The Arc of Computer Science at Long-View

Too often, people may conceive of the pedagogy of computer science in primary and secondary school as mainly the process of teaching learners to code. At Long-View, we try to approach the academic discipline of Computer Science, which began well before the invention of the personal computer, in an authentic way. As learners progress in computer science from first encounters to diverse applications of the discipline in later years, a throughline remains: we focus on thinking and learning, not syntax or language-specific features. To engage in computer science at Long-View is to learn the process of identifying the next best step in a computational problem, rather than memorizing a narrow set of solutions.

The arc of computer science at Long-View begins with ‘unplugged’ experiences (no computers necessary) that connect to big ideas….

computer scienceLisa ZapalacFebruary 12, 2024Long-View Micro Schoolcomputer science, coding, principles, ideas

Frontloading Computational Thinking in the Long-View CS Block

For those who have limited experience in the modern Computer Science domain, it is easy to make the assumption that it is all about learning the syntax and semantics of specific programming languages. However, over a century before the first computer was successfully built, mathematicians Ada Lovelace and Charles Babbage worked to tackle complex problems crucial to Computer Science. At Long-View we like to think of coding as just one tool we use to study the science of computing and instead of planning our learning around programming-specific skills, we ensure the learners are getting the most out of their two hour weekly instruction by focusing on a problem-solving process known as “computational thinking.”

Jeanette Wing first brought this process to the forefront of computer science pedagogy in her 2006 article in Communications of the ACM. Since then, many CS programs in both the k-12 and higher education spaces have adapted their curriculum to frontload concepts and practices promoted under the umbrella of computational thinking….

computer scienceLisa ZapalacOctober 1, 2021Long-View Micro Schoolcomputational thinking, CS Block