Anne, Jennie, and Mary,
I read in the May 2012 edition of the CSTA Voice that the Chicago Public Schools was adopting the Exploring Computer Science curriculum for students. CPS is also providing PD for its faculty to support their move to transform technology education teachers into computer science teachers. That is a major decision and undertaking for such a large district!
Developed by a cadre of west coast high school and college professionals, this curriculum is designed to introduce high school students to the field of computer science and is aligned with the goals of the ACM’s A Model Curriculum for K-12 Computer Science (2003). Most objectives align with level 3 while some align with level 4 of the ACM document. We have reviewed the ACM model curriculum document in our department meetings and the specific objectives are in our shared google doc.
At first review it’s easy to see that our current Computers I: Technology in a Digital Age class follows a similar approach and employs many similar types of learning activities – another indication that we appear to be on the right CS path when compared with schools and districts around the country. I thought I would share the link in the event you wanted to review the scope and sequence and/or the full curriculum for ideas – http://www.exploringcs.org/curriculum.
Enjoy,
Erich
From: Tusch, Erich
Sent: Thursday, May 03, 2012 1:27 PM
To: Lyons, Jennie; Budlong, Anne; Murray-Jones, Mary; Dioguardi, III, J. Edward
Cc: King, Andrew
Subject: Exploring Computer Science curriculum