Rethinking High School Computer Science

I love programming. I took a computer science course as an undergraduate and really fell in love with programming.While I made my living writing code for many years, my wife once wondered if I would have been happier with coding as an avocation rather than a vocation. That’s a bias I have no doubt taken in my teaching career. But is it the right bias for developing high school CS curriculum? I’m starting to wonder about that.

I’ve said in a number of ways that we don’t teach high school physics because we need for physicists. We teach HS physics to help students understand the world they live in. The same needs to be true for high school computer science.

A recent blog post by Mark Guzdial brought that into focus. (CS doesn’t have a monopoly on computing education: Programming is for everyone) The key line in that post was this: Computing education for non-CS majors is different than what we teach CS majors.

Now we talk a lot about computer science for all and that teaching high school computer science should not be about vocational training or just preparing students to be CS majors. But is that how we are developing our curriculum and our ideas about what students should be taught?

Note: The rest of this post is based on a comment I left on Mark’s blog post BTW.

Often we're lucky to have any CS courses even with improvements in recent years. SO having a variety of courses for different types of students seems impractical. High schools don't have the resources that universities do. Actually, small colleges and universities don't have the resources that schools like Michigan does!

But circling back to high schools which is my focus, what should we be teaching? For the most part, high school CS is largely still preparation for CS majors in university or for vocational preparation. The growth in cybersecurity courses in indicative of the vocational focus, for example.

Some schools do have the ability to offer multiple courses. It takes a larger CS program to do that though. The high school I retired from did adopt a course teaching Python largely at the request of the Physics department, for example. R is a big language in many university majors but we don’t see much R in high schools. Should we? I am not sure. Many schools will be limited to one or two courses that have to prepare everyone in any case.

Advanced Placement Computer Science Principles is probably the closest course available for computing education for meeting multiple computing paths. It's still controversial in HS CS with its perception in some circles as a watered-down CS course. It may just be the course we should be paying the most attention to though.

Writing requirements for HS CS is going to remain difficult though. Getting people to give up or even depreciate loops is going to be impossible. (Reading the Guzdial post makes that last line more understandable. Not all programming requires loops.)

Ultimately, high school computer science is all over the map from schools that offer little to none with few taking CS to schools offering multiple options and requiring all students to take some. Universities cannot expect students to have even a base level of CS. Some students are going to have huge advantages. And that makes me sad.

Writing Directions Is Hard

I finished assembling a new bed frame yesterday. I seems solid with good quality materials and seems well designed. The directions on the other hand left something to be desired.  Some things were unclear and resulted in some errors on my part. The “steps” were diagrams that usually clearly showed where all the pieces should go. It was not clear in what order things should be attached leaving the assembler to  make assumptions which sometimes resulted in things being more difficult than they might have been. In at least one place, it would have been helpful to say something like “leave some slack here until step x” where step X involved pieces that had to fit in with the pieces in that step.

And finally, saying that a piece goes on the left or right is less helpful if the instructions are unclear about if left is based on facing the headboard or facing the foot board.

So what does this have to do with computing? Well, I kept thinking about how a robot AI would assemble from these directions. I decided that a robot AI would require a lot more in the way of direction. Software, even so called artificial intelligence software, does not handle ambiguity well. Even things that are obvious to humans need to be spelled out for software.

We’re probably a long way from having general purpose robot assembling household furniture but even if the hardware was ready I don’t think we’re ready for giving it instructions.

We’ve joked about a “do what I mean” instruction for decades but even humans struggle with interpreting ambiguous instructions. We’ve all heard someone say “just do what I mean” expecting people to understand jargon or figures of speech. Those things require a knowledge of context and individuals ways of speaking that are often culturally dependent. Can we program all that into an AI? Maybe one day though I expect that AIs will have to work with people for a while to really get solid understanding. Each person may have to train the AI individually.

Circling back to directions. Today’s AIs like ChatGPT and others are given prompts. It often takes several iterations of prompts to get the results that users want from the tool. I have actually seen course descriptions that include learning how to properly give prompts. Yes, it seems that humans have to be taught how to talk to artificial intelligences. It seems to me that learning to program may be helpful here.

Programming is writing directions for the computer.  It involves taking very human prompts and writing directions that interpret what the user actually wants in terms that the computer understands. It involves removing ambiguity. Programming, and computer science more generally, help people understand the world of computing. That is becoming ever more important in understanding the world we live in every day.

I’ve been saying for a long time that we should not be focusing computer science in education as a career subject. We should be focused on helping students understand the world they live in. That is why everyone needs to learn some computer science.

CSTA Ends Free Membership

I suppose it was inevitable. In the beginning, CSTA only had a free membership. The organization was originally funded by outside sponsors. An NSF grant covered membership for the first six years. This was probably never really sustainable. After a few years, the CSTA Board, I was a board member at the time, started talking about paid memberships. Going totally paid, as most professional membership organizations seem to be, seemed like a big jump. Eventually, two tiers were developed. A free membership and a paid membership that had additional benefits. CSTA+ was born.

It was something of a struggle to define benefits to make a paid membership seem worthwhile but the differentiation grew over time. For many CSTA members, including myself, the fact that a paid membership was a positive financial support for the organization was really enough.

Things change over time and CSTA recently announced that the Plus was going away and there would only be paid CSTA membership. The benefits of a free membership, like the category itself, are going away. Joining a local chapter will require a paid membership. Participation in most chapter events will be limited to paid members. Local chapters can still hold events open to non (paid) members but there will not be support from the national organization for them.

Like many members, I am disappointed in the change. I am sure it makes some financial sense for the organization but it feels like they (I almost said “we”) are abandoning a lot of now former members. This is especially true of the many teachers who don’t self identify as computer science teachers. Many see themselves are math teachers or science teachers or elementary school teachers or , well, you get the picture, rather than computer science teachers. Many of these teachers are already paying members of organizations they identify more strongly with. Will they spend more money to join CSTA? Often, I fear, not.

Unlike many companies and some universities, K-12 schools don’t often pay for professional memberships. Some programs, like Amazon Future Engineers, will offer scholarships with some attendant hoops and commitments. Some teachers will get memberships through CSTA Conference registration which many districts will pay for in part. A lot of teachers will question the value. Sure it’s “only” $50 but we have a lot of underpaid teachers who are already spending out of pocket to support their classrooms.

We’ll see where CSTA membership is a year from now. Personally, I’m retired and I’m making a lot of decisions about my discretionary spending. I just renewed my ACM membership – paid. I don’t know if I will do so next year. I love the magazines and I download a lot of SIGCSE papers to read. They are not as relevant to me as a retired teacher but I love keeping up. For now at least.

I have loved being a CSTA member since the very beginning. It feels like my tribe. It has always been a highly inclusive organization. I’m still a CSTA+ member, or just member now, until this summer I believe. I will decide then about continuing or not.

H1B AI and the Future of Computer Science education

H1B visas are back in the news these days. One one hand we have some loud calls for more H1B visas with a claim that US native workers are not up to snuff. Or at least that there are not enough good ones locally. On the other hand, people claim that well qualified Americans are losing out because foreign workers are taking jobs at lower pay. That the call for H1Bs is all about saving money. Amidst all of this, American students are wondering about future jobs for them between artificial intelligence and H1B workers taking all the jobs.

H1B and both hiring and salaries are actually more complicated than many think. Some claim that H1B workers work for less but the law and most hiring companies payH1B workers and natives the same salaries.Plus it can be hard to hire H1B workers because of government rules and paperwork.

On the other hand, supply and demand are involved. If H1B workers increase supply than salaries may be lower for everyone. My friends and contacts in the software industry complain that there is an over abundances of programmers and that the need is dropping because of AI. Other industries may very well be different. I just don't know.

From what I have read a majority of H1B visas these days do got to software developers. Are Musk and Ramaswamy talking about a need for other types of engineers? Are we facing a shortage of other engineers? I don’t know but I will focus on computer/software types because that is where my expertise rests.

Some of that Musk and especially Ramaswamy are saying is that US student don’t work hard enough and that the US educational system is not helping. Leaving aside that many of the people who agree with them want to cut funding for education and make the system worse aside, what is happening.

I have taught a number of international students over the years. These students generally do work harder and show more respect for teachers and for learning. Ramaswamy is not totally wrong on that. The students I have had are not typical in many ways from their peers in their home countries. I would hesitate to extrapolate to what goes on in those countries. Lets face it, it takes a very motivated and privileged student to go study in another country.

Priorities are a bit off in some respects in American education though. Look at how many states where the highest paid public employee is a college football or basketball coach. In other countries sports and school are not as connected as in the US. How often to athletes get special treatment in American schools and college admission! And yet, students come to the US from all over the world to study at American universities. Clearly, we’re doing some things right.

Cost of higher ed is a turn off and a burden for many. Universities are spending money on some non-academic things to attract students which adds to the cost. That is in part, I think, because the US has cut funding that could help students get a good education. People forget that the greatest growth in the economy came from GIs getting free tuition after WW II. Reducing government funding of higher ed is a direct cause IMHO, for a perceived need for H1B workers. If Musk and Ramaswamy think there are problems with US education spending more money IS the answer.

What does this mean for American students? Well, for starters it means they need to do more to prove themselves. Years ago I was working for Microsoft on a competition called the Imagine Cup. International students took to it and worked their tails off. American students, especially those at top universities, said that there wasn’t enough prize money to make it worth their while. A degree from a name university was all they needed. They saw no need to try to prove themselves. Those days are gone! And good riddance.

A student today who wants a career in software or related fields can get it but they should not expect it to be handed to them. The evidence companies are looking for are not grades or what university you attended but actual evidence of accomplishment. A solid portfolio in GitHub for example. Or projects completed in an internship or working to help a non profit. Or perhaps building out systems for a small business. What did you do outside of classwork?

High school students work very hard to get into universities. They research what universities are looking for and they build impressive resumes. Too often they coast once getting into university. Oh sure, the academics can be hard and they have to work at it. But universities have all sorts of support for students once they get into the university. It is tempting to think that university is about having a good time before being handed a good job. That is the mentality that hurts students.

Can American students have a good career in computing in spite of AI and H1B visas? Absolutely, but they cannot take it for granted.

Three Keys To Being A Great Teacher

For the last 20 years or so I have been able to meet some truly great teachers. Some I visited in their schools. Some I met at conferences. Some I have become good friends with. I have concluded that there are three things that make good teachers into great teachers.

One: Relationships with students. Great teachers truly care about their students as people. They build relationships with students. They may not be close to all of them but they try to build relationships with as many as they can. They listen to students. It’s not about the struggles the student is having with the subject, thought that is important. They hear about the students struggles with life, with other subjects, and with what happens today. They respect students as people. Students feel that the teacher likes them because the teacher does like them. That is what lets them build a relationship.

Two: They are enthusiastic about the subject or subjects they teach. This can be difficult in elementary school where teachers have to teach a lot of different subjects.  Great teachers can fake it to some extent because they are passionate about enough of what they are teaching to know what that feels like. Passion is contagious. It also means that one wants to share that passion as well as the specific knowledge they are trying to share.  Students who have a relationship with a teacher will naturally want to learn what is being taught so enthusiastically.

Three: Innovation. A superintendent of schools once told me that there is a difference between a teacher with one year of experience 20 times and a teacher with 20 years of experience. The great teachers I have met are constantly innovating They may start with a canned curriculum, though rarely, but if they do they make it their own. They add, subtract, and move things around. More often though, they make their own curriculum. Oh, sure, they abide by necessary standards but they teach their own way. They are rarely satisfied. You’ll find a great teacher modifying their presentation, their project, anything, before teaching that material again. They often make up their own courses and adapt them to meet the needs of the students in front of them. And the times in which they live.

They also borrow from other great teachers. They are not afraid to find ideas from others and fit them into how and where they teach. These are the teachers you find at conferences. They are presenting but they are also there learning. If they present at a conference or PD session they welcome feedback and new ideas. They are talking to others in the “hallway track”, sharing meals and activities outside the conference. They are always listening and learning.

Bonus: The great teachers share their knowledge with others. They will share their curriculum. They will present at conferences. They share not for ego but because there is something about being a teacher that just makes one want to help everyone become better. Better about teaching. Better at knowing things.

Seek out the great teachers. Become a great teacher.  Make the world a better place. Make that part of your New Year’s Resolution.

December Adventure–Write some Code Everyday

Eugene Wallingford let me in on A December Adventure  From the website “The December Adventure is low key. The goal is to write a little bit of code every day in December.”

It’s sort of like an Advent of Code but not as intense or competitive. I love the idea of the Advent of Code but it’s more work than I want to put into something. On the other hand, I like to idea of spending a bit of time on a new project every day.

Of course now I have to come up with and good project idea. I have been working on my Hexapawn game and it is tempting to just work on that a bit more. It still needs work.

It may be time to try something new for the month though. Maybe something Christmas related. Any ideas?

Hour of Code and Corporate Involvement in CS Education

An interesting article was shared on Facebook recently -Is the 'Hour of Code' the New 30-Minute Saturday Morning Cartoon Commercial? Take a look at it. It may make you think.

One statement there is that "corporate-sponsored Hour of Code tutorials for the nation's schoolchildren have blurred the lines between coding lessons and product infomercials." Well, that is something to think about. Blurred or crossed?

Those who know me know that for over nine years I worked for a big tech company supporting computer science educators. So clearly, I think that a lot of "big tech" involvement is a good thing. Is it now manipulating children? Well, that gets interesting.

BTW I am also friendly with people at Code.Org and have done work for them in the past. While I don’t/haven’t agreed with them on everything I think they are good people with good motivations. Just being clear on my biases here.

First off, I think there is a big a difference between Hour of Code and Saturday morning cartoons. Prime among those differences is teacher involvement. Teachers are the gateway to Hour of Code. And in fact, they are the gateway to just about all tech influence in CS education. While there may be some students finding and participating in Hour of Code, most students use Hour of Code in the context of the classroom, computer lab, or library under adult supervision.

My understanding is that many of these product placement modules in Hour of Code are solicited to attract/interest students in learning computer science. Put another way, computer science is the product and Minecraft or Disney characters are the show bringing the audience. In a sense, Computer Science is the advertisement and the corporate tool/characters are the show.

Does doing a Minecraft Hour of Code encourage students to play more Minecraft? Perhaps. Though my ten year old grandson hardly needs more encouragement as it is.

This can be a slippery slope or course. Where is the line between promoting computer science and promoting a commercial product? That’s hardly unique to Hour of Code. My grandson has a Chromebook because that is what his school uses. I doubt that is the only product that children want because they see it or use it at school. I trust teachers to be a good influence on their students. I don’t see they becoming salespeople for the companies helping support Hour of Code. I think they know when to encourage and when to point in other directions.

Companies know that Hour of Code is a gateway towards learning computer science. They see that as a good thing. If that leads to more students interested in their products as well I am sure they are happy about that. But they are still selling computer science first. Blurry lines are not the same as crossed. We should keep an eye on that though.