Today Marks the Start of National Computer Science Education Week

December 7, 2020
Computer Science Education Week

Today marks the beginning of National Computer Science Education Week. This annual event was started in 2009 by the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) "to learn computer science, advocate for equity in computer science education, and celebrate the contributions of students, teachers, and partners to the field” according to the Computer Science Education Week (CSEW) website hosted by a variety of organizations including The Computer Science Teachers Association (CSTA) and Code.org1,2.

While the week traditionally targets students in kindergarten through 12th grade with the message to code for one full hour this week, Capitol Tech wanted to celebrate the week at the collegiate level with informative Computer Science (CS) blogs1.

The second week of December was chosen for this celebration to occur every year to honor Grace Hopper’s birthday on December 9, 1906. Hopper, a US mathematician and Admiral in the Navy, was a pioneer in the field of Computer Science and coined the term “bug” as an error in a system2,3.

According to the CSEW website, the original Week was focused on informing policy makers across the nation about the importance of computer science education. The Week’s 2009 launch was supported by CSTA, the National Center for Women & Information Technology (NCWIT), the National Science Foundation (NSF), the Anita Borg Institute (ABI), the Computing Research Association (CRA), Google, Intel, and Microsoft1. Since its inception, support and adoption of the week has grown each year and the focus has shifted from informing policy makers to offering students, teachers, and organizations resources and opportunities to engage in CS activities and learn more about the field1.

In honor of this new goal, Capitol Tech will post several blogs focused on the field of computer science this week. Tomorrow on December 8, the university will post a Q&A with Dr. Robert Steele, the Chair of Computer Science at Capitol Tech, and on December 9, we will post a detailed biography of Grace Hopper and her many contributions to the CS field.

For more information about Capitol Tech's Computer Science department contact Dr. Steele at rjsteele@captechu.edu. 

References

  1. Computer Science Education Week. (2020). Computer Science Education Week. Retrieved from https://www.csedweek.org/.
  2. Technology Student Association. (2020). Computer Science Education Week. Retrieved from https://tsaweb.org/events-conferences/calendar/2020/12/07/default-calendar/computer-science-education-week.
  3. Encyclopedia Britannica. (2020, December 5). Grace Hopper. Retrieved from https://www.britannica.com/biography/Grace-Hopper.