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SD Times
The current state of computer science teacher certification is very much in flux. Many states offer no CS certification courses for middle or high school teachers, and even fewer require teacher certifications before teaching CS classes. Tech companies such as Google, Microsoft and Oracle are corporate sponsors of the Computer Science Teachers Association, which advocates for uniform CS teacher certification policies nationwide. In its 2013 report (funded by Google), "Bugs in the System: Computer Science Teacher Certification in the U.S.," the CSTA highlighted states in which teachers with no CS experience could teach the subject, and where no certification programs exist to train them.
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Lifehacker
Google has launched a new gateway to help you find computer science resources, programs, scholarships and other learning opportunities. You can filter the resources by region and by age group (including 18+, so it's not just for young students). Although the site doesn't include every CS resource on the planet, you might discover new opportunities you haven't heard of before, including ones that aren't just about computer programming and coding but general technical skills as well.
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Beta Boston
An effort by the local technology community to have computer science taught in more Massachusetts public schools will move forward this year after the Legislature provided $1.5 million in matching funds. An advocacy group representing technology interests, the Massachusetts Computing Attainment Network, or MassCAN, will use the money to train teachers in computer science instruction and to lobby more school districts to introduce the lessons. MassCAN has also drafted a proposal for a curriculum that school districts can adopt. It will be reviewed by the Massachusetts Board of Education this fall.
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Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Standing next to a large sign with the hashtag #ARKidsCanCode, Gov. Asa Hutchinson said enrollment in computer science courses in the state has exceeded expectation. The governor's Computer Science Initiative required that all Arkansas high schools and charter schools offer such courses starting this fall. More than 1,300 students have enrolled in the online coding course offered by the state through Virtual Arkansas — a state-based program offering digital courses, he said. The number of students taking the course in a classroom will be unknown until October.
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MindShift
On the second floor of Morgan State University's engineering building, Jacob Walker, 12, is putting the finishing touches on a ruler he's just created. Not yet an actual ruler. One he's designing on the computer. He just needs to add his initials — then it's time to produce it on a 3-D printer. Jacob starts seventh grade in the fall and has big dreams. Building this ruler is all part of the plan. "When I was a child," he says, "I loved to play with Legos, and it inspired me to be an engineer when I get older." Jacob is one of some 50 boys in this free, four-week camp at Morgan State. It's called the Minority Male Makers Program — paid for by Verizon.
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THE Journal
How can teachers push students to learn programming in the classroom through such endeavors as December's upcoming Hour of Code if they don't know how to code themselves? This question led to the creation of a new app that teaches students the basics of coding without much input from the teacher. Blockly, originally developed by Google, has been updated by Wonder Workshop to allow students to control robots through a simple drag-and-drop interface.
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Techly
What an epic question this is: to learn to code vs learning a foreign language. Most people are likely to have an immediate opinion one way or the other, but can usually point out the advantages of both. However the steps and advantages to learning how to code and learning a foreign language are more similar than you might think.
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Phys.org
What do computers and brains have in common? Computers are made to solve the same problems that brains solve. Computers, however, rely on a drastically different hardware, which makes them good at different kinds of problem solving. For example, computers do much better than brains at chess, while brains do much better than computers at object recognition. A study published in PLOS ONE found that even bumblebee brains are amazingly good at selecting visual images with color, symmetry and spatial frequency properties suggestive of flowers. Despite their differences, computer science and neuroscience often inform each other.
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Forbes
Ready for a new school year? Your child probably spent the summer learning new skills or leveling up existing ones, be it coding, painting, swimming or music. When kids build skills, they acquire a greater sense of confidence and curiosity that will make them hungry for even more accomplishments. So with that said, we should be asking, is the school ready for your child?
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