Introducing Computer Science to the Public

Computer Science is now a large, rather amorphous field that no longer divides into tidy compartments like 'theory' and 'systems'. Consequently, identifying the most fundamental content, formulating it in a teachable form and testing it is not a simple matter. The process used for the CS Principles course is careful and broad-based.

The sole justification of teaching, of the school itself, is that the student comes out of it able to do something he could not do before. I say do and not know, because knowledge that doesn't lead to doing something new or doing something better is not knowledge at all.
-- J. Barzun ("Begin Here")

As stated by the College Boards commission charged with creating it, the goals for the new CS Principles course are

• Not to be a replacement for the current AP CS A course
• Must be a course for which college credit and/or placement is given (AP)
• Not designed as a required course for majors
• Designed to appeal to a vastly larger and more diverse set of students

• Commission
• Advisory Groups
• Piloting Instructors

The Commission

The ten member Commission, composed of both high school and college faculty, set the overall direction for the effort. There primary activities were

• Develop the Curriculum Framework (Big Ideas, Computational Thinking Practices, Claims and Evidence)
• Review project evaluation data (e.g. College Curriculum Study and course pilot data) to revise the Curriculum Framework
• Recommend prior knowledge and skills for success in the proposed course.

The two main results of the commission's efforts that are described here are the Seven Big Ideas, which sets the intellectual scope of the Computer Science to be covered in the exam, and the Six Computational Thinking Practices, which describes the habits of mind and skill set of people knowledgeable in Computer Science.

The commission proposed to use the following timeline to pace the effort:

The Advisory Committee

The nineteen member Commission, composed principally of college faculty, vetted the work of the Commission including the Seven Big Ideas and Six Computational Thinking Practices documents. The Advisory Committee was responsible for

• Review and provide feedback on the Curriculum Framework
• Develop draft curricular requirements
• Develop an annotated course outline for pilot courses
• Recruitment for Pilots
• Piloting instructors develop sample syllabi for pilot courses

A principal result from the Advisory Committee is an annotation of the course content. Three themes encapsulate the "spin" that the Committee placed on the course:

 Creativity   A key theme of the Principles course is its focus on creativity. The Big Ideas and Computational Thinking Practices that follow hint at the creative nature of computing and computer science, yet alone they cannot truly convey how we hope creativity should be addressed in the course. It’s not enough for students to know that “computing requires creativity.” Rather, we want them to actually be creative: creating artifacts that they want to show off to their friends and family, using simulation to explore questions that interest them, and designing and implementing solutions employing the iterative and sometimes messy process that artists, writers, and engineers use to translate ideas into tangible form.

 Technology to Solve and Create   A second theme is the course’s use of technology as a means for solving computational problems and exploring creative endeavors, rather than a focus on a specific tool or language. To that end, the course highlights programming as one of the seven big ideas of computer science, because programming is among the creative processes that help transform ideas into reality. Programming will be a tool students use to explore concepts and create exciting and personally relevant artifacts. In contrast to traditional college introductory CS courses and the current AP CS A course, the Principles course will not focus on nor be organized around a specific language. The instructor of the course will select one or more languages, based on appropriateness for a specific project or problem and according to guidelines provided as part of the course specification. Language specifics will be taught only to the extent that students need them to produce their programs. Similarly, students in this course will work with "big- data"—to analyze it, to visualize it, to draw conclusions from trends in it—but the course itself does not specify particular tools for these explorations.

 Broad Appeal   A third theme that will help the course appeal to a broad audience is the course’s focus on people and society, not just on machines and systems. Students will explore computer science’s relevance to and impact on the world today. They will investigate the innovations in other fields that computing and computer science have made possible. They will examine the ethical implications of new computing technologies. They will perform activities that develop their communication and teamwork skills. Students in this course will work individually and in teams to solve problems. They will talk and write about their solutions, the importance of these problems and their impact on the world.

Piloting Instructors

As detailed in the timeline above, there will be multiple phases of piloting of the new course in order to have ample opportunity to assess and evaluate the teachers, students and materials.

• 5 college-level pilots in academic 2010/2011
• 10 college-level pilots and 5 high school pilots in academic year 2011/2012   Apply!

The pilot instructors main responsibilities are

• To develop a specific curriculum for a college course based on the material developed earlier
• To develop materials and activities for the course, and make them publicly available
• Participate in assessment and evaluation studies
• Evaluate engagement with students, especially women and minorities
• Keep a log of the events and experiences with the course

Check out the five piloting schools and instructors.