Trinity collaborates with Harvard for computer science instr
Source: Karen Mansfield
Katie Roupe/Observer-Reporter
Trinity Middle School teacher Greg Mittleider cheers on his students while they work through the basics of binary code. Auggie Towers holds up a No. 9 card after Mittleider lights up the lamps with corresponding numbers to show how binary works. Mittleider teaches a class that uses a Harvard and Microsoft program to teach different coding and computer languages to students at a younger age.
It's 8 a.m., and Trinity Middle School teacher Greg Mittleider is doing his best moonwalk while the students in his computer science class in Room 101 dance along to a Michael Jackson song blasting on the radio.
Then the bell rings, the dance party ends, and the students quickly settle into their seats, ready to tackle algorithms and the art of computer science.
Trinity Middle School is one of fewer than 50 school districts in the country �C and one of only two schools in Pennsylvania �C selected by Microsoft and Harvard University to participate in a pilot program called CS50x, which is based on Harvard's wildly fun and successful CS50 course.
CS50 and CS50x, the secondary school version of the course, teach students how to think algorithmically and how to solve problems by linking fundamental computer science topics with innovative demonstrations and real-world examples that make computer science less intimidating.
Mittleider and seventh-grade computer applications teacher Matt White were among the 72 teachers selected from across the country to participate in the CS50x Boot Camp held at Microsoft's headquarters in Redmond, Wash., this summer.
“It was not easy. It was a rigorous selection process,” said Natasha Chornesky, senior content manager at Microsoft.
The CS50x course is offered to Trinity eighth-grade students.
The seminar was hosted by Harvard professor and course creator David J. Malan and members of his teaching staff, who taught the “how” and “why” behind CS50's effectiveness.
When Malan took over Harvard's CS50 introductory computer science course in 2007, the course had fewer than 100 students enrolled. As word spread about Malan's engaging and refreshing teaching style and course content, enrollment skyrocketed to more than 800 students. The majoriity of those students had no previous programming experience.
CS50 also is now the most popular course on edX, Chornesky said, with more than 400,000 students of all ages enrolled since it was rolled out.
If it worked at the college level, why not tweak it and offer it to secondary school students?
Mittleider, White and the other teachers who participated in the boot camp are members of an online community throughout the school year and will be provided with online or on-the-ground support from Microsoft.
“It's creating a buzz and a vibe,” said Mittleider, who noted that school districts that offer computer science have better test scores because of improved spatial thinking and problem-solving skills.
The seventh- and eighth-grade computer science classes, like the CS50 course, start and end each class with dance music (the CS50 course has an inhouse DJ). Students do the wave �C the sports celebration in which fans take turns standing up and waving their arms in an upward sweeping motion �C to celebrate accomplishments during the class period.
“We're incorporating something different and changing the culture. At Microsoft, they're trying to let kids know that being smart is cool, and they're trying to shed negativity toward computer science,” said Mittleider.
The students in CS50x learn Scratch programming, a tile block language that was developed at M.I.T. in order to make learning programming more accessible to students at younger ages. They also will become familiar with HTML and JavaScript and gain an understanding of topics including abstraction.
“As we work through the year and continue to collaborate with Harvard and Microsoft to establish and fine-tune the curriculum, our entire middle school department works together to piece it out to all levels,” said Mittleider.
The middle school business and computer department also includes Mike Marino and Andrew Migyanko.
Currently, Texas is the only state that requires students to take computer science courses.
The PSEA estimated that by 2020 there will be 1.4 million computer science jobs in the United States, but only 400,000 computer science graduates to fill those jobs.
“This will cause outsourcing that we will never get back,” said Mittleider. “In Southwestern Pennsylvania, we are rolling with technology companies, and our kids need these skills.”
Chornesky said Trinity is on the cutting edge of education by offering CS50x.
“It's the computational thinking, the rigor of identifying a problem and coming up with a way to solve that algorithmically, that's a skill that translates to any career that any student can have,” said Chornesky. “There's a rigor to this course that is special because it's about critical thinking and problem-solving, and that's important.”
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