Intro to CS for Educators: A Pre-Curricula PDWorkshop

Abstract

Many K-12 educators who are new to computer science (CS) may have a lack of confidence or sense of intimidation when starting their CS teaching journey. To mitigate this, Massachusetts DESE contracted CSforMA to create a three-day "Introduction to Computer Science for Educators"workshop (ICSW) focused on CS fundamentals. The ICSW covered grade-level CS terminology and concepts including computational thinking, physical computing, and programming. Evaluation of the ICSW showed 98% of respondents reported increased knowledge of CS. In a survey administered later that summer, 100% of respondents who took the ICSW reported that it helped them better understand curriculum materials. This replicable, scalable, and successful ICSW model could benefit other State DoEs and CS professional development coordinators. This work also shows the benefits of using an external evaluator.