CS Education Researchers On Regrets

Pay Yongpradit recently posted (LinkedIn post) about asking a number of computer science education leaders and researchers “about their biggest regret in their respective research areas.” The answers were interesting to say the least. I think they are important as well.

Natalie Rusk -  Research Scientist and OctoStudio Team Lead at MIT Media Lab

That education has focused on Scratch as a tool, where students “learn Scratch” rather than the ideas/mindsets it was designed to develop, and for only a short time (e.g., a 3-week module), rather than as an experience that can be revisited constantly and grow with students.

It does seem like Scratch is often used as a sort of quick introduction to programming. It's big with An Hour of Code and that is fine as far as it goes but Scratch, and similar block based programming tools, can be so much more. It could be incorporated into other subjects, used as way to help students think and explore.

Sue Sentance - Research Professor, University of Cambridge

That the UK didn't fund scaled, organized teacher PD when they rolled out their national computing program in 2014. They had a bottom-up approach with their network of master teachers, but it wasn't enough to train teachers at the scale and quality they needed. Also that the UK hasn't emphasized the importance of CS Ed research when introducing CS in schools, especially for the youngest kids.

Professional Development for computer science educators and for educators who use computer science but don't always see themselves as CS educators is woefully inadequate. A week or three is not enough time. Worse still is that most PD is skill based rather than pedagogic. Most PD is "here is a neat tool and now we are going to teach you how to use it." That's different from "here is how to teach using this tool." It's even more different, and less than, "here is how we use this tool to teach this concept." That later is what teachers really need. We are also not seeing enough research in how to teach computer science. Teachers are often reluctant to incorporate the learning from that research as well. A lot of what is sold as research based has had a short shelf live over the years.

That doesn't encourage teachers as they have seen too many "research based" ideas last a year or two and then be replaced with something new. I think that sometimes these new ideas come from people with something to sell rather than from people who have done reproducible research. That's a problem and a reason that we need rigorous research with reproducible results. That requires funding.

Tim Bell - Professor at University of Canterbury

That CS Unplugged has been viewed as a replacement for programming, not as an entree, to the extent that in some places, CS Unplugged has been used as an excuse for not investing in devices and comprehensive programming education.

I love CS Unplugged activities and when I use them I use them to lead into programming. I think that a lot of people use them as a filler for times when they don’t have equipment to use with students. That’s a shame. I think some of this is because there isn’t any real PD in how to use these tools as integrated into introducing programming concepts. PD and education research play into all of this.

I think the messages from all three of these wonderful people tie together and show the need for research into pedagogy and education for teachers. Education into how to teach concepts!