A Multifaceted, Flexible Methodology to Expand Computer Science Access

Abstract

Computer Science (CS) has become a driving force across all domains, offering a perspective that encompasses critical and logical thinking skills that extend across diverse fields. However, in the United States a significant number of schools primarily define their computer curricula in terms of computer literacy & rudimentary skills and the for grades k-12, educational content for teacher preparation in CS has lagged. This paper highlights strategies for teacher preparation in CS. It emphasizes techniques to help teachers gain confidence and develop enthusiasm in teaching high quality CS while ensuring that the students meet the newly defined and adopted standards across various states. We present a process that we created for our project titled ‘CS for All’ and that was funded by the State department of education in New Jersey. The purpose of the project was to develop lasting strategies to train novice teachers from elementary to high school based on the 2020 New Jersey Student Learning Standards (NJSLS) in CS. Our mission during the project was 4-pronged with goals to: a) increase numbers & diversity of well-prepared K-12 CS educators; b) develop resources to implement equitable access to high-quality CS, to meet the NJSLS for all K–12 students; c) establish a statewide network of CS educators; d) disseminate curricula materials while providing scaffolding to ensure complete success of participating educators and their students.