EDUC 6814 DEJ# 7 High Tech Programmers in Low Income Communities

Why should programming be part of school curriculum?

Quote:

" For the first time, more expert youth were seen mentoring other youth in Scratch. Scratch experts had a high-status position within the local culture  and some youth had emerged as general experts that mentors, coordinators, and other  youth consulted for help with Scratch, while  other youth had specialized in certain genres or  tricks within Scratch."

Teaching our students to be creators (creative computing)  and not just consumers, allows the development of creativity and imagination.  Using programming in schools would create a network for students to become part of in various ways.  It's a given that collaboration  would occur and this in turn leads to different roles in the classroom.  The roles would become self-assigned in relation to your expertise with a particular program.  Students quickly become of aware of who to seek advice from within a particular context.  Using creative computing doesn't necessarily mean that students are going to continue in this  "field", but it does suggest that the skills developed would transfer across the curriculum into other subjects,

What are the barriers to implementing programming in schools? 

Quote:  

"For the last twenty years, issues of the  digital divide  have  driven efforts

around the world to address the lack of access to computers and the Internet, pertinent and language appropriate content, and technical skills in low income communities".

There are many barriers that would keep programming out of a school's curriculum. First, many educators and administrators would see a program like Scratch as "play".  If they do not recognize that a curriculum guide for Scratch would coincide with the established curriculum, it would not be implemented.  Second, educators are in extremely demanding positions with accountability, and sometimes creative computing takes too much time and energy on the teacher's part.  Also, I believe it takes an expert or well-spoken advocate to make creative computing part of any curriculum.  In addition, schools would need equal access to technology, and it's apparent that this is not in place. Too, many schools do not have the technical support  that is needed for equipment maintenance.  Finally, for educators, I believe there is fear in trying something new, fear of failure, fear of poor test scores and fear of learning the program.  

How can barriers to implementing  programming in schools be overcome?

Quote:

" We argue that youth require technological fluency of how to construct new media  in order  to become  critical consumers and producers. We think that such directions in community technology developments are particularly important for urban youth, who are often seen as pushing new adaptations and transformations of media, but are also perceived as standing on the sidelines of technology development and production."

To begin with, I feel strongly about having an expert or well-spoken advocate that is able to voice the need for programming and provide strong evidence of success from various research. Speaking purely from observations of public schools that I'm affiliated with, advocating for technology fluency isn't a major focus that receives the continuous needed support.  Next, would be equal access.  It's  2012 and there are schools that still do not have the needed equipment to be successful.  Listening to teachers talk about not having updated technology to use is most likely the reason for lack of interest. So, how do we achieve equal access?  (I probably shouldn't list my ideas for a budget plan here).  Lastly, train and train and train teachers to understand and use various programs.  I'm not talking about a 2 hour training with an hour lunch, explicitly train teachers with full support over an extended period of time with mentors.  

Reference: Kafai, Y. B., Peppler, K. A., & Chiu, G. M. (n.d.). High Tech Programmers in Low Income Communities: Creating a Computer Culture in a Community Technology Center. Retrieved March 9, 2012, from http://site.educ.indiana.edu/Portals/206/pdfs/HighTechProgrammers_ct2007.pdf