Drawing Parallels

There are many noteworthy precedents to what SPARK Institute is trying to do. World renowned universities like MIT, Berkeley, and Carnegie Mellon have been actively engaged in research and experimentation in the area of teaching computer science to school children. The Logo language is a sparkling example of the outcomes from such efforts. A few other examples:

The Alice Project

Alice was developed at Carnegie Mellon University, and is a teaching tool designed as a revolutionary approach to teaching and learning introductory programming concepts. The Alice team has developed instructional materials to support students and teachers in using this new approach. It uses 3D graphics and a drag-and-drop interface to facilitate a more engaging, less frustrating first programming experience.

Lego Mindstorms

LEGO Mindstorms is a programmable educational toy that allows children to build a variety of robotic systems through the use a very simple visual programming interface. The kit includes pieces like electric motors, sensors, Lego bricks, gears, axles, and beams. Lego Mindstorms can be used to build a model of embedded systems with computer-controlled electromechanical parts.

Computer Science Teachers Association (CSTA)

Other organizations address use of technology across the curriculum, but only CSTA speaks directly and passionately for high school computer science at the national level. The purpose of CSTA is to advocate at all levels for a comprehensive computer science curricula, and support projects that communicate the excitement of computer science to students and improve their understanding of the opportunities it provides.

CSTA works to establish US national CS curriculum based on ACM's Model Curriculum of K-12 Computer Science Education and other materials.

International Society for Technology in Education

A nonprofit membership organization, ISTE provides leadership and service to improve teaching, learning, and school leadership by advancing the effective use of technology in PK-12 and teacher education. Home of the National Educational Technology Standards (NETS), the Center for Applied Research in Educational Technology (CARET), and the National Educational Computing Conference (NECC), ISTE represents more than 85,000 professionals worldwide. It supports its members with information, networking opportunities, and guidance as they face the challenge of transforming education.

DigiPen Institute of Technology

Based on Redmond, Washington, U.S.A. this Institute offers opportunities for middle school and high school students to learn about the process of video game, 3D animation, and robotics. Now branded as part of DigiPen's ProjectFUN Initiative, DigiPen has three programs, all of which promote a strong stay-in-school message, targeted at this audience.

Famous Quotes on Computer Education

James Paul Gee, author of  What Video Games Have to Teach Us About Learning and Literacy and Professor of Computer Science at University of Wisconsin, Madison: Young people today need to be able to use their learning muscles to innovate and create, and ultimately to adapt and transform themselves several times over in one lifetime. They need to be tech-savvy if they are going to have any hope of a secure future ... For baby boomers like me ... fearing math, science, and complex technologies was, by and large, all right. But not any more.

Arthur Luehrmann, a founding partner of Computer Literacy Press of California (1981), is widely credited with originating the term, "computer literacy". He says: Computer literacy must also mean the ability to do computing, and not merely to recognize, identify, or be aware of alleged facts about computing.

Brian Harvey, Professor at University of California, Berkeley says: It happens that the process of programming a computer is very appealing to many kids; by taking that process seriously, they experience the sort of commitment and pursuit of excellence that other kids get from team sports, from the school newspaper, and so on.

Clement and Gullo at Kent State University (Clement & Gullo 1984) show in a survey that certain cognitive and meta-cognitive skills developed significantly better in a group of children who worked at LOGO (programming) than in a control group who worked at computer-assisted instruction (drill-based tutors).

Allen B. Tucker, Chairman - Education Working Group, Computer Science Department, Bowdoin College, Brunswick, ME 04011 USA, says: In the natural sciences and mathematics, the high-school curriculum is relatively well established. We believe it is important to implement a similar curriculum for computer science that identifies the "great ideas" in the computing and how these ideas affect the world in which we live.