Swampscott schools making big push for computer science

SWAMPSCOTT – High school science teacher William Chan and School Committee member Suzanne Wright have helped the growth of computer science in the district as they recently attended a week-long conference at Google Boston in Cambridge.”They were showing the coolest things,” Wright said at the committee’s latest meeting. “Kids were doing coding with blocks.”Chan explained that the conference, Exploring Computer Science (ECS), was developed by Gail Chapman, a graduate professor of education and information studies at the University of California at Los Angeles.Chan said approximately 50 teachers from around New England attended the conference, which was held during the second week of August.”There’s one teacher that came from Baltimore, Md.,” he said.Chan added that there is also a great emphasis on “computational thinking,” something he said will be a significant part of the world in the next five years.He explained that ECS is based on the three pillars of inquiry, content and equity. Although he has a degree in computer engineering, Chan said that he still needed to learn how to teach the new curriculum.”It did open up my eyes and make me aware of what computer science really is,” he said. “This made me even more confident in teaching inquiry-based courses.”Chan added that the conference’s location was beneficial, too.”You get a chance to see what Google is like,” he said.During the conference, Wright and Chan were introduced to the programs Growing Up Thinking Scientifically (GUTS) and Bootstrap.According to projectguts.org, GUTS is “a summer and afterschool science, technology, engineering and math program for middle school students” hosted by the Santa Fe Institute in New Mexico.Chan said that through Bootstrap, students learn algebra while designing their own video games.”It’s a real nice way of easing the kids into algebra,” he said.In terms of job prospects, Chan said that the computer science field is booming right now.According to forbes.com, the starting yearly salary in computer science is $60,000 as of 2013.”There’s always a job in the high-tech industry,” he said.