NEWS AND EVENTS
February 2020
Dr. Annette Miller currently serves as a 2019-2020 INSPIRE CS-AI Fellow. Fellows participated in a co-design workshop at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) October 23-25, 2019 where they engaged with a suite of cutting-edge CS teacher learning tools in the Teacher Moments platform. Fellows prototyped their own tools and developed a plan for implementing and evaluating the tools in their local contexts. Throughout the year INSPIRE CS-AI fellows will receive support in implementation, evaluation, and dissemination of their prototypes through monthly virtual meetings with MIT and Carnegie Mellon University staff and the cohort of fellows.
November 2018
Dr. Chery Lucarelli, Professor and Chair of Graduate Education Programs, was accepted as a presenter at the 22nd Annual Conference on Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education in Bologna, Italy, in July. Dr. Lucarelli served on an international panel to provide the United States perspective on computer science education. The title of the panel presentation was: "International Perspectives on CS Teacher Formation and Professional Development”. Other members of the panel included faculty and education leaders from India, New Zealand, Italy and the United Kingdom.
Dr. Lucarelli also presented findings from their team's National Science Foundation Grant, "CS10K: TeachIT - Scaling Mobile CSP Professional Development Online". The paper, written by Jen Rosato, CIS assistant professor, Chery Lucarelli, professor of education, and Cassie Beckworth, data support specialist, is titled, "A Comparison of Online and Hybrid Professional Development for CS Principles Teachers."
CSS Saint Paul Degree Completion Program Students
Participate in Teach CS!
Teacher Candidates in the St. Paul Degree Completion Program are participating in Teach CS lessons in their teacher preparation courses.
On 11/15/18 EDU 3715 students participated in a lesson that fostered an inclusive computing culture. By utilizing Computational Thinking, EDU students were introduced to stereotype threat and learned how to equitably engage all students in their own classrooms.
On 11/29/18 EDU 2275 students were introduced to Computer Science and how Computer Science is for ALL students. The lesson focused on understanding the components of Computational Thinking and how they can be implemented in a K-12 classroom setting.
Bootstrap: Algebra Free Workshop in October 2018
TeachCS@CSS is excited to offer a free Bootstrap: Algebra Workshop for Educators; Oct. 26 in St. Paul and Oct. 27 in Duluth. Follow this link to find out more and access an RSVP form.
Professor Chery Lucarelli, Asst. Professor Jen Rosato, Asst. Professor Sandra Dunigan, adjunct instructor Jim Amaral, curriculum consultant Heather Benedict, and 5 teacher education students from The College of St. Scholastica presented a workshop at the Computer Science Teachers Association national conference in Omaha, NE, July 7-10, 2018.
During the workshop session, participants examined computational thinking and computer science concepts by actively participating in stations demonstrating plugged and unplugged strategies to teach computer science concepts. The learning activities illustrated and reinforced computational thinking concepts such as decomposition, pattern recognition, abstraction, and algorithms.
The session was aimed at K-12 teachers in any content field who wanted a hands-on introduction to the basics of computational thinking and computer science. It was also designed to be relevant for coaches or curriculum specialists who work with new CS teachers. You can access the workshop resource page here.
June 25, 2018: Professor Chery Lucarelli, Asst. Professor Jen Rosato, Asst. Professor Jill Long, project consultant Heather Benedict, and K12 Cooperating School Partner Mike Pothast presented a poster session on our project at the ISTE 2018 International Conference in Chicago.
Focusing on our work toward infusing computational thinking and pedagogical best practices throughout teacher preparation while addressing K-12 computer science equity issues, the session presented the model for faculty professional development as well as the curriculum design process and artifacts which infuse computational thinking (CT) skills throughout the teacher preparation experience. Using Sphero SPRK+ robots, attendees were able to try part of a secondary science lesson that simulates curling, one of the United States' gold medal Olympic sports starring Duluth/Superior area athletes.
2018 Society for Information Technology and Teacher Education (SITE) conference
May 2018: The Teach CS@CSS Poster Presentation, "A Journey Towards Computer Science and Computational Thinking as a New Literacy for Teacher Candidates" was awarded the Grand Champion Outstanding Poster Award at the 2018 Society for Information Technology and Teacher Education (SITE) conference in Washington, D.C.
