Celebrate Computer Science Education Week
What Can You Do to Support Computer Science Education Week?
Computer Science Education Week 2011 is a Call to Action to raise awareness about computer science education and computing careers. We want to give you some ideas of what you can do to support CSEdWeek!
The first step is visiting http://www.csedweek.org/forms/sign/pledge-step1 and let us know that you and support CSEdWeek and what you might be doing for it. Here are some other ideas:
For Anyone:
Post a “fact a day” on your social network feed about Computer Science from our facts about using hash tag #csedweek
Hold an event using our toolkit for CSEdWeek events (http://www.csedweek.org/toolkit)
For Teachers:
Create an e-mail signature proclaiming your commitment to CS education. Use the CSEdWeek image from csedweek.org.
Use the daily Computer Science Teachers Association video and audio announcements to make students aware of the opportunities in CS (http://csta.acm.org/Advocacy_Outreach/sub/CSEdWeek.html).
Go prepared with CSTA brochures to talk with your administrator or counselors about the value of CS education in your school.
Print or request copies of the CSTA posters for your classroom (http://csta.acm.org/Resources/sub/BrochuresPostersVideos.html).
Use your school-to-parent communication system to tell parents about the value of CS education, thank them for supporting their children in your class, and ask them to take the CSEdWeek Pledge http://www.csedweek.org/forms/sign/pledge-step1
Have students create a web page celebrating CSEdWeek.
Send a press release of your CSEdWeek activities using the press release template (see our event planning toolkit, http://www.csedweek.org/site/page/event-planning-toolkit).
For more ideas see page 2 of CSTA’s November Voice http://csta.acm.org/Communications/sub/CSTAVoice_Files/csta_voice_11_2011.pdf
For Parents:
Send a “Dear Member of Congress” letter that asks your Congressional member to cosponsor the Computer Science Education Act to ensure that computer science is a fundamental part of K-12 education (see our event planning toolkit, http://www.csedweek.org/site/page/event-planning-toolkit).
A sample letter addressed to a legislator that anyone can use to ask state and local legislators to support appropriate proclamations supportive of CSEdWeek (see our event planning toolkit, http://www.csedweek.org/site/page/event-planning-toolkit).
Send a letter to your local school board asking them to make computer science a core academic subject (see, http://bit.ly/ryj9pr)
Sponsors
CSEdWeek is an collaborative activity of Computing in the Core (CinC), a non-partisan advocacy coalition of associations, corporations, scientific societies, and other non-profits that strive to elevate computer science education to a core academic subject in K-12 education. CSEdWeek’s core partners are the Association for Computing Machinery, Microsoft, Google, Computer Science Teachers Association, National Center for Women & IT, IEEE Computer Society, Computing Research Association, College Board, Anita Borg Institute for Women in Technology, SAS, National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, and National Science Teachers Association.
