test ideas for determining who carries the virus.
Presentation link (.doc) [http://www.acm.org/education/k12/csits/presentations/lee.doc]
Fadi P. Deek
The ACM K-12 Computer Science Curriculum: Dissemination,
Implementation, and
Sustainability
Abstract:
The subject of computer science education in K-12 is growing
increasingly popular,
but it has lacked well-defined and widely adopted curricular
guidelines. The
ACM K-12 Computer Science Curriculum Committee has produced a report
that describes
a model curriculum that can serve as a basis for developing such
programs (please
see http://www.acm.org/education/k12).
The committee has received critical feedback from a wide range of
constituents
on its first draft and has revised their report accordingly. It is
critical
for the success of this project to ensure wide dissemination and to
facilitate
its implementation. This session will summarize the key elements of
the K-12
model curriculum and will provide a vehicle for session attendees and
the speaker
to exchange feedback regarding the dissemination and implementation of
the curriculum
and to suggest mechanisms for dealing with such issues as staffing,
training,
funding, etc. taking into consideration the needs and conditions of
various
schools.
Description by Lillian Israel:
A Model Curriculum for K-12 CS, the Final Report of the ACM K-12 Task
Force
Curriculum Committee has just been published—the committee's
vision is
to have an integrated K-12 computer science education environment.
The work has just begun. We need to have workshops around the country
to show
teachers how to follow the report. Particularly important is that
state legislators,
school administrators, parents, guidance counselors, and many
students, are
unaware of what CS is and isn't. The curriculum model must be fleshed
out and
CS needs to be positioned as a real scientific discipline. National CS
standards
are needed! ACM's newly created Computer Science Teachers Association
(CSTA)
can be a major help with this activity as well as with certification
issues!
What's critical is that students on the pre-college level may decide
not to
study CS because they know that they cannot be certified in
CS—so, not
only are we losing CS students, we'll ultimately lose CS faculty and
IT workers.
Presentation link (.ppt) [http://www.acm.org/education/k12/csits/presentations/deek.ppt]
Owen Astrachan
Tradeoffs, Intuition, Analysis—Understanding big-Oh aka
O-notation
Abstract:
Learning about programming and computer science requires reasoning
about tradeoffs.
We must understand tradeoffs in design (e.g., trading simplicity for
generality
and flexibility). We must understand tradeoffs in paradigms (e.g.,
trading the
complexity of an inheritance hierarchy for ease of use and re-use). We
must
understand tradeoffs in algorithms and data structures (e.g., trading
the average-case
O(1) performance of hashing with its unlikely, but terrible worst-case
performance).
Without O-notation (aka Big O or big-Oh) we cannot discuss and reason
about
tradeoffs, so we cannot reasonably discuss why to choose a Hashmap or
a Treemap
or why a heap is a wonderful way to implement a priority queue. In
this session
we'll talk about how to develop intuition about big-Oh, how to reason
about
the big-Oh complexity of recursive functions, and how and when to
transition
from an informal, intuitive approach to a more formal, mathematical
treatment
of O-notation.
Description by Philip East:
Owen's presentation was a demonstration of how he teaches. Rather
than delivering
information, he discusses ideas and attempts to have his audience
(students)
play with and reason about those ideas in response to questions he
asks. Attendees
in this session received examples they could use in their own lessons
on complexity
as well a model for structuring the lessons. Owen also shared his
three most
important ideas/answers with respect to complexity
analysis—210=1,024;
1+2+...+N=N(N+1)/2; it depends. While Owen's slides do provide some
idea of
the session it is one where you had to be there to really get the
impact of
the session.
Presentation link (.pdf) [http://www.acm.org/education/k12/csits/presentations/astrachan.pdf]
Sandy Graham
CS Girls Rock!
Abstract:
Everyone is acutely aware of the diminishing number of girls taking
Computer
Science courses at every level. Although experts speculate that there
are many
reasons to explain this trend, two factors continually appear in the
literature:
girls are unimpressed by the stereotypical image of computer science
and they
are unaware of what the study of Computer Science entails, and girls
are less
confident in their computer science skills. The former discourages
female students
from taking courses in high school, the latter leads to a
disproportionate number
of female students dropping out of university Computer Science
programs. The
University of Waterloo has hosted an extremely successful, week-long
seminar
to spark interest in Computer Science in grade 9 and 10 girls from
across Canada.
The first years of high school (and even earlier) are critical times
for attracting
more female students to the study of Computer Science. At this
session, Sandy
will introduce the seminar goals and successes and discuss the parts
of the
program that could be duplicated at the high school level. I will also
try to
encourage partnerships between high schools and universities and
colleges to
provide similar opportunities for female students.
Description by Chris Stephenson:
Sandy documented the pervasive challenges in the participation of
young women
in computer science, including the current drop in enrollment, and
outlined
the nature of the problem based upon her personal experiences as a
young woman
in computer science, a former high school computer science teacher,
and an instructor
of undergraduate university students. Sandy noted that while there
clearly seem
to be discernible differences in how boys and girls approach computer
science,
the discipline is big enough to accommodate these differences and,
perhaps more
importantly, is considerably enriched by a variety of perspectives and
approaches.
She also described an innovative summer program at the University of
Waterloo
that provides high school girls (many of whom have no computing
background)
with an enriching hands-on experience with programming, hardware, and
new ideas
and research.
Presentation link (.ppt) [http://www.acm.org/education/k12/csits/presentations/graham.ppt]
Doug Peterson
Web Resources for Computer Science Educators
Abstract:
In this session, we'll discuss the rationale for having Computer and
Information
Science students use the Internet to address the curriculum. What can
Internet
activities contribute to the study of Computer and Information
Science? There
are differing levels of sophistication for Internet use and examples
of each
will be shown along with related Web sites.
Description by Betsy Frederick:
Doug's lively presentation on Internet treasures was fun and
informative. He
drew our attention to ready-to-use Web Quests for Computer Science.
Web Quests
have not been widely implemented in high schools for a variety of
reasons including
access to hardware and the time required to develop a good Quest.
The CD he distributed is the best collection of resources I have ever
seen.
Doug not only provided great information for CS teachers on all kinds
CS related
topics but resources for them to share with their colleagues as well.
The CD
includes the hilarious piece from deadtrolls.com about the fellow at
the Help
Desk.
Presentation link (.ppt) [http://www.acm.org/education/k12/csits/presentations/peterson.ppt]
David Levine
Role Playing and the Java Marine Biology Simulation
Abstract:
Object-oriented systems are sometimes described as communities of
independent
actors working together to achieve a common goal. Therefore, it only
makes sense
that one should be able to learn about such systems by acting out the
roles
of the various components. This session will showcase the use of
scripted role-playing
exercises in introductory computer science (including AP) courses. We
will demonstrate
some very interactive exercises that can be done on the first day of
class to
teach core concepts of object-oriented programming. We will then
demonstrate
how these same techniques can be used to highlight facets of more
extensive
programs, in particular, the APCS Java Marine Biology Simulation.
Finally, we
will discuss how these exercises can be utilized in a variety of
teaching situations.
Description by Betty Parys:
Even before his introduction, David Levine engaged the attendees with
a delightful
simple role playing exercise. After his introduction, he correlated
this role
playing exercise with basic Java concepts such as method calls, return
values,
passing values, function overloading, instance variables and private
data. Although
he stressed that he does not categorise the exercises as inheritance,
polymorphism
or private data for new students, he will use these as a "touch stone"
exercise
and continually return to it during the course of the class.
The Marine Biology role-playing exercised was also introduced. Here,
the discussion
focused on the history and the evolution of the project. David
stressed that
he considered this an "open source" project in that it was always
evolving with
recommendations from teachers who were actively using it in the
classroom.
Presentation link (.doc) [http://www.acm.org/education/k12/csits/presentations/levine.doc]
Rob Scott
Not Just Another Flash in the Pan
Abstract:
First there was presentation software, then came multimedia authoring
software,
followed shortly by digital animation. At the same time, programming
languages
were evolving from a structured paradigm to object oriented. Now the
notions
of multimedia, animation, and object oriented programming have been
combined
in one development tool called Flash. Flash is the ultimate
interactive multimedia
production tool. Not only can you integrate text, images, sound, and
video,
but you can add the element of time. With Flash, simple 2-D
presentations become
dynamic, animated interactions. Primitive Web pages become rich
Internet applications.
In this session, we will examine the range of possibilities available
with Flash
and take a closer look at how Flash can be used in the secondary
computer studies
and computer science classroom.
Description by Sandy Graham:
Flash is a tool which creates animation for web applications. It can
also be
used as a tool for creating fluency in programming, in particular
object-oriented
programming, early. Using Flash to generate interesting projects is
appealing
to many different learning styles and personalities. Flash can be used
to tell
a story, which leads to many possible applications across the
curriculum and
in real life. Rob Scott has used Flash to generate an entire online
Physics
course demonstrating Physics properties to make theory more
understandable.
Flash includes video editing tools such as key frames, tweens,
scaling, and
guiding as well as a true drawing tool. When creating Flash
applications the
programmer can create an object-oriented set of tools which can be
extended.
The applications may also include buttons which can have associated
actions,
which leads to event driven programming. To see examples of Flash
lessons you
can visit Rob Scott's Webpage at www.after4.ca.
Presentation is not available.
Mary Cullinane
Delivering on the Promise of Technology in Education in the 21st
Century
Abstract:
In the information age, knowledge is a differentiator in an
increasingly literate
society requiring more education and continual learning. Today, every
citizen
needs access to ongoing and timely education to fully participate in
the information
age and to realize its potential for removing limitations and creating
opportunities.
In this session, Sherri Bealkowski of Microsoft will outline a variety
of ways
in which technology can be used to empower students, teachers, school
districts,
and parents to be connected and how technological innovations such as
portals
and sharing among data systems can help to improve education.
Description by Betsy Frederick:
Mary Cullinane's closing talk was energetic and appropriate for
teachers who
have spent a stimulating day being what we call in the elementary
school setting,
"good listeners". Mary is the Team Leader for Planning the School of
the Future
in Philadelphia. School of the Future will address issues of systemic
change
for improved performance and adapt business models for implementation
and assessment.
Can these methodologies be adpated to the public schools? Microsoft
has scheme
of assessing how well a candidate will do at Microsoft and that
document becomes
a major piece of the employee's assessment portfolio. Can tools like
that help
schools focus on goals and assess what's working and what isn't?
The slides for this talk are well worth checking out on the CSIT
website for
a thorough and unblinking look at critical issues for industry support
of schools
school instructional challenges. Here is an example from one her
slides:
Wrong questions: How are computers raising test scores?
Good Questions: How do we create better learning environments?
Presentation link (.ppt) [http://www.acm.org/education/k12/csits/presentations/cullinane.ppt]
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