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Sep 30
2010
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Staff Development for Teachers of Students Who Have Learned Some Computer SciencePosted by: Dave Moursund Tagged in: Staff Development
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The previous IAE Blog entry discussed a ninth grade Computer Science course that is being required for all students in a Pennsylvania school district (9/29/2010). The course includes an emphasis on problem solving. However, we all know that problem solving is an important component of every academic course and that computers are an important aid to problem solving in every discipline.
As students gain this computer science knowledge and skills one would expect that they would want to use their new knowledge and skills, both while in the ninth grade and in subsequent grades. This means that all of their teachers will be faced by students wanting to use their newly acquired computer-oriented knowledge and skills.
This suggests two questions:
1. What do typical teachers in grades 9-12 know about the computer content and skills the ninth grade students will be acquiring?
2. What would we want these teachers to know and be able to do? For example, do we want them to have the computer knowledge and skills to provide appropriate feedback, help, and encouragement to their computer-using students? Do we want them to meet the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) standards for 12th graders? Do we want them to teach uses of computers for solving the types of problems that occur in the disciplines they teach? See ISTE National Educational Technology Standards (ISTE NETS) at http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&cd=1&ved=0CBcQqwMoADAA&url=http://www.iste.org/nets/&rct=j&q=iste standards 2010&ei=mjqlTNSpJoeisAObzK39Dg&usg=AFQjCNHN2BfHobVcZ6mNRK8Wz2crijKN9g&cad=rja.
The newspaper article does not tell us what staff development will be made available and/or whether such staff development will be required. (See http://iae-pedia.org/Staff_Development_via_Distance_Education.) However, it could be that a well-intentioned school district is making a serious error in their efforts to improve the computer-related education of their students unless they also put an equal emphasis on the staff development of their teachers. The essence of that error is captured in the quote:
Imagine a school with children that can read or write, but with teachers who cannot, and you have a metaphor of the Information Age in which we live. (Peter Cochrane; United Kingdom engineer, technologist, and entrepreneur.)
Final Remarks
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Suggested Readings from IAE and Other Publications
You can use Google to search all of the IAE publications.
Then click in the IAE Search box that is provided, insert your search terms, and click on the Search button.
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Here are some examples of publications that might interest you.
Annotated Bibliography for 2011 Book by Moursund and Albrecht.
David Moursund Books. About 25 books are available free. Most were specifically written for preservice and inservice teachers.
Education for Increasing Expertise.
Empowering Learners and Teachers.
IAE-pedia. Many of the documents in the IAE-pedia are designed for preservice and inservice teacher education.
Staff Development via Distance Education.
Teaching teachers and students via training and education.
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This situation has created a major challenge to our school system—and especially to those people who determine the content to be taught and those responsible for high-stakes testing. We all know that a great many adults routinely use computers to help solve the types of problems and accomplish the types of tasks they encounter on the job and in their homemaking activities.
But, so far our school system has not yet been able to routinely integrate such computer-aided problem solving into the everyday curriculum content that is being taught. It certainly is not because students are unable to learn and understand such knowledge and skills.
So, we must look elsewhere to find the culprits. One culprit is that our curriculum is too full. Many disciplines are unwilling to give up some of their content currently being taught and substitute an increased emphasis on use of computers to help represent, understand, and solve problems within the discipline. Of course, there are some major exceptions. The discipline of graphics arts has plunged into the future, and certain areas of music education have also taken the plunge.
Another culprit is a strong Back to Basics movement. It seems to me that many people are somewhat blinded to the rapid pace of changes going on in technology-related aspects of our world. I don't understand how such people believe that education can be improved by moving backwards, that is by putting more emphasis on spelling, grammar, good handwriting, memorization of math facts, and other aspects of the curriculum they support.