#CSK8 Podcast - A podcast for computer science educators

In this episode I unpack the chapter titled “Equity in Computer Science Education” from the K-12 Computer Science Framework (2016). This chapter discusses how equity issues influenced the development of the framework, which was used to develop CSTA’s national CS standards and many state CS standards. Click here for this episode’s show notes . How to Get Started with Computer Science Education ━━━━...

In this interview with Stacie Mason and Peter Rich, we discuss recommendations for introducing and integrating computational thinking in the classroom, the importance of contextualizing computational thinking within coding practices, peer and family influence on learning to code and to think computationally, lessons learned by researching coding and computational thinking, our perspectives on whet...

Rather than listen to this week’s planned unpacking scholarship episode, please take the time to learn from the anti-racism resources in the show notes, then share and respectfully discuss them with others. Click here for this episode’s show notes. How to Get Started with Computer Science Education

In this interview with Brenda Bass, we discuss advice for educators interested in getting started with robotics or physical computing, considering equity and access with robots and physical computing devices, how to learn more about robotics and CS without a background in either area, and much more. Click here for this episode’s show notes . How to Get Started with Computer Science Education ━━━━━...

In this episode I unpack Graves and DeLyser’s (2017) article titled “Interested In Class, But Not In The Hallway: A Latent Class Analysis (LCA) of 2015-16 CS4All Student Surveys,” which highlights that although many of the 1,525 survey respondents expressed an interest in computer science in the classroom settings, they did not choose to engage in CS outside of the classroom. Click here for this e...

In this interview with McKay Perkins, we discuss what McKay has learned over the years providing elementary CS/coding professional development, considerations for creating within constraints, teaching a sustainable way for integrating CS/coding in elementary schools, the importance of adapting PD to continuous feedback, advice for becoming a professional development facilitator, and much more. Cli...

In this episode I unpack Kafai and Peppler’s (2011) article titled “Beyond small groups: New opportunities for research in computer-supported collective learning,” which is an analysis of participation within the Scratch community that compares and contrasts collaborative learning (i.e., learning within small groups) with collective learning (i.e., learning within massive groups). Click here for t...

In this interview with Anne Gunn, we discuss Anne’s background as both a CS professional and educator, thoughts on data analysis for classroom integration (e.g., sonification), implications of understanding CS as a skill rather than a topic, our experience helping develop the Wyoming Computer Science Standards, and other topics relevant to #CSK8 educators. Click here for this episode’s show notes...

In this episode I unpack Werner, Denner, Campe, and Torres’ (2020) article titled “Computational sophistication of games programmed by children: A model for its measurement,” which unpacks how the authors updated the game computational sophistical (GCS) model to account for computational learning evident within 39 games development by pairs of middle school children. Click here for this episode’s...

In this interview with Jackie Corricelli, we discuss advice for novice and veteran CS educators, the potential for collaboration between industry and educators, designing for more inclusive CS education, volunteering for CS education organizations, and much more. Click here for this episode’s show notes . How to Get Started with Computer Science Education ━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 00:00 Introduction 01:09 Jac...

In this episode I read and comment on Jackie Corricelli’s article titled “Emergency Remote Teaching: Challenges & Possible Solutions,” which provides suggestions for CS educators facing challenges with teaching in online environments. The original article can be found on CSTA’s website . Click here for this episode’s show notes . How to Get Started with Computer Science Education ━━━━━━━━━━━━━...

In this interview with Andreas Stefik, we discuss the importance of using evidence-based programming languages, problems with the lack of replication in CS education scholarship and academia in general, the importance of designing for accessibility and disabilities, lessons learned designing Quorum (an accessible programming language and platform), and much more. Click here for this episode’s show...

In this episode I unpack Lee et al.’s (2011) publication titled “Computational thinking for youth in practice,” which provides examples of how middle and high school youth engage in computational thinking and introduces the “use-modify-create” framework (a three-stage progression through computational thinking). Click here for this episode’s show notes . How to Get Started with Computer Science Ed...

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In this interview with Kim Wilkens, we discuss embracing failure, encouraging activism and community impact through CS and technology, supporting marginalized gender identities in CS, and much more. Click here for this episode’s show notes . How to Get Started with Computer Science Education ━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 00:00 Introduction 00:52 Kim introducing herself 01:15 How Kim got into CS education 03:19 Ho...

In this episode I unpack Franklin et al.’s (2020) publication titled “Scratch Encore: The design and pilot of a culturally-relevant intermediate Scratch curriculum,” which introduces the Scratch Encore curriculum and provides a quick summary of positive feedback from the teachers who used the curriculum during a pilot year. Click here for this episode’s show notes . How to Get Started with Compute...

In this interview with Justin Cannady, we discuss project-based learning in CS, encouraging debugging and working through failure as students and teachers, considerations for integrating CS, lessons learned working on NMSI’s CS AlignEd, and much more. Click here for this episode’s show notes . How to Get Started with Computer Science Education ━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 00:00 Intro 00:39 An introduction by Jus...

In this episode I unpack Lee et al.'s (2020) experience report titled “Introducing coding through tabletop board games and their digital instantiations across elementary classrooms and school libraries," which investigates the transfer of understanding when students begin learning CS through a tabletop board game and switch to a digital coding environment. Click here for this episode’s show notes...

In this interview with Rafi Santo and Sara Vogel, we discuss informal learning in CS, the CS Visions Framework, equity through social justice pedagogy, considerations for Integration, and much more. Click here for this episode’s show notes . How to Get Started with Computer Science Education ━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 00:00 Intro 01:00 Rafi and Sara introducing themselves 01:41 What led to their interest in CS...

In this episode I unpack Santo, Vogel, and Ching’s (2019) publication titled “CS for What? Diverse Visions of Computer Science Education in Practice,” which is a white paper that provides a useful framework for considering the underlying values and impact of CS programs or resources. Click here for this episode’s show notes . How to Get Started with Computer Science Education ━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 00:00 I...

In this interview with Clark Merkley, we discuss what Clark has learned over the years working with administrators across the nation who are interested in implementing CS education in their district. Click here for this episode’s show notes . How to Get Started with Computer Science Education ━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 00:00 Intro 01:17 Clark introducing himself 01:45 Clark's journey into education 06:05 Somet...

In this episode I unpack Vossoughi, Hooper, and Escudé’s (2016) publication titled “Making through the lens of culture and power: Toward transformative visions for educational equity,” which provides a critique of maker culture discourse in order to "reconceptualize the educational practice of making in ways that place equity at the center" (p. 215). Click here for this episode’s show notes . How...

In this interview with Dave Briccetti, we discuss Dave’s background in programming and education, advice for learning a programming language, suggestions for encouraging kids to think ethically (e.g., how to respond to potentially plagiarized content), why Dave prefers professional programming tools in educational settings, and much more. Click here for this episode’s show notes. How to Get Starte...

In this episode I unpack Brahms and Crowley’s (2016) publication titled “Making sense of making: Defining learning practices in MAKE magazine,” which is a content analysis that uses communities of practice as a framework for exploring maker practices evident within MAKE magazine. Click here for this episode’s show notes . How to Get Started with Computer Science Education ━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 00:00 Intro...

In this interview with Dianne O'Grady-Cunniff, we discuss some suggestions for starting or expanding your program, as well as other topics for novice and veteran CS educators. Click here for this episode’s show notes . How to Get Started with Computer Science Education ━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 00:00 Intro 00:50 An introduction by Dianne 01:09 How Dianne got into CS education 03:41 A story that continues to i...