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Elizabeth Pegarella's ID Portfolio

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ETAP 623 Fall 2024 | Link to my mini-course front page | Unit 1 | Unit 2 | Unit 3 | Unit 4

First day of school for year 4!

About Me

Hello! My name is Elizabeth Pegarella. I am in my final semester of the CDIT Master's degree program at the University at Albany. I teach high school math and computer science at Chatham High School in Chatham, NY. I teach Regents-level Geometry, Introduction to Software Development (Java), Introduction to Computer Science (Python), Web Design (HTML/CSS), and Discovering Computer Science (Blocks/Python/HTML/CSS). When I am not teaching, I am the yearbook advisor, National Honor Society advisor, the photography club advisor, and the co-advisor for the Class of 2027. When I am not at school, I enjoy spending time with my family and talking about all things Disney.

My Topic and Purpose

The New York State K12 Computer Science and Digital Fluency Learning Standards[1] (CSDF) were adopted by the Board of Regents in December 2020.  The new standards focus on five key concepts:

  1. Impacts of Computing
  2. Computational Thinking
  3. Networks & System Design
  4. Cybersecurity
  5. Digital Literacy
Quote from Katherine Johnson, NASA Mathematician

Each concept is divied into sub-concepts, ranging in a wide variety of standards. These standards are expected to be met by students at the end of each gradeband.

In this course, students will have the opportunity to learn about these standards and what they may look like implemented in their classroom. Not every school offers science, but every school is expected to implement these standards starting September 1, 2024. This course will expose educators and administrators to each of the standards and provide support with examples. This topic is important to teach in order to bring awareness to computer science. Many teachers of other content areas do not know the scope of the subject, and the potential it can provide students with. Computer science prepares students with twenty-first century skills and creates better problem-solvers. Increasing awareness of the subject will increase the likelihood of creating students better prepared to live in the world around them.

Scope of Learning Outcomes and Content

This course will tackle the following key questions:

  1. What is computer science and how does it effect my life?
  2. What are the New York State standards in computer science?
  3. Why are these standards important to teach?
  4. How can I implement these standards in my classroom if I am not a CS teacher?

After completing the course, all educators will feel more confident implementing the CSDF standards into their lessons so that students can be exposed to these topics before graduating.

Needs Assessment

Educational problem or opportunity: In 2016, President Barack Obama created a new national iniative to drive all American students in grades K-12 to learn computer science and become equipped to think critically as a twenty-first century citizen.[2] With this new iniative came a new challenge, understanding what computer science is and how we can teach all educators about it. At this point in time, there is no consensus on what CS education involves and what the minimum requirements should be. In New York State, there are less than 5 institutions that offer any level of CS education. It is also unclear which higher education institutions should offer teacher preparation programs that focus on computer science[3]. Fast forward to 2024, we now face a national teacher shortage and a shortage of qualified, certified computer science teachers. With computer science comes the ability to teach any subject in a different way. Therefore, every educator should be aware of the CS standards and how impactful they will be to students living and working in the twenty-first century.

Learners/participants: The target students for this mini-unit are educators who are not familair with the Computer Science and Digital Fluency standards in New York State. This is included, but not limited to, district-level administrators such as Directors of Curriculum Development and Innovation, Directors of Information Technology, Superintendents, Principals, Vice Principals; educators such as guidance counselors, teachers, teaching assistants, and paraprofessionals; and pre-service teachers who plan to enter the education field within the next 2-3 years at any grade level K-12.

Analysis of gaps: Last year, my local school disctrict conducted a short professional development session on the new CS&DF standards published by the New York State Board of Regents. Of the 120 district emplyees that completed the survey, 100% of them understood that all teachers are responsible for implementing the standards in the classroom. However, when asked to provide an example of how to implement one of the standards through a lesson in their classroom, many results included "I'm not sure how to teach about Cybersecurity" or "Have students take a CS course before they graduate." We are challenged with having many potential solutions to understanding the standards, but have few actionable steps we can take to meet those goals. When we educate teachers about the standards, we create quality teachers to teach them to students.[4] How can we expect students to master them when teachers don't themselves?

Existing efforts: One national organization, CSforAll, is paving the way for all students to have access to computer science. As the need for access to high-quality computer science courses increases, so does the neeed for high-quality computer science educators. As part of their efforts, CSforEd was develeloped, aiming to embed computer science education into teacher preparation programs across the country[5]. In partnership with CSforAll, the SCRIPT Program was developed as a framework to guide teams of district administrators, school leaders, and educators through a series of collaborative visioning, self-assessment and goal-setting exercises to create or expand upon a computer science education implementation plan for their students[6].

Intent statement: This mini-course is intended to expand the range of knowledge around the computer science field. It is much more than coding but very few members of the education field fully understand the wide range of possibilities. Many of the skills and standards covered in the CS&DF standards overlap with other content areas. By the end of the course, educators will be able to justify the importance of the need for computer science to be taught in all schools at all grade levels.

Analysis of the Learner and Context

Learner: This course is designed primarily for administrators directly involved in curriculum planning, teachers, pre-service teachers, and teacher-trainers. These participants may have a range of prior experience with understanding how to read standards and utlize them to design lessons. Realistically, many of these teachers will not have any experience with computer science if their degrees were in education or in a non-STEM related content area. Many of these teachers may be apprehensive about teaching new subjects they are unfamilair with, but they should find they know more than they think they do. The course will work through each standard strand and many examples of how to incorporate them at each grade level so teachers can feel confident in understanding that helping students develop these skills will be well worth it in the end.

Context: This course would likely take a learner about a week to complete. The virtual course will include videos, articles, and supplemental information will be directly linked to the course pages in which they connect. Learners can spend as much time as needed to complete the course, but shouldn't rush through it to get the best understanding of the materials. Creating a game plan for moving forward at the classroom and district level will take time outside of the course, but they will be equipped with the tools to aid teachers in the plan. The learner would need access to Google for Education software tools to complete the course. Ideally, anyone who takes this course could become a school trainers for their own district as well.

Performance-Based Objectives

After completing this mini-course, learners will be able to:

  • Understand the benefits of introducing computer science to students before high school graudation.
  • Differentiate between each strand of the NYS Computer Science and Digital Fluency learning standards.
  • Apply learning and modify an already existing lessons to include muliple CS&DF standards.
  • Create a lesson plan that successfully ties CS&DF to an existing standard in a separate content area of choice.
  • Reflect on the implementation of the standards being met at each grade band level.
  • Evaluate their district's plan for meeting the needs of all students to meet all standards by their high school graduation.

Task and Content Analysis

Prerequisites

Before taking this course, the learner should have basic knowledge about the following:

  1. Students should know how to read state learning standards.
  2. Students should understand how state learning standards are organized by various strands and clusters. Strands are abbreviated and used in the standard code. Clusters are numbers that indicate the purpose of a group of standards.

Unit 1 - Understanding the NYS Computer Science & Digital Fluency Learning Standards

At the end of this unit, learners will be able to:

  1. Identify the core components of the Impacts of Computing strand.
  2. Identify the core components of the Computational Thinking strand.
  3. Identify the core components of the Networks & System Design strand.
  4. Identify the core components of the Cybersecurity strand.
  5. Identify the core components of the Digital Literacy strand.

Unit 2 - Impacts of Computer Science on Education

At the end of this unit, learners will be able to:

  1. Identify the need for K-12 computer science and digital literacy.
  2. Identify the valuable skills students will develop from learning computer science and digital literacy.

Unit 3 - Teaching Computer Science in YOUR School

At the end of this unit, learners will be able to:

  1. Develop a district wide plan for implementing the computer science and digital literacy curriculum K-12 while following NYS's standards.
    1. Evaluate the effectiveness of create a piece-wise technique for assessing if all the standards are met in courses alredy offered in each school.
    2. Evaluate the effectiveness of creating a designated computer science course designed to meet each of the standards.

Unit 4 - Developing Resources for Computer Science Awareness

At the end of this unit, learners will be able to:

  1. Experiment with online computer science simulations and digital literacy websites.
  2. Promote digital literacy and computer science skills in any school district with media outlets such as the school websites, using various graphics and posters.
  3. Develop a plan for all stakeholders to be active in this process, such as students, teachers, parents, and administrators.
  4. Create a list of resources that can be applied to their own school district or classroom when implementing computer science and digital literacy curriculum.

Curriculum Map

Curriculum Map for course

Linked References

  1. ↑ Computer science and digital fluency. New York State Education Department. (n.d.).
  2. ↑ CS for All, President Obama Initative. https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/blog/2016/01/30/computer-science-all
  3. ↑ Martinez, M. C., Gomez, M. J., Moresi, M., & Benotti, L. (2016, July). Lessons learned on computer science teachers professional development. In Proceedings of the 2016 ACM conference on innovation and technology in computer science education (pp. 77-82).
  4. ↑ EdTech Magazine. https://edtechmagazine.com/k12/article/2024/03/computer-science-what-schools-need-know-teach-it-today
  5. ↑ CSforED. https://www.csfored.org/
  6. ↑ SCRIPT Program. CSforAll. https://www.csforall.org/projects_and_programs/script/

External Resources

American Psychological Association, Coalition for Psychology in Schools and Education. (2015). Top 20 principles from psychology for preK–12 teaching and learning.

Banks et al. (2007).  LIFE Diversity report.

Bell, S. (2010). Project-based learning for the 21st century: Skills for the future. The clearing house, 83(2), 39-43.

Bransford, J. D., Brown, A. L., & Cocking, R.R. (1999). How People Learn: Brain, Mind, Experience, and School. (Chapter 6). Washington, DC: National Academy Press.

Darling-Hammond, L., Barron, B., Pearson, P. D., Schoenfeld, A. H., Stage, E. K., Zimmerman, T. D., Cervetti, G. N., & Tilson, J. L. (2008). Powerful learning: What we know about teaching for understanding. Jossey-Bass.

Larson, M. B., & Lockee, B. B. (2020). Streamlined ID: A practical guide to instructional design. Routledge.

McTighe & Wiggins. (2012). The Understanding by Design®  Framework.  Alexandra, VA: ASCD.

National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. (2018). How people learn II: Learners, contexts, and cultures (2nd ed.). The National Academies Press.

Resnick, M. (2024). Generative AI and Creative Learning: Concerns, Opportunities, and Choices. An MIT Exploration of Generative AI. https://doi.org/10.21428/e4baedd9.cf3e35e5

Shambaugh, R. N., & Magliaro, S. G. (1997). Analysis of a learning task. In Mastering the possibilities: A process approach to instructional design (pp. 107-113). Allyn & Bacon.

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