Competency #3: The CS Standards

Understanding and applying the Iowa Computer Science Standards.

Summary

In this activity you will complete the third of four modules prepared by the state of Iowa Board of Education and Iowa's AEAs to help teachers better understand CS and how to apply the CS Framework and Standards when designing lessons for students. [My big thank you to the state of Iowa for making these available for use in our program.]

Your activities for this Competency are:

Module #3

Please complete the following module:

Plan for approximately 2 hours depending on how closely you read the material and how much time you spend on the reflection questions.

Additional Readings

The third AEA module introduced the CS Standards released by CSTA in 2017 and adopted as the Iowa Standards in 2018. It is worth spending some additional time with the standards documents themselves.

It is also worth checking out the upcoming revision to the CSTA standards. Iowa will likely be moving to these updated standards, so it is useful to be aware of where things are heading:

Finally, the CS education landscape in Iowa is dynamic and continues to evolve — several bills were proposed this spring that may bring further changes. I encourage you to become familiar with the following resource and check back periodically:

Deliverable, Part 1 — Module Reflections

As you work through the module, take notes on what you experience. You will also be asked to complete Reflection Journal Activities at several points; make sure you engage with those as they come up.

When you are done, word process your responses to the following questions:

  1. What did you write for each of the in-module Reflection Journal Activities?
    • Reflection #6 — Consider a learning experience currently offered in your context and identify Iowa's Computer Science Standards that are relevant to that learning experience.
    • Reflection #7 — Think about your experience just a moment ago, using the Computer Science Framework and the CSTA Standards together to see how they complement each other. Now select a different standard and journal.
  2. What was the main point of this training module?
  3. How did this material fit in with what you have learned in your CSEd program so far?
  4. Identify and discuss at least one item or topic in the training that added to what you had previously learned. How did it improve your knowledge?
  5. Identify and discuss at least one item or topic in the training that was a completely new idea for you. How did it improve your knowledge?

Deliverable, Part 2 — Digging into the Standards

In the Teaching and Learning Programming course you did a similar activity focused specifically on the Algorithms and Programming standards. This time I want you to consider the full set of standards from one grade band — all five concepts from the framework, not just programming.

Start by reviewing the CSTA K–12 CS Standards Progression Chart (pages 4–6 in the Iowa standards document). The chart is organized into four grade-band columns:

A note on 3B standards: You will notice that some standards are labeled 3B. These are not included in the progression chart and are not part of this activity. Think of 3A as the standards for all high school students and 3B as standards for students who pursue multiple semesters of advanced CS coursework beyond the basics.

Choose one  of the four grade bands below and work through its full set of standards. For each standard in that band, answer the two questions listed there. You only need to complete one of the four sections.

Lower Elementary (Level 1A — standards 1A-CS-01 through 1A-IC-18)

Read through each of the 18 standards in the progression chart, then examine the detailed descriptions in the full document (pp. 7–11). For each standard, answer the following two questions:

  1. Do you feel like you observed this standard addressed in the way our CSEd courses were taught?
    • If yes: When and/or how?
    • If no: What kind of activity do you think the course could have used to better address this standard? [Note: for one or two standards where the answer is "no," you may find the standard itself unfamiliar — that is fine. But for most you will understand what is being asked even without direct instruction, and I think you can envision an activity that would have addressed it. Please give this an honest attempt.]
  2. Do you feel you have enough background with this standard to think about incorporating it into your classroom?
    • If yes: What kinds of activities — beyond those you observed in our courses — do you think would address this standard?
    • If no: Why not? [This is related to question 1, but it is a different question — you may feel you understand the standard without yet feeling ready to teach it.]

Upper Elementary (Level 1B — standards 1B-CS-01 through 1B-IC-21)

Read through each of the 21 standards in the progression chart, then examine the detailed descriptions in the full document (pp. 12–17). For each standard, answer the following two questions:

  1. Do you feel like you observed this standard addressed in the way our CSEd courses were taught?
    • If yes: When and/or how?
    • If no: What kind of activity do you think the course could have used to better address this standard? [Note: for one or two standards where the answer is "no," you may find the standard itself unfamiliar — that is fine. But for most you will understand what is being asked even without direct instruction, and I think you can envision an activity that would have addressed it. Please give this an honest attempt.]
  2. Do you feel you have enough background with this standard to think about incorporating it into your classroom?
    • If yes: What kinds of activities — beyond those you observed in our courses — do you think would address this standard?
    • If no: Why not? [This is related to question 1, but it is a different question — you may feel you understand the standard without yet feeling ready to teach it.]

Middle School (Level 2 — standards 2-CS-01 through 2-IC-23)

Read through each of the 23 standards in the progression chart, then examine the detailed descriptions in the full document (pp. 18–23). For each standard, answer the following two questions:

  1. Do you feel like you observed this standard addressed in the way our CSEd courses were taught?
    • If yes: When and/or how?
    • If no: What kind of activity do you think the course could have used to better address this standard? [Note: for one or two standards where the answer is "no," you may find the standard itself unfamiliar — that is fine. But for most you will understand what is being asked even without direct instruction, and I think you can envision an activity that would have addressed it. Please give this an honest attempt.]
  2. Do you feel you have enough background with this standard to think about incorporating it into your classroom?
    • If yes: What kinds of activities — beyond those you observed in our courses — do you think would address this standard?
    • If no: Why not? [This is related to question 1, but it is a different question — you may feel you understand the standard without yet feeling ready to teach it.]

High School (Level 3A — standards 3A-CS-01 through 3A-IC-30)

Read through each of the 30 standards in the progression chart, then examine the detailed descriptions in the full document (pp. 24–31). For each standard, answer the following two questions:

  1. Do you feel like you observed this standard addressed in the way our CSEd courses were taught?
    • If yes: When and/or how?
    • If no: What kind of activity do you think the course could have used to better address this standard? [Note: for one or two standards where the answer is "no," you may find the standard itself unfamiliar — that is fine. But for most you will understand what is being asked even without direct instruction, and I think you can envision an activity that would have addressed it. Please give this an honest attempt.]
  2. Do you feel you have enough background with this standard to think about incorporating it into your classroom?
    • If yes: What kinds of activities — beyond those you observed in our courses — do you think would address this standard?
    • If no: Why not? [This is related to question 1, but it is a different question — you may feel you understand the standard without yet feeling ready to teach it.]

Evaluation