The Problem Of Computer Programming Education

“Don’t just play on your phone, program it.” This quote by President Obama, which hung in my AP Computer Science classroom, embodies what it means to be an engineer and

In The Mythical Man-Month the author, Frederick P. Brooks, Junior, starts off his tale of software engineering by giving the reader an image of prehistoric creatures—programs—struggling for survival against a tar pit. The fact is that programmers and their tools must be perfect in syntax and in reliability and every day a program is struggling to reach the requirements of today’s standards. He speaks of the skirmishes that surround the creation of a program such as putting forth time and effort only to discover that someone else has created a similar program, the possibility of a program becoming obsolete like that of a dinosaur in a tar pit, and the program’s innards and actions must be perfect. However, Brooks gives the reader a positive insight to programming by comparing it to a child’s imagination. He states, “He [the programmer] builds his castles in the air, from air, creating by exertion of the imagination.” (7)

I have always had a passionate interest in technology, from the very first time I was introduced to a rapidly-growing phenomenon called coding. It both fascinated and perplexed me; numbers and letters, pixels on a shiny screen, amalgamating together to produce something awe-inspiring. Therefore, it was perhaps to be expected that I would sign up to be a member of my local Girls Who Code club in the beginning of my eighth grade year.

I became interested in computers during the early 1990s and it happened right in my house. Within my community no one really knew what a "programmer" was or how to become one. At first, programmers were the engineers the circuits and processors. In April 1990, I volunteered to help my brother, a Computer Information Systems major at UTPA, to program the IBM-1401. I was 13-years old, had graduated from high school five years later, and decided to study the field of computers, specifically information technology (IT). In today’s high-tech world, virtually every business needs computer networking professionals to set up and maintain an in-office network (Irvine, 2011). This includes a variety of tasks such as engineering the network infrastructure, administering Windows systems and maintaining an email system (Irvine, 2011).

My freshman year at Cornell University, I was sitting in a Computer Programming and Meteorology class when Professor Mark Wysocki(the New York State Climatologist) succeeded in attracting me to the study of computer graphic information systems through nothing more than a single sentence. He argued that, when a company adopts computer programming as the chief form of technology, it frees itself to pursue new boundaries, because new computer languages can always be created for each new problem.. I was immediately fascinated by the idea that the computer programming can alter individual lives, affect one's identity, and perhaps even shape national identity.

There were times in elementary school when teachers had to pick me up from my chair to give another student a chance to use the school computer. When I first laid eyes on a computer I was amazed at all the things that it could accomplish but I never really delved the aspects of it. This changed when I took my AP Computer Science course during my junior year, taking the class helped develop my passion for the computer. Taking this course helped me to explore other areas of the computer that I didn’t know existed, because I wanted to learn more about the world of computers I decided to join the cyber security team and the robotics team at my school. By joining the cybersecurity team I was able to augment my knowledge on computers in general,

Technology is becoming a bigger part of this world every day, and programmers are needed for every bit of it. Anything that is at all electric involves programming. Someone has to program the street lights to run at certain times. Someone has to program your phone and all of the applications on it. Someone has to program the computer that you’re reading this off of. Programmers are essential to everyday life, and without them, there would be no working technology.

With developments in technology growing exponentially, teachers must show students how to think critically and problem solve, using factual information as a primary resource. By mastering these skills, students become prepared for their college and careers, which will most likely involve some form of technology that has not yet been invented. This will influence many of the decisions I make as a teacher. Instead of assigning a reading passage and then comprehension questions to answer after, I can encourage students to discuss what they read and make connections to their own lives, research a topic for different perspectives or deeper details, or give students opportunities to present what they know to their peers and me in creative ways.

these robots and/or be the ones coding them in the future (Wohl). Thus, it is becoming

Being proficient in using technology will be a prerequisite for almost any employment for younger students. It is the school’s job to prepare many of these kids for employment, and that is especially true for the lower socioeconomic areas where students with computers at home are rare. Eisenberg and Johnson describe this basic skills education as the “laundry list” approach to computer education. By ‘list” they mean isolated skills, such as word processing, or searching the Internet. “Students need to be able to use computers and other technology flexibly, creatively and purposefully. All learners should be able to recognize what they need to accomplish, determine whether a computer will help them to do so, and then be able to use the computer as part of the process of accomplishing their task.”1

Can you imagine your baby is born shaking uncontrollably, crying hysterically and sweating insanely? Babies are born addicted to drugs every 25 minutes in the United States. To make this horrible nightmare worse their mothers will be prosecuted under Tennessee law. Criminalizing drug abusing mothers prevents them from seeking prenatal care and in turn harms the fetus.

North American Tax Agency saw potential benefits of data warehouse. Hence the wanted to execute it and submitted their proposal with an estimation of three to five years and costs ranging from $25-30 million. The proposal was approved but very soon the executive sponsor lost interest in the project because they didn’t understand the need of the time and amount that the project would take. [1]

compromising the vessels in the brain of an avid smoker by restricting the blood flow for several months after the youth has the ability of self-restraint of stopping the use of cannabis. Studies have shown one of the points debated is that of driving drugged as it can be more harmful to a person than driving while intoxicated.

Computer Science is critical for developing programming knowledge, digital literacy, and improving students’ problem solving skills. Teaching kids how to program exposes them to a field that they otherwise wouldn’t have even considered. The problem with teaching programming in K-12 schools is the lack of faculty. In fact, maybe one in ten American high schools have a Computer Science teacher. The number is even lower for schools serving grades 1-6 (Guzdial 1). The states that already require Computer Science as a high school graduation requirement can complete the class by learning how to use CAD or Photoshop. This is due to teacher not being qualified enough to teach real Computer Science. Raising the standards of preexisting Computer Science classes would be problematic in that sense (Guzdial 1). There is also no set, clear curriculum to teach Computer Science in high school. Because of this, it would be hard to teach it to special needs students (Guzdial 1).

The benefits of computer science can be minor, and it also can be huge. On the minor side, we can search anything on a computer today, without even having to step outside. For example, if we are looking for some resources for our research paper, we can easily check online libraries instead of flipping through pages from different books at a physical library we had to travel to. It seems to have become fashionable nowadays to write naysayer articles about how popular efforts to expand computer science educations are waste of time. [1]. Computer science is the major key for the establishment of data base for most companies now, and even majority of the companies are running based on computer systems. Computer science plays an important role in the field of education as well. Computer Science is much more than learning to code, and its benefits go beyond knowing a particular programming language. [2]. Most