Designing a Modern Computing Curriculum for Bermuda

Eric RobertsProfessor of Computer Science

Stanford University

Reed College Mathematics ColloquiumApril 3, 2008

Outline

Setting the context: Why precollege education is important1.

Overview of the Bermuda Project2.

The successes of the project3.

Implications for education in the United States4.

Outline

Setting the context: Why precollege education is important1.

Overview of the Bermuda Project2.

The successes of the project3.

Implications for education in the United States4.

The Crisis in Computing EducationThat there is currently a crisis in computing education is not in doubt.

McGettrick et al., SIGCSE 2007—

• Computing enrollments in the United States and most of Europe have plummeted since 2001.

The Pipeline Problem in Computer Science

Source: Computing Research Association, Taulbee Study, 2008

Although there are indications that the decline has bottomed out, the number of computer science majors at research universities has fallen by almost 50 percent since its peak in 2000.

The Crisis in Computing EducationThat there is currently a crisis in computing education is not in doubt.

McGettrick et al., SIGCSE 2007—

• Computing enrollments in the United States and most of Europe have plummeted since 2001.

• This drop is of significant economic concern because those same countries are training far fewer people than they need to fill the available positions. In the United States, there are now many more jobs in the IT sector than there were at the height of the dot-com boom, with all projections pointing toward continued growth.

Degree Production vs. Job Openings160,000

140,000

120,000

100,000

80,000

60,000

40,000

20,000

Engineering Physical Sciences Biological Sciences Computer Science

Ph.D.

Master’s

Bachelor’s

Projected job openings

Adapted from a presentation by John Sargent, Senior Policy Analyst, Department of Commerce, at the CRA Computing Research Summit, February 23, 2004. Original sources listed as National Science Foundation/Division of Science Resources Statistics; degree data from Department of Education/National Center for Education Statistics: Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System Completions Survey; and NSF/SRS; Survey of Earned Doctorates; and Projected Annual Average Job Openings derived from Department of Commerce (Office of Technology Policy) analysis of Bureau of Labor Statistics 2002-2012 projections. See http://www.cra.org/govaffairs/content.php?cid=22.

Sources:

The Crisis in Computing EducationThat there is currently a crisis in computing education is not in doubt.

McGettrick et al., SIGCSE 2007—

• Computing enrollments in the United States and most of Europe have plummeted since 2001.

• This drop is of significant economic concern because those same countries are training far fewer people than they need to fill the available positions. In the United States, there are now many more jobs in the IT sector than there were at the height of the dot-com boom, with all projections pointing toward continued growth.

• The reasons behind the enrollment decline are complex and highly interconnected. One of the most important factors, however, lies in the widespread problems associated with computer science education at the K-12 level.

The Problem Starts Early

Source: Higher Education Research Institute at UCLA, 2005

The UCLA HERI study shows that students have already made their decisions before they reach university.

CS is Losing Ground• The Computer Science exam is the only Advanced Placement

exam that has shown declining student numbers in recent years.

CS Is Tiny Compared with Other Sciences

Outline

Setting the context: Why precollege education is important1.

Overview of the Bermuda Project2.

The successes of the project3.

Implications for education in the United States4.

The Bermuda Project In 1998, Stanford initiated a project to design a new computer science curriculum for Bermuda’s public secondary schools. Since that time, many people have worked on the Bermuda Project, from both the Computer Science Department and the School of Education.

Eric Roberts (CS)Brigid Barron (Education)

Faculty:

Project Director: Caitlin K. Martin

Students: Rob Baesman, Shireen Braithwaite, Caroline Clabaugh, Karen Corby, Katherine Emery, Nicholas Fang, Tom Fountain, Maria Fredricsson, Anita Garimella, Osvaldo Jimenez, Marissa Mayer, Jennifer McGrath, Emma Mercier, Alex Osipovich, Ann Pan, Kristin Pilner, Michael Ross, Tenicia Sicard, Andrew Simons, Luke Swartz, Shane Witnov

About Bermuda

• British overseas territory lying 600 miles east of North Carolina.

• Land area just over 20 square miles (roughly one third the size of Washington, DC).

• Total population of only 62,000 (roughly the size of Palo Alto) with two public high schools: Berkeley and Cedarbridge.

• Local parliament has had a Labor majority since 1998.

• Considerable national wealth, primarily from companies that relocate to Bermuda as a tax haven.

• The CIA World Factbook lists Bermuda as having the highest GDP per capita in the world.

Bermuda.edu

Bermuda.edu

The Bermuda.edu movie is not posted because of copyright restrictions.

Initial Goals

• Support the development of technological literacy

• Prepare all students for work or undergraduate study

• Develop a cadre of highly skilled students who are globally competitive

The Bermuda Project was funded by a public-private partnership linking the Ministry of Education with several Bermuda-based companies. The initiative was originally named the XL Education Initiative after the principal corporate sponsor, but soon broadened to become the B.TEC (Bermuda Technical Education) project.

The goals of the initiative were:

Principles of the Bermuda Project

• Solid foundational knowledge. Computing literacy requires much more than a working knowledge of a particular set of tools. The computing industry is incredibly dynamic. Today’s tools quickly become tomorrow’s antiques.

• Individual empowerment. Many students approach computing with a strange mixture of fear and awe: technophobia coupled with technoreverence. In our experience, the best way to counter these psychological barriers is to concentrate on giving each student a sense of individual empowerment, building their confidence and efficacy along with their technical skills.

• Equality of access. The curriculum developed for Bermuda must take into account the diversity of the student population to ensure that all students have the same chance to succeed.

Fluency vs. Literacy

• The Bermuda Project adopted the principles expressed in the 1999 “Fluency Report” from the National Research Council.

• The Fluency Report draws a sharp distinction between the traditional notion of computer literacy and the more advanced goal of fluency, which encompasses algorithmic and computational thinking as well as basic computing skills.

• Adopting fluency as a goal meant that the students in the project would have greater flexibility and independence in choosing career paths.

Components of the Project

Curriculum Assessment

ProfessionalDevelopment

Stanford Curriculum

Introduction to Computing

Computer Science 1:Introduction to Programming

Computer Science 2:Intermediate Programming

Multimedia 2: Interaction Design

Multimedia 1:Visual Design

Multimedia 3: Digital Filmmaking

The First Course

• Required of all students during their first year of high school.

• Includes modules on:– Basic Skills– Computing History– Computer Hardware– Internet– Web Design– Computer Ethics

The First Programming Course

• Elective, usually taken in 2nd or 3rd year.

• Includes modules on:– Introductory Programming– Future of Computing– Web Programming

• The introductory programming module uses a Java version of Karel the Robot.

• The web programming module uses simple JavaScript.

The Intermediate Programming Course

• Elective, usually taken in 3rd or 4th year.

• Includes modules on:– Problem Solving– MiniJava Programming– Animation in MiniJava– Software Engineering– Object-Oriented Design

• The programming language is MiniJava, a teaching-oriented subset of Java I developed at Stanford.

Professional Development

• Professional development must be a central component of any project that seeks to develop a computing curriculum in schools, since few teachers have the necessary skills.

• Professional development efforts must be ongoing for two reasons:– The field changes rapidly– Some teachers will leave education

• We offered student-led workshops for professional development both at Stanford and in Bermuda.

The Bermuda Teaching Team

Karen Clemons

Dean Foggo

Reggie Harris

Michael Reid

Raquel Rose-Green

Donna Swainson-Robinson

Eric Totten

Nkenge Warren-Swan

Outline

Setting the context: Why precollege education is important1.

Overview of the Bermuda Project2.

The successes of the project3.

Implications for education in the United States4.

Assessment

• Students were given pre- and post-tests in several classes to assess levels of learning

• Students completed survey questionnaires to determine their level of satisfaction, their interest in further computing courses, and their eventual career plans.

• We conducted in-depth videotaped interviews with 38 students.

• An independent team from Boston University evaluated the program and found it to be “excellent.”

• The International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) evaluated and certified the curriculum in 2003, making it the first ISTE-certified national curriculum in the world.

We undertook several different assessment strategies to determine the success of the project, including the following:

Interviews with Bermuda Students

Monica

I wanted to be an accountant at first, and then [my computer teacher] kind of pulled me in. I was like, ‘Programming . . . Wow! This is great.’ Then I noticed I could have a career in computers.

Wow, I have never been frustrated in any of my classes, but then MiniJava came along. I would print out my work, I would take my work home. You didn’t have to, but I would take it home to fix that problem. You don’t know how many times I did that. . . . It’s hard, but when you see your results— great. Everyone will come around to watch it.

It was only at CedarBridge where I really got to know how the computer works, how to actually use it. Possibilities are endless with computers; it’s just amazing. That’s why every semester I always have a computer class in there just so I can learn, and besides, that’s where the world is going today, to computers, so it’s good to have computers in your background

I guess when you look at [the web page], what you have done, it’s amazing. Like, ‘Wow, I actually did this.’ You would think you had to be some kind of specialist or something in order to do this, but you know, you don’t have to be. . . . I consider myself to be a creative person and I get all these ideas, and by doing multimedia I am able to put those creativities on paper. Lakisha

Projections of Future Selves

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10

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80

90

taking morecomputerclasses

Majoring incomputerscience

Becoming aprogrammer

Owning abusiness

Becoming aweb designer

Becoming acomputernetwork

specialist

Becoming acomputerteacher

Proportion of students

one class

two classes

three classes

four classes

five classes

Images of Computing (U. S.) In 1998, sixth-graders in selected California schools were asked to draw their image of a computer professional. The drawings are for the most part aligned with traditional stereotypes, as follows:

Images of Computing (Bermuda) In Bermuda, the same exercise after the Stanford curriculum reveals different perceptions:

Outline

Setting the context: Why precollege education is important1.

Overview of the Bermuda Project2.

Evaluating the success of the project3.

Implications for education in the United States4.

Could We Replicate the Curriculum in the U.S.?

• The scale is wildly different. Bermuda has two public high schools; Los Angeles has 248.

• Despite the limited scale, the Bermuda Project required a large team, a substantial budget, and considerable ongoing support.

• The Bermuda Project had support from an impressive array of local industries and from the highest levels of government.

It would be nice to think that it would be possible to replicate the Bermuda computing curriculum in the United States. Stanford was, in fact, contacted by the L.A. Unified School District to see if we could do just that.

Unfortunately:

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are needed to see this picture.

Computing Faces Huge Challenges in Schools• People who have software development skills command high salaries

and tend not to teach in schools.

• In many schools, computing courses are seen as vocational rather than academic. The NCAA has eliminated academic credit for all computing courses on this basis.

• Students who are heading toward top universities are advised to take non-CS courses to bolster their admissions chances.

• Because schools are evaluated on how well their students perform in math and science, many schools are shifting teachers away from computer science toward these disciplines. Those disciplines, moreover, actively oppose expanding high-school computer science.

• Administrators find tools like PowerPoint more sexy and exciting. • Computing skills in general—and programming in particular—have

become much harder to teach.

• Teachers have few resources to keep abreast of changes in the field.

The March of Progress

266 pages 274 pages

911 pages

1536 pages

—Don Knuth, October 11, 2006If I had had to learn C++, I would have majored in music.

The Pace of Change • The pace of change—particularly in terms of its effect on the

languages, libraries, and tools on which introductory computer science education depends—has increased in recent years.

• Individual universities and colleges can’t keep up.

• In a survey by the Computer Science Teachers Association, secondary school teachers cited the rapid pace of change as the most significant barrier.

ACM Initiatives

The Computer Science Teachers Association (CSTA) is a membership organization that supports and promotes the teaching of computer science and other computing disciplines. It provides opportunities for K-12 teachers and students to better understand the computing disciplines and to more successfully prepare themselves to teach and to learn.

—founded in 2005

What We Need To Do

• Recognize that the problems extend well beyond the university.

• Press government and industry to improve computing education at the K-12 level.

• Take creative steps to bolster both the image and the reality of work in the profession.

• Emphasize the fact that programming remains essential to much of the work in the field.

• Encourage research into new software paradigms that can bring back the “passion, beauty, joy, and awe” that can make programming fun again.

The End