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Traditionally, computer science (CS) in the United States has been an elective subject at the high school level. In recent years, however, some school systems have created a CS graduation requirement. Designing a required CS course that meets the needs of anticipated future advancements in the field necessitates exploring the research question, To better understand what these different groups perceive to be the essential content of a foundational high school CS course, we conducted a series of focus groups. These focus groups explored participants' (n = 21) thinking about what content would be most important to prioritize in a required high school CS course. Transcripts of the focus groups were abductively coded and then analyzed to determine what CS content priorities were identified and what disagreements about priorities exist. We found that participants (1) emphasized CS knowledge and skills, with minimal reference to dispositions, (2) prioritized content similar to that found in current CS standards, (3) developed broad, high-level descriptions of content, (4) identified contextually relevant factors, (5) foregrounded AI both a tool and as a subdomain of CS, and (6) emphasized computational thinking. These findings can inform further research on the design and implementation of a required high school CS course designed to meet the needs of the future as well as to support revisions of CS standards for high school students.
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Reimagining CS Pathways Interim Report #1: Defining Essential CS Content for All High School Graduates
Interim Report #1 summarizes progress to date in the first phase of the Reimagining CS Pathways: High School and Beyond project. Its focus is collectively defining what CS content is essential for all high school students. Primary inputs were data collected at the first in-person convening held in Chicago, IL in November 2023, in a series of virtual focus groups, and through a literature review and additional research.
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- Award ID(s):
- 2311746
- PAR ID:
- 10515316
- Publisher / Repository:
- Computer Science Teachers Association
- Date Published:
- Subject(s) / Keyword(s):
- K-12 high school computer science education curriculum
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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Interim Report #2 summarizes progress to date in the second phase of the Reimagining CS Pathways: High School and Beyond project. Its focus is collectively defining pathways for continued CS learning beyond a foundational high school CS course. It includes content progressions and course implementation pathways for seven concentration areas, including artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, and data science. Primary inputs were data collected at the second in-person convening held in Atlanta, GA in January 2024, in a series of virtual focus groups, and through a literature review and additional research.more » « less
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At a time when computing continues to gain importance in society, it is more crucial than ever to ensure that computer science education meets the needs of all students. To this end, the Computer Science Teachers Association (CSTA) is updating its K-12 computer science (CS) standards. As a prelude to the standards revision, CSTA – working with many partners – has launched a project, Reimagining CS Pathways: High School and Beyond, to articulate what CS content is essential for all high school graduates to know and to establish pathways for continued study of CS beyond that foundational content. The Reimagining project drew on the expertise and experiences of dozens of participants – including high school CS teachers, college CS faculty, state and local education leaders, CS education researchers, and those working for nonprofits and in the tech industry. These participants reflected diversity across many dimensions, including demographics, role, and expertise. They participated in focus groups, interviews, and in-person convenings, and they provided substantial asynchronous feedback. The result of these extensive efforts is contained in this report, which articulates the foundational CS content and resulting pathways. The foundational CS content is organized into Topic Areas, Pillars, and Dispositions. The Topic Areas, which reflect the content that is essential for all high school graduates, are 1) Algorithms, 2), Programming, 3) Data and Analysis, 4) Computing Systems and Security, and 5) Preparation for the Future. The Pillars, which reflect essential ideas and practices that cut across all of the Topic Areas, are 1) Impacts and Ethics, 2) Inclusive Collaboration, 3) Computational Thinking, and 4) Human-Centered Design. While they are not explicitly taught, the goal is to develop a set of specific dispositions in CS. These Dispositions are persistence, reflectiveness, creativity, curiosity, critical thinking, and sense of belonging in CS. There are many possible pathways stemming from this foundational content, ranging from Cybersecurity and Artificial Intelligence to X + CS (where another subject, such as Journalism or Biology, is integrated with the study of computing). Implementation of these pathways will vary significantly depending on community priorities and contexts. We recognize that schools will need to be selective in their implementation of CS pathways due to limited resources, and we make recommendations for how to select which options to implement. Woven throughout this work is a commitment to improving equity in CS education. This commitment to equity is embedded throughout both the process and the outcome of the Reimagining project. It manifests in an effort to reimagine CS to ensure opportunities for all students and to prepare them for a world increasingly powered by computing.more » « less
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Expanding access to and engaging diverse groups of students in high school computer science (CS) classes depends on qualified CS teachers. In this paper, we describe how faculty at our liberal arts college built CS teacher capacity at over 20 school districts through comprehensive college/high school partnerships. The majority of these districts serve rural or high-needs students, groups underrepresented in CS classrooms. The program works primarily with in-service teachers from other disciplines, helping them develop the expertise to teach CS. It is comprehensive in that it includes curricula and professional development for a high school level CS course and a dual-enrollment college level CS course, pathways to CS certification, community events, and opportunities for teacher leadership and collaboration. These modes of engagement are structured so that novice and veteran teachers and college faculty have opportunities to interact in different capacities over several years to create a robust professional learning community. Initial survey results show increasing levels of teacher confidence and sense of belonging, and increasing student confidence in their CS abilities.more » « less
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The "Computer Science for All" initiative advocates for universal access to computer science (CS) instruction. A key strategy toward this end has been to establish CS content standards outlining what all students should have the opportunity to learn. Standards can support curriculum quality and access to quality CS instruction, but only if they are used to inform curriculum design and instructional practice. Professional learning offered to teachers of CS has typically focused on learning to implement a specific curriculum, rather than deepening understanding of CS concepts. We set out to develop a set of educative resources, formative assessment tools and teacher professional development (PD) sessions to support middle school CS teachers' knowledge of CS standards and standards-aligned formative assessment literacy. Our PD and associated resources focus on five CS standards in the Algorithm and Programming strand and are meant to support teachers using any CS curriculum or programming language. In this experience report, we share what we learned from implementing our standards-based PD with four middle school CS teachers. Teachers initially perceived standards as irrelevant to their teaching but they came to appreciate how a deeper understanding of CS concepts could enhance their instructional practice. Analysis of PD observations and exit surveys, teacher interviews, and teacher responses to a survey assessing CS pedagogical content knowledge demonstrated the complexity of using content standards as a driver of high-quality CS instruction at the middle school level, and reinforced our position that more standards-focused PD is needed.more » « less
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