Education Week - June 21, 2017 - 24

PRESIDENT & CEO Michele J. Givens
EXECUTIVE EDITOR Gregory Chronister

DEPUTY MANAGING EDITORS

ASSISTANT EDITOR, Education Week Teacher
Madeline Will

Mark W. Bomster, Stacey Decker

INTERN, Education Week Teacher Alix Mammina

MANAGING EDITOR Kathleen Kennedy Manzo

ASSISTANT MANAGING EDITORS
Kevin C. Bushweller, Lesli A. Maxwell, Debra Viadero

Getty

COMMENTARY EDITOR Elizabeth Rich

Why Don't We Do a Better Job of
Teaching Computer Science?

S

elf-driving cars, robot-assisted surgery,
automated news writing, a huggable, humanoid Mickey Mouse character at Disney World-these are just a few examples
of the many ways computer science is
changing the way we live, work, learn,
and play. This push toward the automation of tasks and jobs, and the creation of
more intelligent technologies that can simulate human
decisions and emotions, has substantial benefits for
society. Many technological innovations are advancing
health care, public safety, communication, education,
and science, and are improving the quality of life for
those who have access to them.
There is no one better to access these tools than the
students who will shape the technology of our future. In
recent years, the dizzying pace of technological innovation has motivated a surge of interest in creating quality computer-science-education experiences for all K-12
students in the United States. In early 2016, President
Barack Obama announced the Computer Science for
All initiative, which called for more than $4 billion in
federal funding to expand computer science in elementary, middle, and high school.
Though Congress never set aside the proposed $4
billion, the initiative set in motion a new focus on computer science, triggering change across the country.
Some states, including Arkansas, Texas, Virginia, and
West Virginia, now require all high schools to teach
computer science, while districts such as San Francisco
are teaching computer science at all grade levels. And
we are both members of the CSforAll Consortium, a
hub for the initiative, which is made up of more than
230 organizations that are continuing to connect
schools, funders, and researchers together.
There is still much work to do, however. In an ongoing, multiyear study on computer science education conducted by Google and Gallup, researchers found that
although students, parents, teachers, and school administrators value computer science, it is still not offered in
many schools. This is because of a lack of time, funding, and qualified teachers. Only 25 percent of schools
nationwide reported offering a computer science class
in 2014-15, and while that number rose to 40 percent
in 2015-16, we are still years away from providing sufficient computer science education in all schools.
As educational researchers focused on computer science learning, we welcome the push by more districts
to teach the discipline to students. But we believe that
our nation's current conception of computer science
education does not go far enough. It is not sufficient
to simply give more students access. As computer science continues to expand, we advocate for educators to
teach functional computer science literacy, just as the
field of science education has spent decades refining an
approach to teaching socio-scientific reasoning (which
integrates learning science content in the context of
real-world issues).
In fact, Kamau Bobb, a program officer for the National Science Foundation, raised a red flag last year
that without critical analysis and redress of existing
educational inequities, Obama's computer science initiative might result in more for the "haves" and less for
the "have-nots," and may actually undermine equity

STRATEGY & PARTNERSHIPS Kathryn Kross

ASSOCIATE EDITORS Sean Cavanagh,
Catherine Gewertz, Stephen Sawchuk

CORRESPONDENTS Kavitha Cardoza, Lisa Stark

ASSISTANT EDITORS Alyson Klein,

Cat McGrath, Swikar Patel

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VIDEO ADMINISTRATION AND

VIDEO PRODUCERS Deanna Del Ciello, Erin Irwin,

COMMUNICATIONS Carmen Rojas

ASSISTANT COMMENTARY EDITOR Mary Hendrie
STAFF WRITERS Evie Blad, Daarel Burnette II,
Benjamin Herold, Corey Mitchell, Michele Molnar,
Arianna Prothero, Denisa R. Superville
DATA SPECIALIST/STAFF WRITER Francisco Vara-Orta
Michelle R. Davis, Emmanuel Felton, Marva Hinton,
Brenda Iasevoli, Mark Walsh, Jaclyn Zubrzycki

and inclusion in computing fields. This concern is palpable when one considers the fact that in 2014, according
to Fortune, the leadership teams of nine powerhouse
technology companies in the United States were overwhelmingly male (about 70 percent to 90 percent) and
overwhelmingly white (about 65 percent to 85 percent).
Greater attention must be paid to the disproportionate
influence that a small group of people have over how
the rest of us think, feel, and behave. We have an urgent
need for an educated populace that will question, push
back, and transform these technological innovations toward equitable and ethical uses in society.

MANAGING PRODUCER & DIRECTOR OF VIDEO

SENIOR CONTRIBUTING EDITOR Karen Diegmueller

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Caralee Adams,

By Florence R. Sullivan & Jill Denner

Education Week Video

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RESEARCH CENTER Holly Yettick
ASSISTANT DIRECTOR, EDUCATION WEEK
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RESEARCH ANALYST Alexandra Harwin
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"

We must teach children not just to
think about how to design and
program a particular technology."

DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY Charles Borst

TECHNICAL ANALYST Jonathan Rogers

ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY

ASSISTANT MANAGER OF TECHNOLOGY

Swikar Patel

Hind Alaasemi

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Hyon-Young Kim

EXECUTIVE ASSISTANT Shaiy E. Knowles
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MULTIMEDIA INTERN Margaret Lovey Cooper
WEB INTERN Kasey Lee

Because of this, we must teach children not just to
think about how to design and program a particular
technology, but to consider its potential role and impact
on society. Schools have a strong need to infuse critical thinking about the benefits and drawbacks of using
technological innovations. Computer science educators
should prepare students not only to learn computer science concepts and practices, but also how to deal with
pressing ethical questions related to the capabilities of
technology-including mass surveillance, the spreading
of fake news through social media, malicious hacking,
and the loss of jobs to automation.
They should also help students think about the ethical implications of creating technologies from few perspectives versus multiple perspectives, of using communications technologies to watch people versus reach
out to people, and of using algorithmic trading to amass
fortune versus investing in companies that provide a
product or service useful to society.
Consideration of the ethical and social issues related
to computer science should be woven throughout a
computer science curriculum. And the teaching of ethics should be rooted in our shared democratic values of
participation, representation, and justice. Fulfilling the
promise laid out by Obama's initiative to truly make
computer science education a priority should continue
to be the work of states and districts around the country.
But without addressing the ethical issues engendered
by our technological innovations, computer science for
K-12 students will not live up to its full potential. n
FLORENCE R. SULLIVAN is an associate professor of learning
technology at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and
the author of the recently published Creativity, Technology, and
Learning: Theory for Classroom Practice (Routledge).
JILL DENNER is a senior research scientist at Education,
Training, and Research, a nonprofit organization in California
that builds partnerships to increase equity in computer science
education. They are both members of the CSforAll Consortium.

24 | EDUCATION WEEK | June 21, 2017 | www.edweek.org/go/commentary

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Education Week - June 21, 2017

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