8/24/2016 lschmitt
Written by lschmitt
They follow his lead, dragging and dropping a block of code into their viewers. After making the latest update, everyone in the room begins to shake their Google Nexus tablets, which are connected via USB to their computers. The code they added now allows the tablets to make a sloshing sound when shaken.
They’re creating Magic 8 Ball apps, modeled after the old fashioned dime store fortune teller—ask a question, shake the ball, and learn your fate. The tablets are now delivering various answers to the students’ questions in a robotic voice; “yes,” “no,” “failure is imminent,” can be heard echoing around the room.
The course was added two years ago as part of a District-wide effort to vastly expand computer science offerings in grades K-12. Centennial High School Freshman Kasinda Williams is taking advantage of the new courses and the opportunity to explore the tech sector as a possible career path.
“I have taken the class before this one and we were doing Javascript. It was really fun from last semester, so I wanted to do it again,” she said. “I don’t have a career plan, so I was looking into different ones. I really like it, so I might go into technology. I want [the community] to know these classes are being offered and you’re not going to be nerdy for taking them.”
Two years ago Linnenburger was drafted by Superintendent Dr. Judy Wiegand and Deputy Superintendent Dr. Laura Taylor to help lead the District’s expansion of computer science at the high school level and offer this path to students, in part due to his passion for computer science dating back to the 1990s. As a result of this work, Unit 4 high schools now offer a Computer Science course of study (plus networking courses) to students in grades 9-12 that includes seven courses, with a second Advanced Placement course coming next school year.
Unit 4’s Central and Centennial High Schools are now two of only 12% of high schools that offer Advanced Placement Computer Science, which allows students with passing scores to earn college credit.
“Business, science, and even social science practice today increasingly requires an ability to work with data intelligently and a broader understanding of computation,” said Dr. Leonard Pitt, Associate Head and Director of Undergraduate Programs in the Computer Science Department at the University of Illinois. “Preparing our students with these skills has become critical. I’ve been excited about the opportunity to work with Champaign Unit 4 on teacher professional development and computer science curricula, and am delighted to see the progress that has been achieved over the past few years.”
In order to implement the curriculum, Unit 4 partnered with University of Illinois partners to provide extensive professional development for teachers. Now, Kenwood teachers are working with the University of Illinois College of Education to develop a model K-12 computer science (CS) and computational thinking (CT) curriculum.
This work is part of the National Science Foundation STEM+C initiative with the University of Chicago. At the middle school level, students are able to learn about coding through STEM courses offered at each campus. As part of the course, STEM specialists invite working professionals from Champaign-based tech company Wolfram Research to lead lessons and provide students exposure to the Wolfram programming language.
“We know that we need to prepare our students for jobs that don’t exist yet. In order to rise to that challenge, our students will need to develop strong computational thinking skills,” said Superintendent Dr. Judy Wiegand. “We are moving toward access to computer science and coding at all grade levels, at all schools.”
Article originally published by Champaign Unit 4 Schools. Republished with permission. Article by: Stephanie Stuart, Champaign Unit 4 Schools