archive of 2011

June 27 and 28, 2011

A Workshop and Conference on Computer Science
for Middle and High School Teachers
to be held on the UMass Lowell Campus

What is CS4HS?

CS4HS (Computer Science for High School) is an initiative sponsored by Google to promote Computer Science and Computational Thinking in secondary schools. UMass Lowell has received a 2011 CS4HS grant from Google's Education Group, and is delighted to offer a 2-day, hands-on workshop to regional middle- and high-school computer science, mathematics, and technology teachers.

Our goals are to provide teachers with (1) ideas they can immediately bring into their teaching; (2) a forum to share approaches with each other; and (3) an opportunity to meet our faculty and see what we can offer their students.

The 2011 workshop is over!
Thanks everyone. It was a great success and please check back here for next year.
Also, see instructors' notes linked below.

The workshop has a $50 registration fee (or $25 if you can only come for one day). Breakfast, lunch, and snacks will be provided both days.

After you fill out the online form above, please make sure to print out this form and send it in along with your registration fee. Thank you.

If you are outside of daily driving range, we can provide one overnight hotel stay (Monday night) for a small number of participants. Please contact Fred Martin to request travel support (or if you have any other questions).

Interested in robotics? Please be aware that we are not doing any robotics in CS4HS. But, UMass Lowell is conducting a one-day Artbotics workshop on Wednesday, June 29. Please see STREAM Robotics.

Conference Overview

The conference will consist of three hands-on workshops, short faculty research talks, and discussion sessions. Also, Steve Vinter, Engineering Director of Google Boston, will provide opening comments!

Hands-on Workshops

App Inventor for Android
Kelly Powers and Mark Sherman
This workshop will introduce teachers to programming using App Inventor for Android (AIA), Google’s development environment for Android mobile devices. The workshop will include programming activities and a discussion of the sort of projects that are accessible and valuable for high school students. schedule PPT; project notes PDF.

Media Computing in Python
Byung Kim and Fred Martin
Based on Mark Guzdial’s innovative CS1 curriculum, we will introduce teachers both to programming in Python and manipulating media objects computationally. PDF

Computing and Music with Scratch
Alex Ruthmann and Jesse Heines
This workshop is based on the use of MIT Scratch, a blocks-based programming language. We will specifically show how to use Scratch for creating algorithmic and computational musical compositions. Handout PDF; Paper PDF; resource directory.

Short Research Talks

Computational Geometry
Karen Daniels
Illustrating algorithmic approaches to solving real-world geometric problems. ppt

Scientific Visualization for Data Discovery
Georges Grinstein
Describing tools and techniques for revealing trends in vast data sets.

Social Networks
Benyuan Liu
Focusing on computational approaches for analyzing relationships among users of social networks.

Mobile and Cloud Computing
Haim Levkowitz
How these two technologies will become the next computing environment. pdf

Teaching Computing to First-Year College Students
James Canning
Describing an approach to teaching students with wide range of backgrounds in computing. 101 problems for CS 101

“Birds of a Feather” Discussion Sessions

The third component of the meeting is a set of breakout talks so we can network with each other around themes of mutual interest. Suggestions for discussion topics were requested during registration—here are the ideas you contributed!

Schedule

Monday June 27, 2011		Tuesday June 28, 2011
8:00	Snacks and Registration
8:30	Welcome: Robert Tamarin, Dean of Sciences, UMass Lowell	8:30	Snacks
	Opening Comments: Steve Vinter, Engineering Director, Google Boston	9:00	Short Talk: Social Networks
8:50	Conference Overview: Fred Martin	9:20	“Birds of a Feather” Session
9:15	App Inventor for Android	9:50	Short Talk: Mobile and Cloud Computing
10:30	Break	10:10	Break
10:45	App Inventor for Android (cont'd)	10:30	Computing and Music with Scratch
11:40	Short Talk: Computational Geometry
12:00	Lunch	12:00	Lunch
1:00	“Birds of a Feather” Session	1:00	Computing and Music with Scratch (cont'd)
2:00	Media Computing in Python	2:00	Short Talk: Teaching Computing to First-Year College Students
3:15	Break	2:20	Short Talk: Student Stories
3:30	Media Computing in Python (cont'd)	2:50	Break
4:40	Short Talk: Scientific Visualization for Data Discovery	3:00	Concluding Discussion
5:00	End of Day 1	4:00	Evaluation Survey
			End of Day 2

After the workshop is complete, please fill out our survey by clicking here.