Welcome to the CSEd home page.
The Computer Science Education Association is developing curricula, software, and lesson plans to support computer science education in fourth through ninth grades. Of all the major branches of science (including physics, chemistry, biology, and earth sciences), computer science is arguably the one 21st century students will most directly use as adults and which will have the greatest impact on their lives and culture. Yet computer science is almost completely untaught in American schools before high school. The materials we develop will enable teachers, parents, and volunteers to present up-to-date, effective, fun, interactive, and student-oriented computer science concepts and skills to pre-high school children.
A successful computer science program must recognize and work with the realities of twenty-first century schools. Budgets are overstretched and money for software is scarce. Classroom time is limited and must accommodate field trips, assemblies etc. Teaching is oriented towards tests and standards. Few teachers are trained in computer science. On the positive side, in many schools computers are plentiful. Today's kids love computers, are completely comfortable with them, and want to know more about them. In the community, parents, business people, and elected officials completely understand the importance of a solid understanding of computers for children.
These considerations have motivated the design of our project. CSEd materials are
- educationally sound: lessons are based on a solid computer science foundation;
- cost- and maintenance-free: programming environments are delivered over the web;
- easily integrated into the classroom: lesson plans are flexible and easy to use;
- fun and challenging for children: the lesson plans include many games and age-appropriate challenges.
Please explore our web site. The VVBasic and VVLogo languages are modern, fun versions of the classic programming languages. We are currently developing a complete set of Lesson Plans that will quickly bring any teacher, parent, or other volunteer up to speed in teaching programming and computer science. We maintain a list of related web sites that you may find interesting. Our Inspiration section is, well, inspiring.
We hope you will contact us with questions, feedback, and suggestions for improvement.