Computer science skills empower students to become proactive learners and creators instead of mere consumers, regardless of whether they're interested in a computing or programming career.

However, after its educational heyday in the 1980s, when computer labs popped up in elementary schools around the world, computer science seemed to fall off the education radar — until its recent comeback, that is. Now many educators are advocating making computer science a core academic subject in K-12 schools.

In honor of Computer Science Education Week, here are some resources to help you incorporate computer science into your classroom:

Coding

Coding has become one of the basic building blocks of our digital society, and initiatives such as the Hour of Code make it easy to give every student the chance to try it out. Even the White House is getting in on the action.

If you're just getting your feet wet, you can learn more about coding in the classroom with these tips and tools from educators. Ready to dive deeper? Discover the three key features of a successful districtwide coding program, and learn best practices for pair programming.

Computational thinking

To understand how today's digital tools can help solve tomorrow's problems, students need to become computational thinkers. ISTE has partnered with the Computer Science Teachers Association to develop a Computational Thinking Toolkit educators can use to teach and advocate for this crucial skill.

Computer science integration

Looking for ways to integrate computer science into your curriculum? The folks at Code.org have assembled some great resources to help, including tutorials for your classroom, free curriculum you can integrate and platforms you can use to teach computer science to kids.

How are you celebrating Computer Science Education Week?