A Model for Improving
Secondary CS
Education
Barbara Ericson, Mark Guzdial, Maureen
Biggers
ericson@cc.gatech.edu
Georgia Institute of Technology
The Problem Nationwide

US Dept of Labor predicts the fastest
growing occupations in 2002-2012
• Computer Software Engineers
• Computer System Designers

Across the county the number of CS
students is dropping (23%)
• Some high schools are removing CS
• Percentage of women is in teens
• Several groups are underrepresented
The Problem in Georgia

Only about 50 schools of over 370
public schools offer AP CS
• Many of these are private schools

Many students don’t take the exam
• Many of the ones who do, don’t pass

AP CS moved to Technology and
Career Education Department
• Most of these teachers have no
programming experience
One Solution

ICE: The Institute for Computing
Education
• Partnership between



Georgia Tech’s College of Computing
Georgia Department of Education
Announced June 2004 by Kathy Cox
and Richard DeMillo
ICE History

November 2003 Diversity Advisory
Board meeting
• Nationally recognized professionals

From academia and business
• Including the Director of Technology and
Career Education in Georgia

Discussions of the problems with CS
and how to solve them
• Led to the formation of ICE
ICE Goals

Train more CS-AP teachers
• Start by training teachers for an
introductory course

even teachers with no experience
• When ready train for CS-AP course

Increase the number and diversity of
CS students
• Interesting curriculum
• Help with recruiting
Summer 2004

1 week AP workshop
• 17 teachers attended

2 week Programming and Systems
Management Workshop
• 30 teachers attended

Two 1 week summer camps for high
school students
• 30 students each week
AP Workshop
AP Workshop Development

Development
Process
• Visits to classrooms
• Teacher surveys

Desired Content
• Object-oriented
principles
• Case Study
• Data Structures
AP Workshop Content

Short lectures (< 30 minutes)
• Followed by hands-on activities






Role-playing
OO Analysis using CRC cards
UML class diagrams
Small programming assignments
Demonstrations of current research
Talk on encouraging diversity
Prog and Sys Workshop
Prog and Sys Development

Adapt curriculum from undergraduate
course for non-majors at Tech
• Taught in Python
• Developed by Mark Guzdial

Teaches CS by manipulating media
• Pictures, sounds, movies, text

The undergrad course has been successful
• Better retention rates
• Attracting more women and underrepresented
groups
• Getting people to transfer into CS
• Students are taking a second CS course
Prog and Sys Content Delivery

Short Lectures (< 30 minutes)
• Hands-on programming assignments
• Role playing

Demos of current research
• Robot dogs, aging in place


Talk on diversity
Student panel discussion
Prog and Sys Content










Introduction to object-oriented concepts
Keywords and operators
Primitive and object variables
Class and object methods
Arrays
Iteration (for and while loops)
Conditionals (if, if-else, if-else-if, and, or)
Graphical User Interfaces
Input/Output and Exceptions
Debugging
Goals for Content

Motivating
• For students and teachers

Creative
• Open-ended assignments

Authentic tasks
• Start with what students use computers
for (pictures, sounds, text, web, games)
Negate an Image
Mirroring
Rotation
Create a Collage
Remove ‘Red Eye’
Sepia-Tint
Chromakey
Teacher Collages
AP Results

Survey results
• 94.12%
• 88.24%
• 94.12%
• 76.47%


felt
got
got
felt
more capable
ideas on what to teach
ideas on how to teach
ready to teach in fall
Teachers want sample test questions
and lesson plans
Some of the teachers are using the
content
Prog and Sys Results

Survey results
• 70.37%
• 96.30%
• 88.89%
• 44.44%


of teachers felt more capable
got ideas on what to teach
got ideas on how to teach
felt ready to teach in fall
Teachers with no experience wanted
a slower pace
Some of the teachers are using the
content
Quotes




I didn’t want to take this workshop. I
thought it would be boring and too mathbased, but I am having fun.
My kids won’t believe that I am
programming for fun.
This was the best (non-college credit)
workshop I have ever taken.
The demos were awesome. I wish I had
thought ahead & had a video camera to
record demos.
Student Summer Camps

Two one-week summer camps for high
school students
• Not residential
• 30 students in each camp

Content
•
•
•
•
•
Building a computer from parts
Computer engineering lab
Media manipulation in python
Demonstrations of research
Afternoon recreation
Student Summer Camps
Student Summer Camp
Student Summer Camp
What Else is ICE Doing?

Winter/Spring 2-day Workshops
• AP Case Study
• Teaching Java using Turtles, Robots, and
Sound
• Preparing for the AP Exam

AP Bowl Competition at Tech
• April 16th

Developing a database of practice exam
questions and answers
• With explanations for all answers
Extending the Case Study
Using Turtles, Robots, and Sound
to Teach Java




Use LEGO Robots and a visual
programming language to introduce
programming concepts
Use Turtle.java to control a virtual
turtle using Java
Use Karel J. Robot to control a virtual
robot using Java
Use Sound manipulations to teach
programming concepts
LEGO Robots
RCX Code Visual Prog Language
Program a Turtle with Java
Program a Robot with Java
Using Sound to teach Java

Write programs to reverse a sound,
append sounds, make a sound clip,
and construct a MIDI song
Summer 2005 Workshops

2 week Prog. and Sys. for beginners
• No programming experience required
• July 5-8th and 12-15th 2005

1 week intermediate Prog. and Sys.
June 28-July 1st 2005
• Some programming experience required

1 week College Board Endorsed AP
July 18-22
ICE Resources

Collaborative Website
• http://coweb.cc.gatech.edu/ice-gt

Mailing lists
• gacs-teachers-psm@cc.gatech.edu
• gacs-teachers-ap@cc.gatech.edu

Classroom visits
• Barbara Ericson ericson@cc.gatech.edu

Field trips
• Kristin Vadas vadas@cc.gatech.edu

Summer camps for students
• http://www.cc.gatech.edu/campice/
Model for Others


Partnership between a Dept of
Education and a University
Summer workshops and camps
• With year-long follow-up for the
teachers

Can grow new CS-AP Teachers
• Even from teachers without much
programming experience

Have teachers signing up for this summers
AP workshop
Challenges

Funding
• State provides some funding

For workshops
• Georgia Tech would like more support


From NSF, corporations, or foundations
Managing Expectations
• Don’t we have more AP teachers yet?
• 3-5 year time frame for results