On June 22, 2018, Governor David Ige signed House Bill 2607 into law which provides the Hawaii Department of Education (HIDOE) $500,000 to invest in a K-12 computer science curriculum. With these funds, the HIDOE hopes to prepare students for a future where computer skills will be necessary for any career they choose. It’s an investment not only for our future leaders but for our state.
Fast-forward to today, while that vision remains unchanged, many elementary schools and teachers are not ready to integrate computer science (CS) into the classroom. The decision to have all schools deliver a computer science curriculum by the year 2024-2025 school year means teachers will need to find the time to research and learn these skills independently with little or no support.
This presentation offers a 5-module course to help elementary school teachers understand computer science, particularly algorithms and programming, by introducing Scratch coding. The design of this course will give teachers the confidence and skills to teach and further develop a computer science curriculum by experiencing the lessons, instructions, and activities through the eyes of their potential students.
Michelle Kunkel