Developing Resources to Support a National Computer Science Curriculum for K-12 Anita Verno (Moderator) Bergen Community College 400 Paramus Road Paramus, NJ 07652 201-447-7909 averno@bergen.edu Steve Cooper Saint Joseph’s University 5600 City Avenue Philadelphia, PA 19131 610-660-1561 scooper@sju.edu Thomas J. Cortina Carnegie Mellon University 5000 Forbes Avenue Pittsburgh, PA 15213 412-268-3514 tcortina@cs.cmu.edu Barb Ericson Georgia Tech 801 Atlantic Drive Atlanta, GA, 30332 ericson@cc.gatech.edu Bill Madden Bergen Community College 400 Paramus Road Paramus, NJ 07652 201-493-3573 bmadden@bergen.edu ABSTRACT This session will continue efforts by the ACM and Computer Science Teachers Association (CSTA) to create a comprehensive body of resources to support the implementation of a national K- 12 computer science curriculum. The ACM K-12 Computer Science Curriculum Committee, with input from the Computer Science educational community, published a Model Curriculum [1] in 2003. The Model suggests a four-level curriculum. Level-I topics, primarily for the K-8 years, closely follow the well- defined ISTE Standards [2]. Level-II topics are suggested for all students in grades 9 or 10 and are comprised of introductory computer science content. Level-III topics focus on analysis and design with emphasis on the scientific and engineering aspects of computer science. The Level III course is intended for students who may be interested in continuing their education in computer science at the college level. AP Computer Science and special topics courses comprise Level-4. This special session will focus on the learning objectives and activities for Level III of the K-12 Computer Science Model curriculum. Attendees will be invited to provide critical feedback that will help move the curriculum project forward. Categories and Subject Descriptors K.3.2 [Computers & Education]: Computer & Information Science Education – Curriculum; K.3.2 [Computers & Education]: Computer & Information Science Education – Computer Science Education. General Terms: Design, Standardization. Keywords: K-12, Model Curricula, Pedagogy, Algorithmic Thinking, Computing Workforce, Teacher Preparation, .Teacher Resources, Learning Objectives, Standardization. 1. INTRODUCTION The ACM K-12 Computer Science Model Curriculum [1] was developed in 2003 to provide a broad outline from which a K-12 computer science curriculum can be developed. The Model Curriculum was a response to the view that computer science education is not clearly defined or well-established at the K-12 level. With an ultimate goal of standardizing computer science content at the K-12 level and providing support for the computer science educational community, the ACM established the Computer Science Teachers Association (CSTA). “The Computer Science Teachers Association 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.” [3]. The ongoing effort of ACM’s Computer Science Teachers Association (CSTA) to solidify the computer science teaching and learning experience for American students is critically important. A national computer science curriculum which stabilizes the objectives and content of high school computer science has implications beyond K-12 education. It will assist students with further study in computer science / information technology / information systems / engineering and will help with the larger national effort to build America’s position as a global leader in technological knowledge and expertise. This session will continue efforts by the ACM and Computer Science Teachers Association (CSTA) to create a comprehensive body of resources to support the implementation of a national K- 12 computer science curriculum. The Model Curriculum provides an overview of computer science content broken into four levels – Level I recommended for students in grades K-8, Level II recommended for students in grades 9 or 10, Levels III and IV recommended for students in upper grades. The Level I curriculum closely follows National Educational Technology Standards (NETS) (International Society for Technology in Education, 2002) and is therefore a fairly well-developed set of learning objectives with available resource materials. The Level II curriculum, suggested for all students, was presented at Copyright is held by the author/owner(s). SIGCSE’07, March 7-10, 2007, Covington, Kentucky, USA. ACM 1-59593-361-1/07/0003. 377