Transcript No Slide Title

Educating the Next Generation
of Computer Scientists:
The Critical Role of High School Teachers
Eric Roberts
Department of Computer Science
Stanford University
CSIT Symposium
Norfolk, Virginia
March 6, 2004
Outline
1. Why high-school computer science is important
2. The challenges that high schools face
3. How can universities and professional societies help
4. A success story
Outline
1. Why high-school computer science is important
• The economy still needs people with CS/IT skills
• Students
withthat
more
preparation
can go farther in college
2. The
challenges
high
schools face
• High schools are essential to promoting diversity
3. How can universities and professional societies help
4. A success story
The Incredible Shrinking Pipeline
MEN
WOMEN
HS
(49%)
BS
(31%)
MS
(28%)
PhD
(11%)
Asst
(13%)
Assoc
(8%)
Full
(4%)
—Joe O’Rourke
“Mentor Project Targets Female Undergrads”
Computing Research News, 1993
BS Degrees in Computer Science
40000
Men
35000
Women
30000
% Women
50%
40%
25000
30%
20000
15000
20%
10000
10%
5000
0%
1970
1971
1972
1973
1974
1975
1976
1977
1978
1979
1980
1981
1982
1983
1984
1985
1986
1987
1988
1989
1990
1991
1992
1993
1994
1995
1996
1997
1998
1999
2000
0
SOURCES: Susan T. Hill, Science and Engineering Degrees: 1966-96. Report number NSF 99-330.
National Center for Education Statistics, Digest of Education Statistics, March 2002.
BS Degrees in Computer Science
40000
Men
35000
Women
30000
% Women
25000
20000
15000
10000
5000
1970
1971
1972
1973
1974
1975
1976
1977
1978
1979
1980
1981
1982
1983
1984
1985
1986
1987
1988
1989
1990
1991
1992
1993
1994
1995
1996
1997
1998
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
0
SOURCES: Susan T. Hill, Science and Engineering Degrees: 1966-96. Report number NSF 99-330.
National Center for Education Statistics, Digest of Education Statistics, March 2002.
Complete invention.
Useful Resources
Outline
1. Why high-school computer science is important
2. The challenges that high schools face
• The economics of teaching computer science
• “The
that Failed”
to thesocieties
high-tech
bubble
3. How
canGod
universities
andreaction
professional
help
• PowerPoint and IT seem more exciting to administrators J
• success
Lack of story
materials and support
4. A
• The complexity and instability of modern programming
Problems in Modern Programming Languages
• Complexity. The number of programming details that
students must master has grown much faster than the
corresponding number of high-level concepts.
• Instability. The languages, libraries, and tools on which
introductory computer science education depends are
changing more rapidly than they have in the past.
More background on these problems and the sources from
which they arise can be found in the background paper in the
SIGCSE proceedings:
Eric Roberts. The Dream of a Common Language: The Search
for Simplicity and Stability in Computer Science Education.
SIGCSE 2004.
The March of Progress
1536 pages
911 pages
266 pages
274 pages
An Even More Sobering Thought
There are more public methods in the java and javax
package hierarchies than there are words in Jensen and Wirth.
The amount of text once deemed sufficient to teach the
standard introductory programming language is thus no longer
sufficient for a full index of the operations available today.
— SIGCSE Proceedings
Outline
1. Why high-school computer science is important
2. The challenges that high schools face
3. How can universities and professional societies help
• Partner with high schools to share resources
• success
Recognize
and promote the value of high-school education
4. A
story
• Help convince society of the continued importance of CS/IT
• Offer professional development in new tools and technology
• Develop and disseminate effective teaching materials
Employment Patterns by Discipline
Fraction of professionals with degrees in that discipline:
Fraction of disciplinary graduates employed in that profession:
SOURCE: National Science Foundation/Division of Science Resources Statistics, SESTAT (Scientists
and Engineers Statistical Data System), 1999, as presented by Caroline Wardle at Snowbird 2002
Fred Terman: Honoring High School Teachers
Fred Terman
As part of his legacy, former
Stanford Dean and Provost Fred
Terman established a fund to honor
the top 5% of each graduating class
in the School of Engineering. Those
students come to a celebratory lunch
to which they invite:
• Their most important mentor at
Stanford
• The high school teacher who
influenced them the most
with Packard
and Hewlett
The ACM Java Task Force
In October 2003, the ACM Education Board approved the
formation of a new task force with the following charter:
To review the Java language, APIs, and tools from the perspective of
introductory computing education and to develop a stable collection
of pedagogical resources that will make it easier to teach Java to
first-year computing students without having those students
overwhelmed by its complexity.
The Java Task Force held its first meeting at the end of January
2004. It proposes to issue its final report in June 2005, in time
for use in the following fall.
Deliverables
1. A definition of a subset of the standard Java APIs
appropriate for first-year computer science
2. A public web site containing an updated javadoc
reference manual for the approved Java subset
3. A collection of pedagogically oriented APIs that have
been evaluated and approved by the task force
4. A survey of existing noncommercial materials and tools
for teaching Java
5. A proposal for sustaining the activity begun by this task
force
Relationship to AP Computer Science
• AP Java subset
– “The AP Java subset is intended to outline the
features of Java that may appear on AP Computer
Science Examinations. The AP Java subset is not
intended as an overall prescription for computer
science courses—the subset itself will need to be
supplemented in order to cover a typical introductory
curriculum.”
— AP CS Course Description
(as provided by Fran Trees)
Outline
1. Why high-school computer science is important
2. The challenges that high schools face
3. How can universities and professional societies help
4. A success story
The Bermuda Project
In 1997, Stanford initiated a project to design a new CS curriculum
for Bermuda’s public secondary schools. We now have three courses
in place, the first of which is taken by all students.
More information on the Bermuda Project is available from the
project web site:
http://bermuda.stanford.edu
About Bermuda
• British overseas territory lying
600 miles east of North Carolina
• Local parliament with Labor
majority since 1998
• Land area just over 20 square
miles (one-third the size of
Washington DC)
• Total population of 62,000
(roughly the size of Palo Alto)
• Two public high schools (Berkeley and CedarBridge), in which
over 90% of the students are black
• Considerable national wealth from tourism and companies
relocating to Bermuda as a tax haven
The End