Last summer, the 黄色片子 and the University of Cambridge Department of Computer Science and Technology created a new 黄瓜啪啪视频 centre focusing on 黄瓜啪啪视频 education 黄瓜啪啪视频 for young people in both formal and non-formal education. The 黄瓜啪啪视频 Pi 黄瓜啪啪视频 Education 黄瓜啪啪视频 Centre is an exciting venture through which we aim to deliver a step-change for the field.

黄瓜啪啪视频 education 黄瓜啪啪视频 that focuses specifically on young people is relatively new, particularly in contrast to established 黄瓜啪啪视频 disciplines such as those focused on mathematics or science education. However, 黄瓜啪啪视频 is now a mandatory part of the 黄啪啪啪视频 in several countries, and being taken up in education globally, so we need to rigorously investigate the learning and teaching of this subject, and do so in conjunction with schools and teachers.

You’re invited to our in-person launch event

To celebrate the official launch of the 黄瓜啪啪视频 Pi 黄瓜啪啪视频 Education 黄瓜啪啪视频 Centre, we will be holding an in-person event in Cambridge, UK on Weds 20 July from 15.00. This event is free and open to all: if you are interested in 黄瓜啪啪视频 education 黄瓜啪啪视频, we invite you to register for a ticket to attend. By coming together in person, we want to help strengthen a collaborative community of 黄瓜啪啪视频ers, teachers, and other education practitioners.

The launch event is your opportunity to meet and mingle with members of the Centre’s 黄瓜啪啪视频 team and listen to a series of short talks. We are delighted that Prof. Mark Guzdial (University of Michigan), who many readers will be familiar with, will be travelling from the US to join us in cutting the ribbon. Mark has worked in computer science education for decades and won many awards for his 黄瓜啪啪视频, so I can’t think of anybody better to be our guest speaker. Our other speakers are Prof. Alastair Beresford from the Department of Computer Science and Technology, and Carrie Anne Philbin MBE, our Director of Educator Support at the 黄啪啪啪视频.

The event will take place at the Department of Computer Science and Technology in Cambridge. It will start at 15.00 with a reception where you’ll have the chance to talk to 黄瓜啪啪视频ers and see the work we’ve been doing. We will then hear from our speakers, before wrapping up at 17.30. You can find more details about the event location on the ticket registration page.

Our 黄瓜啪啪视频 at the Centre

The aim of the 黄瓜啪啪视频 Pi 黄瓜啪啪视频 Education 黄瓜啪啪视频 Centre is to increase our understanding of teaching and learning 黄瓜啪啪视频, computer science, and associated subjects, with a particular focus on young people who are from backgrounds that are traditionally under-represented in the field of 黄瓜啪啪视频 or who 黄啪啪啪视频 educational disadvantage.

We have been establishing the Centre over the last nine months. In October, I was appointed Director, and in December, we were awarded funding by Google for a one-year 黄瓜啪啪视频 project on culturally relevant 黄瓜啪啪视频 teaching, following on from a project at the 黄色片子. The Centre’s 黄瓜啪啪视频 team is uniquely positioned, straddling both the University and the 黄啪啪啪视频. Our two organisations complement each other very well: the University is one of the highest-ranking universities in the world and renowned for its leading-edge academic 黄瓜啪啪视频, and the 黄色片子 works with schools, educators, and learners globally to pursue its mission to put the power of 黄瓜啪啪视频 into the hands of young people.

In our 黄瓜啪啪视频 at the Centre, we will make sure that:

1. We collaborate closely with teachers and schools when implementing and evaluating 黄瓜啪啪视频 projects
2. We publish 黄瓜啪啪视频 results in a number of different formats, as promptly as we can and without a paywall
3. We translate 黄瓜啪啪视频 findings into practice across the 黄啪啪啪视频’s extensive programmes and with our partners

We are excited to work with a large community of teachers and 黄瓜啪啪视频ers, and we look forward to meeting you at the launch event.

Stay up to date

At the end of June, we’ll be launching a new website for the Centre at 黄瓜啪啪视频education黄瓜啪啪视频.org. This will be the place for you to find out more about our projects and events, and to sign up to our newsletter. For announcements on social media, follow the 黄色片子 on Twitter or Linkedin.

The post Join us at the launch event of the 黄瓜啪啪视频 Pi 黄瓜啪啪视频 Education 黄瓜啪啪视频 Centre appeared first on 黄色片子.

Mark has worked in computer science (CS) education for decades and won many awards for his 黄瓜啪啪视频, including the prestigious ACM SIGCSE Outstanding Contribution to 黄瓜啪啪视频 Education award in 2019. He has written literally hundreds of papers about CS education, and he authors an extremely popular 黄瓜啪啪视频 education 黄瓜啪啪视频 blog that keeps us all up to date with what is going on in the field.

In his talk, Mark focused on his recent work around developing task-specific programming (TSP) languages, with which teachers can add a teaspoon (also abbreviated TSP) of programming to a wide variety of subject areas in schools. Mark’s overarching thesis is that if we want everyone to have some exposure to CS, then we need to integrate it into a range of subjects across the school 黄啪啪啪视频. And he explained that this idea of “adding a teaspoon” embraces some core principles; for TSP languages to be successful, they need to:

• Meet the teachers’ needs
• Be relevant to the context or lesson in which it appears
• Be technically easy to get to grips with

Mark neatly summarised this as ‘being both usable and useful’. 

Historical views on why we should all learn computer science

We can learn a lot from going back in time and reflecting on the history of 黄瓜啪啪视频. Mark started his talk by sharing the views of some of the eminent computer scientists of the early days of the subject. C. P. Snow maintained, way back in 1961, that all students should study CS, because it was too important to be left to a small handful of people.

Alan Perlis, also in 1961, argued that everyone at university should study one course in CS rather than a topic such as calculus. His reason was that CS is about process, and thus gives students tools that they can use to change the world around them. I’d never heard of this work from the 1960s before, and it suggests incredible foresight. Perhaps we don’t need to even have the debate of whether computer science is for everyone — it seems it always was!

What’s the problem with the current situation?

In many of our seminars over the last two years, we have heard about the need to broaden participation in 黄瓜啪啪视频 in school. Although in England, 黄瓜啪啪视频 is mandatory for ages 5 to 16 (in theory, in practice it’s offered to all children from age 5 to 14), other countries don’t have any 黄瓜啪啪视频 for younger children. And once 黄瓜啪啪视频 becomes optional, numbers drop, wherever you are.

Mark shared with us that in US high schools, only 4.7% of students are enrolled in a CS course. However, students are studying other subjects, which brought him to the conclusion that CS should be introduced where the students already are. For example, Mark described that, at the Advanced Placement (AP) level in the US, many more students choose to take history than CS (399,000 vs 114,000) and the History AP cohort has more even gender balance, and a higher proportion of Black and Hispanic students. 

The teaspoon approach to broadening participation

A solution to low uptake of CS being proposed by Mark and his colleagues is to add a little 黄瓜啪啪视频 to other subjects, and in his talk he gave us some examples from history and mathematics, both subjects taken by a high proportion of US students. His focus is on high school, meaning learners aged 14 and upwards (upper secondary in Europe, or key stage 4 and 5 in England). To introduce a teaspoon of CS to other subjects, Mark’s 黄瓜啪啪视频 group builds tools using a participatory design approach; his group collaborates with teachers in schools to identify the needs of the teachers and students and design and iterate TSP languages in conjunction with them.

Mark demonstrated a number of TSP language prototypes his group has been building for use in particular contexts. The prototypes seem like simple apps, but can be classified as languages because they specify a process for a computational agent to execute. These small languages are designed to be used at a specific point in the lesson and should be learnable in ten minutes. For example, students can use a small ‘app’ specific to their topic, look at a script that generates a visualisation, and change some variables to find out how they impact the output. Students may also be able to access some program code, edit it, and see the impact of their edits. In this way, they discover through practical examples the way computer programs work, and how they can use CS principles to help build an understanding of the subject area they are currently studying. If the language is never used again, the learning cost was low enough that it was worth the value of adding computation to the one lesson.

Try TSP languages yourself

You can try out the TSP language prototypes Mark shared yourself, which will give you a good idea of how much a teaspoon is!

DV4L: For history students, the team and participating teachers have created a prototype called DV4L, which visualises historical data. The default example script shows population growth in Africa. Students can change some of the variables in the script to explore data related to other countries and other historical periods. A example lesson activity illustrates how a teacher might incorporate this TSP language into a lesson.

Pixel Equations: Mathematics and engineering students can use the Pixel Equations tool to learn about the way that pictures are made up of individual pixels. This can be introduced into lessons using a variety of contexts. One example lesson activity looks at images in the contexts of maps. This prototype is available in English and Spanish. 

Counting Sheets: Another example given by Mark was Counting Sheets, an interactive tool to support the exploration of counting problems, such as how many possible patterns can come from flipping three coins. 

Have a go yourself. What subjects could you imagine adding a teaspoon of 黄瓜啪啪视频 to?

Join our next free 黄瓜啪啪视频 seminar

We’d love you to join us for the next seminar in our series on cross-disciplinary 黄瓜啪啪视频. On 7 June, we will hear from Pratim Sengupta, of the University of Calgary, Canada. He has conducted studies in science classrooms and non-formal learning environments, focusing on providing open and engaging 黄啪啪啪视频s for anyone to explore code. Pratim will share his thoughts on the ways that more of us can become involved with code when we open up its richness and depth to a wider audience. He will also introduce us to his ideas about countering technocentrism, a key focus of his new book.

And finally… save another date!

We will shortly be sharing details about the official in-person launch event of the 黄瓜啪啪视频 Pi 黄瓜啪啪视频 Education 黄瓜啪啪视频 Centre at the University of Cambridge on 20 July 2022. And guess who is going to be coming to Cambridge, UK, from Michigan to officially cut the ribbon for us? That’s right, Mark Guzdial. More information coming soon on how you can sign up to join us for free at this launch event.

The post A teaspoon of 黄瓜啪啪视频 in every subject: Broadening participation in computer science appeared first on 黄色片子.

Crossing disciplinary boundaries

What do we mean by cross-disciplinary 黄瓜啪啪视频? Through this upcoming seminar series, we want to embrace the intersections and interactions of 黄瓜啪啪视频 with all aspects of learning and life, and think about how they can help us teach young people. The 黄瓜啪啪视频ers we’ve invited as our speakers will help us shed light on cross-disciplinary areas of 黄瓜啪啪视频 through the breadth of their presentations.

At the 黄色片子 our mission is to make 黄瓜啪啪视频 accessible to all children and young people everywhere, and because 黄瓜啪啪视频 and technology appear in all aspects of our and young people’s lives, in this series of seminars we will consider what 黄瓜啪啪视频 education looks like in a multiplicity of environments.

Mark Guzdial on 黄瓜啪啪视频 in history and mathematics

We start the new series on 3 May, and are beyond delighted to be kicking off with a talk from Mark Guzdial (University of Michigan). Mark has worked in computer science education for decades and won many awards for his 黄瓜啪啪视频, including the prestigious ACM SIGCSE Outstanding Contribution to 黄瓜啪啪视频 Education award in 2019. Mark has written hundreds of papers about computer science education, and he authors an extremely popular 黄瓜啪啪视频 education 黄瓜啪啪视频 blog that keeps us all up to date with what is going on in the field.

Recently, he has been 黄瓜啪啪视频ing the ways in which programming education can be integrated into other subjects, so he is a perfect speaker to start us thinking about our theme of cross-disciplinary 黄瓜啪啪视频. His talk will focus on how we can add a teaspoon of 黄瓜啪啪视频 to history and mathematics classes.

Pratim Sengupta on countering technocentrism

On 7 June, our speaker will be Pratim Sengupta (University of Calgary), who I feel will really challenge us to think about programming and 黄瓜啪啪视频 education in a new way. He has conducted studies in science classrooms and non-formal learning environments which focus on providing open and engaging 黄啪啪啪视频s for the public to explore code, for example through the Voice your Celebration installation. Recently, he has co-authored a book called Voicing Code in STEM: A Dialogical Imagination (MIT Press, availabe open access).

In Pratim’s talk, he will share his thoughts about the ways that more of us can become involved with code through opening up its richness and depth to a wider public audience, and he will introduce us to his ideas about countering technocentrism, a key focus of his new book. I’m so looking forward to being challenged by this talk.

Yasmin Kafai on 黄啪啪啪视频 design with e-textiles

On 12 July, we will hear from Yasmin Kafai (University of Pennsylvania), who is another legend in 黄瓜啪啪视频 education in my eyes. Yasmin started her long career in 黄瓜啪啪视频 education with Seymour Papert, internationally known for his work on Logo and on constructionism as a theoretical lens for understanding the way we learn 黄瓜啪啪视频. Yasmin was part of the team that created Scratch, and for many years now has been working on projects revolving around digital making, electronic textiles, and computational participation.

In Yasmin’s talk she will present, alongside a panel of teachers she’s been collaborating with, some of their work to develop a high school 黄啪啪啪视频 that uses electronic textiles to introduce students to computer science. This promises to be a really engaging and interactive seminar.

Genevieve Smith-Nunes on exploring data ethics

In August we will take a holiday, to return on 6 September to hear from the inspirational Genevieve Smith-Nunes (University of Cambridge), whose 黄瓜啪啪视频 is focused on dance and 黄瓜啪啪视频, in particular data-driven dance. Her work helps us to focus on the possibilities of creative 黄瓜啪啪视频, but also to think about the ethics of applications that involve vast amounts of data.

Genevieve’s talk will prompt us to think about some really important questions: Is there a difference in sense of self (identity) between the human and the virtual? How does sharing your personal biometric data make you feel? How can biometric and immersive development tools be used in the 黄瓜啪啪视频 classroom to raise awareness of data ethics? Impossible to miss!

Update: Seminars in October and November

• On 4 October, Conrad Wolfram (Wolfram 黄瓜啪啪视频) will give a talk on computational literacy in mathematics
• On 8 November, Tracy Gardner and Rebecca Franks (黄色片子) will present about 黄瓜啪啪视频 education in non-formal settings

Sign up now to attend the seminars

Do enter all these dates in your diary so you don’t miss out on participating — we are very excited about this series. Sign up below, and ahead of every seminar, we will send you the information for joining.

As usual, the seminars will take place online on a Tuesday at 17:00 to 18:30 local UK time.

The post Exploring cross-disciplinary 黄瓜啪啪视频 education in our new seminar series appeared first on 黄色片子.