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Why should programming be part of school curriculum?

Computer programming is integral knowledge across disciplines from the sciences to the arts, yet minorities and low-income students are notably absent in computer science-related

fields.

The effects of social-economic status have long been a subject of educational research.  It is a common fact that lower economic students are at a greater risk for achieving academic success.   Low income students may have less access to technology and school may be their only access. 

For the last twenty years, issues of the digital divide have driven efforts

around the world to address the lack of access to computers and the Internet,

pertinent and language appropriate content, and technical skills in low-income

communities (Schuler & Day, 2004a and b).

Another aspect of this is that even if there are opportunities to use technologies the acceptance of how and where the technologies are provided must be accepted by the community (users0 for the technologies to be used and of benefit.  This fact can be minimized in the school environment.  The use of technologies in school also allow for the monitoring of how the technologies are being used and their use patterns can be built upon to extend a normal activity into a learning experience.

Programming allows students to use critical thinking skills and use them with their creative skills to create many different types of projects such as games, movies and design projects.

What are the barriers to implementing programming in schools? 

There is always the ever present of budget and monies available but to me a bigger problem is the acceptance of the use of technologies and multi-media in the classroom.  I believe that many educators do not see the full benefit or using technologies in the schools.  They may be willing to let students do class research on the internet but may view games as just a fun activity with no educational benefit.  Programming may be intimidating and teachers who have little to know training can be very reluctant to introducing a concept they are not comfortable with themselves.

We argue that youth require technological fluency of how to construct new media in order to become critical consumers and producers. We think that such directions in community technology developments are particularly important for urban youth, who are often seen as pushing new adaptations and transformations of media, but are also perceived as standing

on the sidelines of technology development and production.

This quote is talking about our youth but can also be directed toward our educators.  Our teachers must also have technological fluency in order to be critical consumers and producers so they can direct their students in their development of technical fluency.

How can barriers to implementing  programming in schools be overcome?

The changes must come from the top down.  By this I mean the idea that technology must be available for all needs to be accepted by our leaders, our community as well as our educators.  The schools should be an environment to introduce as well as make available may different technological opportunities.  Teachers should be introduced to projects such as Scratch in workshops.  The Scratch project was not introduced as a programming project but in reality was an introduction of how the use and development of commands can be used in creating different projects and this may be less intimidating to teachers with little or no programming skills.  The use of technology must be taught in teacher preparation programs in more detail.  There need to be more practice in the development and use of different technologies in teacher preparation education rather than talking about the inclusion of technologies.  New teachers who may have more familiarity of different technologies can share their experience with teachers who do not feel comfortable with the use of technologies and in return older teachers can share their teaching experiences with the new teacher.   The positive role of mentors has been shown many times over and in the education setting can be a great asset.

While mentors are often characterized as teachers and guides who provide information and

advisement, and help identify mentee strengths and areas of improvement, there is in fact a rich literature that suggests mentors often assume additional roles in mentoring interactions. According to Flaxman (1992), mentors can take on various roles as teacher, advisor, supporter and companion.

This discussion was based on information obtained from a reading of”

High Tech Programmers in Low-Income Communities: Creating a Computer Culture in a Community Technology Center

by

Yasmin B. Kafai, Kylie A. Peppler, & Grace M. Chiu

University of California, Los Angeles