Computer science now counts as math credit in most states – is this a good idea?
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Re: Computer science now counts as math credit in most states – is this a good idea?
#2"I worry that students may take computer science just to avoid the more difficult math and science courses they need for college. Computer science could be a way for students to circumvent graduation requirements while adults look the other way."
Re: Computer science now counts as math credit in most states – is this a good idea?
#3"I worry that students may take computer science just to avoid the more difficult math and science courses they need for college. Computer science could be a way for students to circumvent graduation requirements while adults look the other way."
This has been a problem in STEM curricula for a long time.
At my US university, astronomy (a lecture with 300 seats) counted as a "lab science" credit. Geology was similar -- memorize lecture notes and regurgitate on tests. Never set foot in a lab.
It's unfortunate that we're now expanding that flawed model.
Re: Computer science now counts as math credit in most states – is this a good idea?
#4Computer science is certainly based on math and includes A LOT of math, but I worry that people too often conflate the two. I was working through problems on HackerRank the other day and most were actually math problems in disguise... Certainly understanding how to do complex calculations with a formula vs a loop or series of loops is important, but I don't believe that is necessarily the best way to rank programmers...
Re: Computer science now counts as math credit in most states – is this a good idea?
#5It’s probably fine as long as the courses have a solid math foundation. Our CS department arose out of the Math department at my university
Re: Computer science now counts as math credit in most states – is this a good idea?
#6As long as they do not add a bunch of math requirements to the CS classes, it will get butts in the seats.
Computer science at a k-12 level should be fun and interesting. Problems like making animations/video games are just so much more fun/relevant to solve than the straight up numerical answers(Or string manipulation).
Plus, these problems lead to conversations about math anyway. Students go from why do we want to learn math to I want to learn the math to make this part of my game work.
When we need to learn something to solve a problem we want to solve, there is a reason to learn it. This is the essential part of school that is mostly left out.