Buffalo State Hosts Computer Educators Conference

Buffalo State’s Computer Information Systems (CIS) Department is hosting a three-day workshop for high school teachers, “CS4HS” (Computer Science for High School), June 26-28.

During the workshop, which will be held in the E. H. Butler Library, CIS faculty will help participants incorporate computer science concepts into their existing curricula and develop stand-alone computer science courses for their respective schools. Teachers from 18 public, private, and charter high schools across Erie and Niagara counties have registered to attend.

“Nationwide, there is a decline in students entering STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) college majors. Research shows that when students get interested in these areas in high school, they are more likely to pursue these majors in college,” said Ramona Santa Maria, assistant professor of CIS. “Our department wants to promote computer science at the high-school level, and the best way to make an impact is to train teachers in fun programs, such as Alice (http://www.alice.org/) so that they can integrate it into their classes and get their students excited.”

A Google grant is funding the workshop, which is the first Google-supported workshop of this type to be held in Western New York. The Buffalo State grant-writing committee was composed of several CIS faculty including Santa Maria; Neal Mazur, associate professor; Barbara Sherman, assistant professor; and Sarbani Banerjee, associate professor; who is serving as the workshop’s project director.

The workshop will include sessions in pedagogy, as well as content-specific sessions with hands-on tutorials. The hope is to continue providing professional development workshops throughout the school year, Santa Maria said.

For a full schedule of events, visit http://www.buffalostate.edu/cs4hs/x473.xml.

For more information contact Santa Maria or Banerjee.