EDPS 49100 (Independent Study) Fall 2012
Location: Online

Read our paper in Communications of the ACM on the rationale and implementation of the Methods course here: Learning to teach computer science: The need for a methods course.

Details:

• Course Flyer
• Course Overview

Instructors:

• Aman Yadav, ayadav@msu.edu
• Tim Korb, jtk@purdue.edu

Prerequisites (if missing any of these prerequisites, ask for consent of the instructor):

• EDPS 235 (Learning and Motivation)
• EDCI 270 (Introduction to Educational Technology and Computing)
• Programming ability and experience in two languages
  • e.g.: CS 15800 or 15900, 17700 or 18000, 24000, 25100
• Discrete mathematics course
  • e.g.: CS 18200 or MATH 37500

This course will address methods for teaching computer science at the high school level. It is being taught as part of a new computer science supplemental licensure program, which will draw on existing course work in computer science to provide secondary teaching majors with the content background and experiences to be effective high school computer science teachers. The target audience for this course is secondary teaching majors, particularly those in the STEM disciplines. We hope to attract ten to fifteen students per year to complete the course. Students will take the course as a final step before a student teaching experience; therefore, a 40000-level course number designation is appropriate.

The main purpose of this course is to provide students with pedagogical and content knowledge and experiences to be effective computer science teachers in high school. Upon completing this course students will be able to:

• Use the national high school computer science model curriculum; analyze potential learning difficulties and adjust teaching for students with different needs.
• Implement a variety of methods in the teaching process, including meaningful learning, collaborative learning, inquiry learning, etc.
• Develop constructivist, authentic activities to engage students to learn computer science; create a supportive and active learning environment.
• Develop various types of assessments (e.g., formative and summative, authentic, and performance assessments) and corresponding rubrics to evaluate student learning.
• Develop detailed lesson plans for selective topics, consisting of goals and objectives, descriptions of activities and tasks, teaching methods, teaching aids, and evaluation.
• Effectively manage a computer science classroom and laboratory.
• Establish a bank of resources for teaching computer science in high school, including possible materials, lab assignments, class activities, and websites.
• Actively participate in professional communities such as CSTA and ACM. Keep up with research in the area of computer science education, and apply it to the teaching process.