Do we teach CS in K12 for future CS majors, for non CS majors or both? Riffing on recent posts by Mark Guzdial and Alfred Thompson
https://cestlaz.zamansky.net/posts/cs-for-all-or-all-for-cs/
CS For All or All for CS? - C’est la Z
Is it CS for All or is it All for CS?
CS for All, to me has always meant exposing all students to CS for two reasons. First, so that every student gains some understanding of CS and also so that some of those students might be inspired to go on and study more CS. For that basic understanding, that should include a few things - the way a CS person thinks and problem solves, what a CS person does or might do professionally, and also specific practical skills that students can employ regardless of what they pursue in the future - that is programming.
Sigcse 2025 part 4 - sessions and the rest - C’est la Z
To finish up, we'll look at some of the other sessions I attended but first a couple of notes.
One thing I again noticed was the lack of pedagogy sessions. Maybe I missed something but other than Nifty Assignments, which isn't really about pedagogy and doesn't interest me much anymore I didn't see anything. This is nothing new but at least a couple of years ago we had "It seemed a like a good idea at the time" coordinated by Jim Huggins and Dan Garcia in all their pink suited glory and Colleen Lewis's "Micopedagogy" session (I hope I'm remembering the name right).
Last week was my second and final week back at Stuy teaching CS. Here's what went down:
https://cestlaz.zamansky.net/posts/back-in-classroom2/
Back in the Classroom - Week 2 - C’est la Z
So last week I completed my second and final week back at Stuy teaching CS. We spent Monday finishing up the mode lesson and then spent most of the week on this topic - writing a computer program to automatically decode something "encrypted" with a Caesar Cipher. The post I just linked to was from when I first taught the lesson. I've refined and reworked it considerable since then but the gist is the same.
SIGCSETS 2025 part 3 - BOFs - C’est la Z
Once again, there were three sets of Birds of a Feather sessions. Two at the end of the day on Thursday but before the big reception and one partly over lunch on Friday.
Last year I enjoyed two but walked out o the third mid session. This year, I enjoyed two but just missed the third because I got caught up talking to an old friend.
Both of the sessions I enjoyed suffered from the usual BOF problems - since the sessions were well attended and time was short, it was tough to get deep discussions going and also keep the entire BOF together.
So I've been back teaching CS at Stuy for the past week with one more week to go.
Here's how it's going:
https://cestlaz.zamansky.net/posts/back-in-classroom1/
Back in the classroom - week 1 - C’est la Z
As you might have heard, I'm back at Stuyvesant teaching.
Not permanent or full time - just covering for a CS teacher who's on grand jury duty. She's out for three week but since I was at SIGCSETS for the first one, I'm only covering for two. Last week and the one upcoming.
I wouldn't be covering all 5 of the teacher's classes, just 3 - periods 6, 7, and 8, the second half of Stuy's intro CS class.
SIGCSETS 2025 - day 2 keynote - What belongs in CS - C’est la Z
The day 2 keynote was really a treat. After giving out the years SIGCSE awards, instead of getting a standard talk, all three recipients, Jonathan Mwaura, Mitchel Resnick and Manuel Pérez-Quiñones participated in a fireside chat with Dan Garcia. The only letdown was that since Dan was moderating the chat, we also didn't get his views into the mix. With three independent voices, the chat pushed in a few different directions but the theme that spoke most to me was when Pérez Quiñones, commenting on what the future held for CS Education said "I hope the future is less so we can do more.
SIGCSE 2025 - Opening Keynote - C’est la Z
I spent last week in Pittsburgh for The SIGCSE Technical Symposium, that's SIGCSETS to you. Lots of talks, lots of sessions and lots of people. We drove in on Tuesday since Batya had a workshop Wednesday afternoon. Devorah and I along with a cousin who was also at the conferences spent the day playing tourist. We hit the Warhol museum and also wandered by Randyland. Even made it to Carnegie Hall without practicing.
There are some interesting challenges with preparing HS kids for apprenticeships. It's one of the things I'm doing to get back in the game (part time):
https://cestlaz.zamansky.net/posts/back-in-the-game/Getting Back in the Game - C’est la Z
Even before I retired I knew that after a break I'd want to get back in the game. Not full time, but in a limited capacity when interesting opportunities presented themselves.
Well, it's time to start dipping my toes back in the water.
Next week I'll be at SIGCSE but that doesn't really count. Last year I attended both SIGCSE and the CSTA conference so that's nothing new.
After I get back from SIGCSE though, I'll be covering computer science classes for a friend at Stuy who's going to be out on Grand Jury Duty.
Elon's false statement about 150 year old people made me think about some of the CS and Tech history that's never talked about:
https://cestlaz.zamansky.net/posts/know-cs-history/
Blog Reboot - C’est la Z
Time to reboot the blog.
Why? Because of my new tablet.
So, I got a new tablet a week or so ago. A Oneplus Pad 2. It's a 12" android tablet. I really only use it in the mornings in the winter and inclement weather. I use it with my Wahoo bike trainer both to run the trainer controls and to watch videos. In nice weather I usually run outside.
