Enthusing and informing potential computer science students and their teachers

Abstract

School curricula contain little direct Computer Science (CS) content, and pupil surveys confirm that pupils have little idea what CS is. A range of initiatives have been introduced by universities to address this problem, and so attract more CS students. This paper presents the Computer Science Inside… project, one such initiative, the primary goals of which are to provide materials for use in secondary school classrooms, and to motivate and prepare the teachers to deliver them. The materials are principally workshops, to be conducted away from machinery and which bring out key CS concepts underpinning ubiquitous IT products such as the mobile phone or internet. All materials are available on the web, to encourage delivery widely by academics, students or teachers. Our evaluation has shown the approach to be broadly successful, and has also highlighted directions for future work.

Making computing interesting to school students

“…There is a belief that computing entails little more than learning how to use computers (eg using a word processor or spreadsheet) [23]. Students and careers teachers often have an incomplete idea of what CS can involve [12]. Even among first year university students there is some surprise at the contents of the CS syllabus [19].…”

“…A variety of university-driven initiatives such as Greenfoot [16], CS Inside [2,12] and our own, cs4fn [11], have sought to address the disconnectedness between the pervasive use of the products of computer science technology, particularly by young people, and their lack of knowledge about how they work. These and other 'excite programs' [13] also aim to enthuse students about CS more generally, and increase their awareness of the topic, but also in the hope of increasing enrolment onto further CS courses.…”

“…The ability of CAS to draw attention to the need for change in school computing has been strengthened by being a conduit for teachers' opinions. Other work has sought UK teachers' views on their own CS knowledge [12], CPD [23], aspects of computing and particular teaching tools [17]. The Royal Society's 2012 report Shut down or restart?…”

“…In countries around the world a range of excellent initiatives have bloomed, like Scratch [18], CS Unplugged [1], the Computer Science Teachers Association [9] and CS4HS [4]. The UK is home to many such projectsGreenfoot [16], CS Inside [12] and Computing At School (CAS) [8] for example -but despite this, student uptake remains low. The number of students taking computing at A-level (ages 16-18; pre-university schooling) has roughly halved since 2005 [6].…”

Experiences of prospective high school teachers using a programming teaching tool

“…In recent years, however, it has been found that UK schools have steadily reduced the CS content of computing courses. This has been replaced instead with ICT training material [7]. As a result, the main focus of CS courses has shifted away from the teaching of practical computing concepts.…”