Computers and computer skills are critical to nearly every field in modern society. While children are introduced to technology early in life, they are not introduced to how that technology works. The American education system is severely lacking in computer science education in the K-12 arena. Computer science education supports critical thinking, reasoning and logic skills, already a critical part of the Common Core State Standards curiculum. By purposefully and strategically adding computer science education into CCSS from day one, we can bridge this critical gap in our education system. In the United States, only two states have a plan for Computer Science K-12 education while 2 others are currently working on a plan. States are the …show more content…
(Gallup, 2016) This is the pop culture view of the programming world. While these jobs and opportunities exist, computer science is more about using the digital tools we have around us to solve every day problems. From medical, to transportation, to communication and infrastructure computer science affects every facet of modern life. It is not surprising then, that computer science related careers are expected to rise 11% between the years 2014 and 2024 according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics while the average of all occupations will increase only 7% (BLS, …show more content…
Scratch, the parent of ScratchJr, was designed for students ages 8 and up. It similarly allows for programming using drag and drop blocks, but expands beyond the limited options to allow the creation of animations, stories, games, art and more. Additionally, it was created to be community driven and has tools to share projects with others all over the world. Scratch and ScratchJr can be used early on in K-8 to develop the critical thinking and problem solving skills needed to implement full programming languages later in 9-12 arena. The Computer Science Teachers Association (CSTA) has outlined a set of standards that can be implemented nation wide over a multi-year period. The timeline differs by state, as some will have more difficulty in providing the teaching staff and technolgies needed than others. The plan includes three levels, 1, 2 and 3 that are broken up into grade bands. Each level has a set of goals that build on those of previous levels (CSTA, 2017). These standards were developed by one team for each level and a leadership team. Each team is comprised of educators who have experience in the level they are responsible for. In the case of level 3, this includes post-secondary educators. (CSTA,