March CSTA Maricopa Meet Up
CSTA AZ will be having monthly meet ups the first Saturday of each month at the Microsoft Store in Scottsdale Fashion Square Mall. The focus for March is Scratch basics, MicroBits and best practices. Networking and food are always free!! |
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Professional Development SurveyAs districts begin planning and budgeting around professional development for the 2020-21 school year, it is important to have your feedback included in the process. The Office of the Maricopa County School Superintendent has worked collaboratively with teacher support organizations to develop a short anonymous survey for educators. Your feedback from this survey will be shared with districts and professional development providers across Arizona so that PD can be developed and offered based on your ideas and needs. We want to hear your voice and opinions about professional development opportunities. |
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CS for ELL Students
Computer science is the fastest growing subject in the US, yet English learners are dramatically under-represented in these courses. CSforEL is a new, 4 year research project, funded by the U.S. Department of Education, to attract, retain and engage English learners (EL) in AP Computer Science Principles (CSP) in Arizona, New Mexico and San Diego. We are currently seeking districts to participate in our first cohort for the 2020-21 school year. Click below for more information. |
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CS Awesome Professional Development
CS Awesome is a new free curriculum from the Mobile CSP team for the AP CS A Java course that follows the 2019 College Board AP CSA units and learning objectives. We are applying to become an official provider for AP CSA in 2020. The curriculum is based on Barb Ericson's Java Review course on Runestone Academy. CSAwesome is part of a Google funded research project for the 2019-2020 and 2020-2021 academic years. We are studying new to CSA teachers and students and their transition from CSP to CSA. If you are a teacher transitioning from teaching AP CSP to AP CSA and/or will you be teaching AP CS A for the first time in 2019 or 2020, then we have scholarships available for you to attend our PD for FREE, in exchange for participating in our research project. More information below. |
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CSTA-AZ January Community Call
The CSTA-AZ January Community call took place on January 28th. Our next community call will be February 25th. |
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Amazon Future Engineer + BootUp Elementary CS Initiative
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CSTA 2020 Scholarships Now Open!
Registration for the 2020 CSTA Annual Conference is open, and scholarships are being offered to support teachers who can not otherwise attend the CSTA conference due to funding limitations. These scholarships are available thanks to the generous support of our partners. What to expect: The application is short, requiring 15–30 minutes to complete. It requests basic information about you and your teaching background, characteristics of the students you teach, and two short essay questions (less than 250 words each):
For more information visit the webpage here. |
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Start a Girls Go Cyberstart Club!
Do you know a school in your community that could benefit from a free, fun cyber program?High school girls are discovering their talent for cybersecurity and computer science with the Girls Go CyberStart competition. Made up of a series of digital challenges, Girl Go CyberStart empowers girls to work together to become the next leaders in cybersecurity and help protect the web. Boys can also discover their interest and learn with CyberStart Game. Clubs that have five girls who solve 5 challenges will qualify for Stage 2 Game and will earn additional non-competition Game licenses for boys or other girls in their school so everyone in the classroom can learn ethical hacking, programming and forensics for free! Registration is open until February 14th so students and teachers, register now and start playing today! There are cash prizes for girls and schools, don’t miss out! https://www.girlsgocyberstart.org |
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Code.org Summer Workshops
Whether you are new to teaching computer science (CS) or have previous experience, the Code.org Professional Learning Program prepares you to teach with confidence and offers year-round support. No CS experience is needed! Take part in the program to explore the curriculum and learning tools, practice new teaching strategies, discuss classroom management, and build a community of teachers. Over 90% of attendees would recommend our program to another teacher. Scholarships and discounts are available in many regions. |
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Apply to be a Microsoft TEALS School!
The Microsoft Philanthropies TEALS (Technology Education and Literacy in Schools) Program helps high schools create sustainable computer science (CS) programs. TEALS is happy to announce that we are currently accepting partner school applications for the 2020-2021 school year! (The deadline is February 14th.) Visit Microsoft.com/TEALS to learn more. |
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Start a Girls Who Code Club
We are proud to partner with Girls Who Code to provide free, flexible and inclusive CS opportunities all across our community, and would love for your school to host a Club! Girls Who Code Clubs provide completely FREE plug-and-play curriculum and resources for educators to encourage girls’ participation in STEM as they prepare for college and career. In each Club, 3rd-5th and 6th-12th grade girls build important life skills as they join a sisterhood of supportive peers and role models and learn how to use computer science to positively impact their community. Students also learn about inspiring female role models in tech to help increase female representation in our STEM programming. |
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New CS Educator Courses at ASU
In response to the new Arizona CS education endorsement, Arizona State University is offering an online 7 week, 3 credit course “Introduction to Computer Science for Educators.” The course is now open for enrollment for spring semester 2020, Session B (the class starts March 16). As an introductory course, it is great for educators who are new to CS education, and for teachers seeking course credit toward the CS endorsement. Click Here for a Link to the Course Flyer |
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Computer Science Education Week | December 9th-15th
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CSTA-Arizona Board ElectionsCSTA-Arizona Board ElectionsOur CSTA-AZ board member election is underway! Click here to read more about the elections |
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SheTech Explorer Day
SheTech Explorer Day (www.shetechexplorer.com) is a hands-on tech conference for high school girls 9th through 12th grade on March 4th 2020. This day-long event will include hands-on workshops in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM). Schools can register teams of up to 9 students at the SheTech website: http://shetechexplorer.com/arizona/ |
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November Community Updates
Updates from the Computer Science community in Arizona from our November 19th Community Call (click here for agenda):
Click 'Read More' to see information about each of these programs |
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CSTA 2020 Conference
CSTA 2020, set for July 11–15, in Arlington, Virginia, is shaping up to be our best conference yet! With more than 85 sessions, 28 workshops, 9 mini-sessions, 11 Birds of a Feather Conversations and 21 poster presentations, there is plenty to check out. |
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CSTA-AZ Fall Summit
CSTA-Arizona held it's 2019 Fall Summit in Prescott, Arizona on November 2nd. Educators from all over Arizona convened to attend sessions on Scratch, LocoRobo, p5js, Artificial Intelligence, and to plan for more local & community meetups in the four Arizona Regions. |
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American Computer Science LeagueThe American Computer Science League (ACSL) has sponsored computer science contests since 1978. The contests are divided into divisions (Senior, Intermediate, Junior, Classroom and Elementary) to appeal to a wide range of student experience. The Senior, Intermediate and Junior Divisions include computer science topics and coding. The Classroom and Elementary Divisions do not require coding. ACSL is offering its 2018-19 contest question/solution set to CSTA teachers who register for the first time. |
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October Community Updates
Updates from the Computer Science community in Arizona from our September 24th Community Call:
Click 'Read More' to see information about each of these programs |
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CSEdCon & State of Computer ScienceCode.org, CSforAll, and CSTA convened over 400 regional and international partners, policymakers, and district representatives for the first ever Global CS Education Conference (CSEdCon). Representatives from CSTA-Arizona, the Arizona Department of Education, and several districts across Arizona including Yuma and Prescott attended this event. The 2019 State of Computer Science Report was also released at this event - here's the progress Arizona has made in Computer Science Education |
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Resources for Hispanic Heritage Month
September 15th through October 15th is Hispanic Heritage Month. Here are several resources to share with students connecting students with Hispanic heritage to Computer Science & other STEM fields. |
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Aspirations in Computing Educator AwardNCWIT wants to recognize YOU for the incredible support and encouragement you give to your all of your students. When you endorse a high school applicant this year, you are then eligible to apply for the Educator Award! |
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Award for Aspirations in Computing for HS Students
NCWIT is pleased to announce that the Award for Aspirations in Computing is now accepting high school students’ applications! Help us spread the word to your students and grow this amazing community for women in tech! |
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CSTA AZ Board Nominations
If you are interested in serving on the CSTA-Arizona Board, please consider nominating yourself (or another person) for our upcoming CSTA-Arizona Board Elections. |
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NCWIT Awards Ceremony
Arizona State University's Fulton School of Engineering hosted the NCWIT Aspirations in Computing Awards Ceremony for young women in computing. Click through to see more information about the event and photos |
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AZ Educators - CSTA and ISTE Want Your Feedback on New CS Standards
CSTA and ISTE have launched an initiative to revise CS standards. As CS teachers, your input is valuable to this process. Keep reading to learn how you can provide feedback. |
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CSTA-AZ Fall Meetup 2018
CSTA-AZ held its first Fall Professional Development Summit for Arizona Computer Science teachers. Sessions were held on topics such as VEX Robotics, equitable recruiting & retention strategies, active learning in Computer Science, and the CyberPatriot competition. |
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Arizona Adopts Computer Science Standards!
On October 22, 2018, Arizona's State Board of Education voted to adopt new K-12 Computer Science Standards. The process to develop new Computer Science Standards began in January 2017. Since that time, the Arizona Department of Education (ADE) has collected public feedback on existing standards and convened working groups of educators, content experts, community members, and parents to create new standards. Click here to download Arizona's Computer Science Standards. |
