jd's blog

Hello all, and welcome again to another year of the summer institute in computer science education.

MON: We have another good turnout (I count 15 attendees already), and after my brief logistical discussion (yeah on FRI), Paul Grobstein of Bryn Mawr College is discussing the role of computing in education.  The talk touches many sub-topics, but in general his thesis appears to be that computing provides a mechanism for student to really become teachers themselves.

It's Thursday already, wow it flying by -- Tom Cortina provided a most interesting and engaging experience with the group, it's fun watching people "be" a binary digit (bit), and binary birthday cake, and even a parallel sorting exercise outside (the weather really cooperated) -- I get the sense that people might be able to incorporate CS Unplugged exercises into their classes, albeit indirectly.

CSESI does go by fast, so take notes (or post to a blog .. like this :-).

I just had a nice meal with my friend and WED presenter Tom Cortina of CMU, this after a great day with Monisha, Nikill and Scratch, you can check out the online demos at the Scratch website.

Monday went even faster, Paul worked on getting teachers to at least be skeptical of what they perceive, and Dora lived up to the "Drinking from the firehose" analogy, presenting many videos and examples of Information Science Applications onlline.

see all in the am.

Well, another year has passed, and we return to Haverford to again engage is activities and discussion (and two meals a day!) to explore the use of computing and the role of computing in K-12 education, especially but not limited to the sciences.

 Last year I literally blurted out the title "Virtual Thinking," and it stuck to the point that many look at this year's workshop as VT2 -- however, I am hoping to suggest a more meaningful title, especially looking at the topics, so I am hoping to start a (long and deep) conversation about the use of reflection in conjunction with some activity/exercise to "induce" (produce?) learning.

Post on August 14 2007

Today I discovered a Blog by Ashley Dawkins about CSESI 20007 that I hope can continue a discussion not only about CS education topics, but a "meta-discussion" about CSESI itself.  I am reminded that this is an open area of investigation, esp. as I work to attend the ICER 2007 conference on CS education research.

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Post on July 27 2007