Computer Science curriculum has always been a hot topic for discussion, but in the last few years I have seen more in more debate over how Computer Science should be taught. All the time I hear different School District Higher Ups and Teachers trying to come to some sort of agreement on a good plan. From what I have seen, most Computer Science classes are teaching the wrong ideas at the wrong time.

I’ve seen this first hand in Port Huron Area Schools. Don’t get me wrong, I love my programming classes. But there is no set curriculum for our District’s Computer Programming Class. How can a Computer Programming class exist without a curriculum. This forces the teacher to teach what the majority will understand the best while the more advanced students have to focus on their own skills. That isn’t a huge problem, but there should still be some sort of guidelines for teaching the class.

Another issue I’ve noticed with our Computer Science curriculum is the definition of a Computer Science class. When did a Computer Applications class become a Computer Science class. One of the Counselors at Port Huron Northern has gone around telling students that “It looks good to have a Computer Science class on your Transcript. I suggest you take Computer Applications”. Last time I checked “This is how you use Microsoft Powerpoint” was not acceptable as a Computer Science class.

Now I’m sure this is not the same around the country, but this is the main issue I’ve noticed. I also think, from glancing at the AP Computer Science course outline, we’re teaching the wrong things in introductory Computer Programming classes. Style is something that should be emphasized from day one. Button1 or Div1 are never acceptable if you ask me. They then spend the first few weeks of a class going over the introduction to a language, then move on to working on projects. In reality, they should begin by teaching theory. Students should learn how a program flows rather then jumping head first into a programming language. I learned this the hard way when I decided to pick up VB.NET as my first language. I made multiple design mistakes, spent many hours browsing MSDN for guidance, and used silly variable names like Button1 or TextBox2. If only I had understood good style or even the basic concepts of If/Then, For/While Loops, and Switch Statements.

According to the AP Computer Science curriculum, the first part of the course should be spent teaching Object Oriented Programming. This I support. But on closer examination, they recommend introducing Object Oriented Programming. This is ridiculous. If the student has taken a pre-AP Computer Science class, they should be introduced to the basic concepts of Object Oriented Design. If half the class is spent teaching a concept, then the second half is spent teaching the concepts in a language like Java, there is something wrong with that class.

Now these are just my thoughts, but I’m sure many people agree with me. Anyone else have an opinion on this? Your thoughts and comments are always welcome.

Thanks for reading,
Patrick Godwin