Carol Yarbrough noticed a difference in her computer science students when Alabama began to allow the CSP and AP Computer Science courses to count as a math requirement for graduation in 2013. The teacher at the Alabama School of Fine Arts had previously interacted mainly with students in the math and science track. After the policy change, those focused on the arts started signing up and ignited their passion for computer science.
"The approach that the CS Principles course takes—teaching kids that computing is part of everything, rather than teaching it as a subject in isolation—is vital for these students," she said. "Once they have taken the CS Principles course and know more about computing, then they are interested in taking other computing courses because they now see the relevance it has to their lives."
But the changes didn't stop there. The math and science students also increased their ingenuity and embraced open-ended projects as they interacted with their more creative peers. The end result? More successful students—and a veteran teacher with a refreshed spirit and improved practice.
Carol received professional development support from Jeff Gray and colleagues through the NSF-funded CS4Alabama project. To learn more about Carol and Jeff's work, check out this NSF article.
