Role of The CS Learner

Students, especially in elementary school, need structure and identified roles. Classroom jobs are a great way to provide valuable guidance while giving students the opportunity to experience all aspects of computer science. By becoming the programmer, designer and project leader students learn how to approach challenges with different perspectives. It is also important to recognize that jobs like managing materials, distributing equipment, fixing technology and supporting classmates are just as vital.

Providing students with opportunities and choice in their own educational experience can help to increase student participation and investment. Presenting students with real world experiences and challenges, meaningful to them, can help to facilitate student ideas and solutions. It also allows students to see that the choices and actions they take can have a positive impact.

It is equally important for students to learn how to support classmates as it is to look to classmates for help. Expert students will emerge in every computer science classroom with every new practice and application learned, as will students who struggle with those new experiences. Sometimes even those students used to excelling may struggle with computer science. Students will begin to look to each other to solve problems and work through challenges before going to the teacher for help.

Computer science projects are designed to be a collaborative experience. Presented with problems and challenges, students work together to create solutions and projects as a team. Students also begin to learn to share work through the practice of iterating and remixing, exposing students to the ideas of open source and creative commons.