Computer Science Teachers Association's 2015 Annual Conference

Three courses are national exemplars, part of the CS10K/CE21 initiative, recognized by the CSTA standards for high school computer science, and integral to both Code.org and PLTW computer science projects: Exploring Computer Science (ECS), Computer Science Principles (CSP), and AP Computer Science A (APCSA). This workshop, and the information and activities that are part of it are designed to help high school computer science teachers become well- and better-informed about these three courses, the student audiences addressed by each, the content and pedagogical practices embraced in each, and the role that each can play in paths and pathways for both teachers and students. The workshop provides a solid understanding about how the ECS, CSP and APCSA courses complement each other by using a set of activities that highlight differences and similarities among the courses from both content and pedagogical perspectives.

Make Computer Science fun and easy for students by turning computer programming into a hands-on activity. Make a video game controller with tin foil and an old take-out container. Make an electronic door alarm with LEGOs and tape. Make your own Operation-style board game with a cereal box and chopsticks. Make everything from anything! In this workshop you will learn how to implement classroom projects that integrate Science, Technology, Art, and Math together through computer programming and engineering design. We will survey a number of methods and materials that help students explore Computer Science such as Scratch, a drag-and-drop programming language for young learners. We will also use basic physical computing sensors like MakeyMakey, LEGO WeDo, and Make!Sense that allow us to program interactive objects from household materials. Beginner's welcome.

Come learn how a school district's robotics camp allowed for true differentiated problem based learning in a computer science setting for grades 5-12. Attendees will experience some of the hands-on problems done in robotics camp and learn how to create a course or lesson where students can acquire content, skills, and receive feedback in a problem based environment. Attendees will leave the workshop having written a student-centered problem and implementation plan for their own classroom.

Would you like to integrate coding into any grade-level classroom? Join Peli de Halleux of Microsoft Research and Michael Braun K-12 Computer Science Teacher as they share a revolutionary new web-based technology called TouchDevelop, which any K-12 teacher can use to integrate coding into any grade level, without any previous coding experience. In this session, they go beyond how to use TouchDevelop, which works on iOS, Android, Windows, Mac or Linux. They provide hands on activities and extended tutorials to learn the dashboard, create an online classroom, and develop mobile apps.

This workshop, designed for pre-AP, Introduction to Programming, Programming for Non-majors, and CS1 with transition to Java courses, will introduce the tools in Alice 3. One specifically designed to support the transition to Java, reviewing both the software and the available course materials. The workshop offers hands-on experience programming with Alice3 and Java together. Participants will see how to use Alice3 to build virtual worlds and how to transfer these programs into a Java IDE.