Approaching Computer Science Education Through Making

Abstract

All too often, discussions of computer science education are constrained by notions unequal to the task of advancing education—notions such as “skill acquisition” or “national competitiveness”. We are told by many scholars, businesspeople, and policy-makers that computer science is necessary for students because “the workplace demands 21st-century skills”, or “many jobs will be opening up in technical areas”. These sentiments are simply too trite to motivate clear thinking about computer science education—and for that matter, they are too trite to motivate the students themselves. A more fertile foundation for discussion is to think of education as a process through which students create an intellectual autobiography—a narrative that supplies them with such things as lifelong projects and abiding interests. In approaching computer science education from this angle, it is especially helpful to begin with the many strengths and occasional weaknesses of the resurgent “maker movement” in American youth culture. By thinking of computer science as a discipline of construction and expressive creation, we can achieve a fresh perspective on increasingly stale issues such as “computational thinking”, “assessment of skills”, and “core curricula”.