Training The Next Generation of Computer Science Teachers

The biggest problem in computer science education is training the teachers we need. That seems to be the big thing on my social media in the last few days.

This past week was a major document release in New York of "Priming the Computer Science Teacher Pump: Integrating CS Education into Schools of Ed”. Mark Guzdial wrote about it here. You can also download the actual report here.  Mark also shared the slide deck from the event on Slideshare here. If you don’t have time for the whole report the slides make interesting reading as a sort of summary.

It has been clear to many of us in CS education for a while that we really need schools of education to step up and prepare CS teachers. This report addresses what is needed with some solid recommendations. This being computer science education, others are tossing in their opinions.

Mike Zamansky, who was at the release event, gave some of his thoughts on his blog at - Math For Math Teachers - watering down CS Ed before we even start. Mike comes from a heavy CS background and many years teaching at a highly rated, entrance exam, public high school in New York City. That gives him a particular perspective.

Garth Flint, who teaches as a smaller private Catholic K-12 school in Montana, wrote a blog post on the subject - CS Ed – to water or not to water, that is the question which really covered the situation for a lot of teachers especially those in rural areas and other smaller schools. 

It’s a different perspective from Mike’s. One is not better than another – they’re just different. In a sense those two posts show some of the diversity of educational environments we’re seeing in computer science education.

Preparing teachers for this wide range of needs is definitely going to be part of the challenge. I can’t see a one size fits all CS teacher preparation scheme working. There is really going to have to be some local variation as well as consideration as to different age level preparation. I’m not sure one can easily prepare for the full range of Kindergarten though Advanced Placement Computer Science. Content is one thing but the how to teach is another.

OK, now there is something of a roadmap. Will schools of education move into this space the way we need them to do? We’ll see I guess but I hope so.