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CS in Elementary Schools

Every student deserves the opportunity to learn computer science. Computer science education emphasizes critical thinking, collaboration, communication, computational thinking, problem-solving, and perseverance. It promotes equity, growth, and sustainability. At BCPS, students have the opportunity to learn computer science starting at kindergarten. There are various ways for younger students to participate in computer science and teachers are provided professional development to teach computer science at the elementary level.

• Hour of Code - CS Ed Week. Every December, we celebrate Computer Science Education Week (CSEdWeek), an annual call to action to inspire K-12 students to learn computer science, advocate for equity in computer science education, and celebrate the contributions of students, teachers, and partners to the field.  However, at BCPS, we celebrate CS Ed Week the entire month of December! Daily computer science activities for students can be accessed via Canvas, which are updated yearly.
  
  
• Block Coding - Block-based coding or block coding is a drag-and-drop coding language. Students build an understanding and foundation in computational thinking through visual-based coding that is easy to learn and understand. There are two main block-based coding that we use:
  
  
  • Code.org curriculum - Code.org is a free curriculum for students in K-12. Code.org’s progression of Computer Science Fundamentals courses blend online and "unplugged" non-computer activities to teach students computational thinking, problem solving, programming concepts and digital citizenship. Students are shown here coding using Code.org's block-based program.
    
    
  • Scratch - BCPS provides workshops for teachers that use Scratch, a free block-based coding with various applications for other subject areas - language arts, social studies, art, music, PE. Teachers are pictured here playing with home-made musical instruments attached to Makey Makey (an invention tool) and using Scratch programming.

Specific Initiatives/Grants:

UDL4CS (CS Inclusion)

UDL4CS is a Research Practice Partnership (RPP) between University of Florida and BCPS, funded by Google, that brings together researchers and practitioners to provide K - 12 general and ESE teachers with the tools and resources necessary to meaningfully include students with disabilities in computer science (CS) education.  This work will help to improve access to high-quality CS education for our students and develop a model of CS inclusion for other districts to follow.

Time4CSforAll 

Time4CSforAll is a research-practice partnership awarded to BCPS in partnership with UChicago STEM Education and the University of Florida and funded by a National Science Foundation (NSF) CSforAll grant- Collaborative Research: A research-practice partnership focused on creating equitable computer science opportunities for elementary students (Grant No. 2031425). This project will find time in the elementary day to integrate computer science through an interdisciplinary problem-based learning unit for fourth grade students that will eventually be made available nationwide on Code.org, one of the largest providers of K-12 computer science content. 

 

• Link to Time4CSforAll- https://timeforcs.org/

Questions: E-mail browardstem@browardschools.com