Does anyone have any leads or ideas for an SUMMER CAMPS for students who want more next summer after CSP?
Does anyone have any leads, preferences or suggested options for students wanting to pursue CS as major in college? Do you have a list of schools would you recommend?
Looking for ideas for students beyond AP CS “A” and AP CSP.
Thanks in advance
I have seen several summer camps out there but they tend to be QUITE pricey. I would subscribe to the CSTA newsletter to get a heads up on them.
A cheaper option might be Harvards CS50 course which they run as a MOOC on edX. In theory it is supposed to be the same as AP CSP but it feels VERY different. I did it for some of my own PD and found it challenging in a different way.
Thanks. I haven’t look at any prices but that makes sense. Someone is looking to make a dollar. I don’t blame them. Ideal situation, there would be a company or institution which would offer scholarships to attend for free. Wishful thinking. Thanks
Here is a link to a course I completed from Stanford Online: https://lagunita.stanford.edu/courses/OLI/PrinciplesOfComputing/Open/about
This is a free course meant for beginners. This year I plan to offer this to some of my CSP students for enrichment and “pride of taking a college class from Stanford”.
Karen
There are many out there that are free or offer scholarships. Not sure where you are located but here is an interesting one I’ve been looking (? about age) https://www.recurse.com/about
Here is another good list:
https://www.coursereport.com/blog/learn-at-these-9-summer-coding-programs
On a separate note but sorta same topic…
What are your school’s going to offer kids after CSP?
GREAT question! I think a lot of schools are offering AP CSA also… I think that is what my school might eventually do. I like the idea of doing a version of CS50 instead but students (and admin) flock to AP courses, so I am pretty sure IF we offer another CS course in our school, it will be AP CSA. I hear it is pretty dry though which makes me nervous… I would hate for students to be excited about CS after CSP and then take CSA and find it to be less exciting.
Note, the college board officially says CSP and CSA are not to be sequenced (CSP doesn’t need to come before CSA) but I know a lot of teachers are skeptical of that statement. Just an FYI
There are a few ways to think about the phrase “AFTER CSP.”
Over the next decade, I can easily imagine a new NEED for students to want more beyond the two AP CS courses. Thoughts? Insights?
Summer Programs for high school students wanting more
Which universities have well respected CS departments around the country and world?
No college or alternative-advanced CS training programs. For example, being self taught and highly skilled entering the workforce without a paper degree.
Types of jobs beyond college or alternative schooling.
Any thoughts?
Personally, I am mostly interested in #1 and #2 for my current students.
Thanks in advance
Great links. I am on the other coast. About an hour from Los Angeles.
Thanks
Kaitie, what is CS50?
We are looking at offering different pathways after CSP — Gaming, Web Dev, and Cybersecurity. We have 8 day block schedules and our students could finish two different programs. Curious to know if anyone else is offering these courses and if so what curriculum are you looking at using?
I am game since it looks like I am going to have 5-6 weeks post AP EXAM to keep the ball rolling in the right direction.
Thanks
Hi Katie,
This semester 3 students who took AP CS-A last year are doing a self study on the EDx CS-50. They have 2 industry professionals who will come and help them once or twice a week. I’ll report back on how it goes.
I’m teaching AP-CS-A to the students I taught CSP to last year and I have the same fear about it being really dry. I’ll report back on that one too!
My dream is for Seniors who have taken CSP and CS-A to have internships at local companies. Is anyone else thinking about or doing this?
Great thread everyone thanks!
@alexandra CS50 is Harvard’s intro course which they have made a version of for high school. You can look for more info here: http://cs50.wiki/This+is+CS50+AP
-Dani
I am a brand new teacher of a 4 year CS program. We are still fleshing out the details of the program. When I was hired (2 weeks before school started), I was told the plan was to teach the 10th grade class Harvard CS50 and the juniors AP Computer Science Principles via Code.org. Well, it didn’t take too long for me to see that this was going to be an issue which is why I jumped into this code.org program right away. But my 10th graders had already had quite a bit of the AP CSP materials and every other lesson of this Code.org program they groan that they “already know this”… so I started filling our time with C programming via CS50, something they have not had yet and are definitely getting challenged with. To put all of CS50 before AP CSP would be bad though. So, the plan is to now move the code.org AP CSP to the very beginning of this 4 year program to lay a foundation for the rest of the courses. I will backfill with CS50 and maybe other content in 10th grade, then move on to AP CSA/Java for the junior year. Senior year will most likely be a menu of self-study edX courses along with a capstone type of project. Our students have mandatory computer industry internships as part of their 4 years as well. I’d love to hear from any other 4 year programs out there? My program is complicated as well by our block scheduling…we cover an entire year in one semester which meets every day for 83 minutes. This makes preparing for AP exams a bit more challenging if the course is offered in the fall.
In Maryland, the 4 year program in computer science is ECS, CSP, CSA and a numberof senior option including college courses and internships. Because of the equity issues with those options, I am developing a capstone course. Students could work toward certifications, take online courses or complete a community service project.
I am intrigued by the mandatory industry internships – how many students complete an internship?
Andrea
Well, the CS strand is new but we have had Engineering and Biotech strands for quite a few years and I believe they have all students complete internships (so, maybe 20-30 each year in each discipline). We have a full time internship coordinator that handles most of that. Sometimes the kids are placed somewhere in our school district or do the work during the summer, I believe. I’m still learning the details of all of that.
@cmeeks are you doing TEALS or were these industry professionals you found elsewhere? I am trying to get my administrator on board for TEALS next year and would love to have your perspective, regardless, on the value of having industry professionals in the classroom.
I would LOVE to get my students internships… BUT I really don’t know how realistic that is for me at this point. But down the road, it is on my radar! I would LOVE to hear how you are doing it!
Hi Katie,
I have TEALS volunteers for AP Java which is good because I hadn’t programmed in Java before. I know other schools in Boston are using them for AP CSP. Some are using the code.org curriculum and some Joy and Beauty.
I love the volunteers, its great to expose the students to professionals. It is a challenge to manage team teaching with 5 people and the volunteers don’t have teaching experience. I’m very hesitant to recommend their AP Java curriculum, perhaps I’ve just been spoiled by code.org. It is very spotty and sparce.
I would recommend TEALS but pick your own curriculum. Also, be sure you set clear expectations that the class is for all students not just those for whom programming comes easily. Its not that they aren’t on board with that, but that may not have been the case in their high school programming classes so its good to be clear on expecations of inclusiveness.
We are making some progress on internships. Having AP Java is helpful. Last summer one student got an internship at Draper after AP Java. McGraw Hill took a number of students and did a great python program. There may be jobs for a couple of students at one of my TEALS volunteer’s companies.