There are several changes anticipated in computer science (CS) education over the next decade, including updated student standards, rapidly changing impacts of artificial intelligence (AI), and an increasing number of school systems requiring a CS class for graduation. In order to prepare for these changes – as well as to address the equity issues that have plagued CS since its inception – we engaged in a project designed to reimagine content and pathways for high school CS education. As a collaborative project, we hosted multiple events for relevant parties (including K-12 educators and administrators, higher education faculty, industry professionals, state and district CS supervisors, and CS education researchers). These events were designed to collaboratively seek input for the creation of a series of reports recommending what a CS course that satisfies a high school graduation requirement should include, how that course should align with Advanced Placement (AP) and post-secondary CS instruction, and what pathways should exist for students after that introductory high school course.
The portion of the project highlighted in this article contains an analysis of data collected from focus groups (n=21), interviews (n=10), and an in-person convening of participants from K-12, post-secondary, industry, and administrative roles (n=35). The data is centered on determining what CS content is essential for all high school students. Participants considered knowledge, skills, and dispositions across a range of CS and CS-adjacent topics and, through a variety of activities, described what new content should be taught when viewing through the lens of teaching CS to high school students in the year 2030 and what content should be prioritized. Our analysis sought to delineate and synthesize their sentiments. Six major priorities emerged from our analysis: societal impacts and ethical issues, algorithmic thinking, data and analysis, inclusive computing culture, AI, and career knowledge. The significance of our findings is that they present a broad overview of what a variety of relevant parties consider to be the most important CS content for high school students; this information is important for educators, administrators, and those who develop curriculum, standards, and/or teaching tools.
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This content will become publicly available on May 20, 2025
AI in Computer Science Education: Tool, Subdomain, and Wildcard
The future of AI will be determined in part by how its developers are educated. Thus, how computer science (CS) education incorporates instruction in various aspects of AI will have a substantial impact on AI's evolution. Understanding how and what CS educators think about AI education is, therefore, an important piece of the landscape in anticipating -- and shaping -- the future of AI.
However, little is known about how educators perceive the role of AI education in CS education, and there is no consensus yet regarding what AI topics should be taught to all students. This paper helps to fill that gap by presenting a qualitative analysis of data collected from high school CS instructors, higher education CS faculty, and those working in the tech industry as they reflected on their priorities for high school CS instruction and on anticipated changes in high school, college, and workplace CS. We conclude with recommendations for the CS education research community around AI in K-12, particularly at the high school level.
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- Award ID(s):
- 2311746
- NSF-PAR ID:
- 10515320
- Publisher / Repository:
- 2024 47th International Convention on Information and Communication Technology, Electronics and Microelectronics (MIPRO)
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Proceedings of the International Convention MIPRO
- ISSN:
- 2573-4865
- Subject(s) / Keyword(s):
- computer science education, artificial intelligence
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Location:
- Opatija, Croatia
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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