Coding for AllBarbara EricsonGeorgia Institute of Technology

October 18, 2013

Overview• Why should everyone learn to code?

• Lots of jobs in computing• Computing is an essential skill• If everyone learns to code we could increase diversity

• What is being done to reach that goal?• Curriculum efforts• Research efforts• Policy efforts

• Tools to use to teach everyone to code?

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Computing and mathematics is one of the

TOP 10 fastest growing major occupational groups 2010-2020.

150,000+ job openings in computing annually.

1 in every 2 STEM jobs will be in computing in 2020.

Sources: Jobs data are calculated from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), Employment Projections 2010-2020, available at http://www.bls.gov/emp/. Educational levels are calculated from BLS Occupational Projections Data, Employment 2010-2020, available at http://data.bls.gov/oep/ and the BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook 2010-2020, available at http://bls.gov/ooh/.

Computing Jobs Through 2020

Annual STEM Degrees (2009) and Annual STEM Job Openings (2010-2020)

Sources: Degree data are calculated from the National Science Foundation (NSF), Science and Engineering Indicators 2012, available at http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/seind12/appendix.htm. Annual jobs data are calculated from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), Employment Projections 2010-2020, available at http://www.bls.gov/emp/. STEM is defined here to include non-medical degrees and occupations.

Source: Jobs data are calculated from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), Employment Projections 2010-2020, available at http://www.bls.gov/emp/. STEM is defined here to include non-medical occupations.

Top 10 STEM Occupations

1.4M jobs400K grads

OCTOBER 5, 2012

Code.orgOver 10 million views

Computing is an essential skill

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Computing is an essential skill

Computing is essential for STEM

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Increasing Diversity

• 74% of college-bound males are interested• Even higher for black and Hispanic males

• Only 26% of females are interested

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Curriculum Efforts• Exploring Computer Science

• Started in LA• Grown to include Chicago, Oregon, Utah, Washington D.C.,

and Santa Clara

• Curriculum plus professional development• Intended for all students – not just the college bound

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Exploring Computer Science

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CS Principles• New Advanced Placement exam in Computing

• AP course by fall 2016

• More general than Advanced Placement CS A• Intended for college-bound students

• 48 pilot sites this year

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AP CS A

• Comparable to a first college course for majors• Focuses on programming in Java.

• Variables, Loops, Conditionals• Arrays and Lists• Object-oriented concepts

• Also includes searching and sorting • Graded on a 1 to 5 scale with 3 and above

considered passing.• Students who take AP CS A are more likely to

take computing in college than those who do not.14

Advanced Placement CS A in NY

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AP CS A in New York

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New York AP CS A in 2013 • 3rd by total number of exams taken

• Behind California at 4,964• and Texas at 3,979• New York at 1,858.

• 13th by population• Behind Maryland, Virginia, New Jersey,

Massachusetts, Texas, the District of Columbia, California, Connecticut, Georgia, Maine, Illinois, and Washington

• 124 schools offered AP CS A in 2013• vs 698 for AP Calculus AB

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STEM AP Participation

— Chris Stephenson, CSTA, 2010

Research Efforts

• Computing Education in the 21st Century NSF grants• EarSketch - http://earsketch.gatech.edu• On line book for Python • http://interactivepython.org/

• Broadening Participation in computing grants• Expanding Computing Education Pathways• STARS – group of colleges and universities• NCWIT – focus on women in IT

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Policy Efforts• Code.org is trying to help states allow at least AP

CS A to count as a math and/or science for high school graduation• 14 states and the District of Columbia do currently• New York does as a math or science

• CS Education Week December 9-15th, 2013• Encouraging all to do an hour of code

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Tools for Teaching ComputingThere are many free tools for teaching computing

• CS Unplugged• LightBot 2.0• Scratch – ages 8 and up• App Inventor – middle school and up• Alice – middle school and up• Media Computation – Python or Java• Greenfoot – Java

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CS Unplugged – 3rd grade+

Free materials for teaching computing concepts without a computer– http://csunplugged.org/

Binary NumbersNetwork Deadlocks

Light Bot 2.0 – Middle School+

• On-line flash game• Program a robot to light up

blue tileshttp://ice-web.cc.gatech.edu/dl/?q=node/628

Scratch – 8 years old+• Cloud software from MIT for creating 2D

animations and games - http://scratch.mit.edu• Teacher website - http://scratched.media.mit.edu/• GT distance learning site

http://ice-web.cc.gatech.edu/dl/• Christopher Michaud’s site

http://nebomusic.net/scratch.html

App Inventor – MS+

• Drag and drop programming for Android devices

• Can use a phone emulator

http://appinventor.mit.edu

http://ice-web.cc.gatech.edu/dl/?q=node/639

Alice 3.1 – High School+

Free software from CMU for creating 3D movies and games– http://www.alice.org

• Includes the Electronic Arts Sims human models

• Can import into Netbeans IDE as Java code

• Has inheritance and polymorphism

Alice 2.3 – High School+

Free software from CMU for creating 3D movies and games– http://www.alice.org

Teacher website– http://aliceprogramming.net/

Georgia Tech’s site– http://ice-web.cc.gatech.edu/dl/

Christopher’s site– http://nebomusic.net/computerhelp.html

Storytelling Alice – MS+

Designed for middle school girls– More built-in methods

Windows onlyhttp://www.alice.org/

kelleher/storytelling/http://ice-

web.cc.gatech.edu/dl/?q=node/27

Media Computation

Free software from Georgia Tech for teaching computing – By having students write programs in

Python or Java to manipulate media• Pictures, sounds, movies, and text

http://coweb.cc.gatech.edu/mediaComp-teach

Greenfoot – High School+

Free software from the Un. of Kent and Deakin Un. for building 2D simulations and games in Javahttp://www.greenfoot.org

Can do Karel the Robot and GridWorld in Greenfoot

Teacher site:– http://greenroom.greenfoot.org/

door

Can use the Kinect too

How to Grow Computing Teachers• Professional development

• Google CS4HS• CE21 grants• MOOCs• On-line learning

• Offer competitions• Scratch• Alice• AP CS A

• Support CSTA chapters