CS Teacher Interview: Emmanuel Schanzer on Integrating CS into Other Subjects

I love that Bootstrap is building on their great success with algebra to integrate CS into Physics and Social Studies. I’m so looking forward to hearing how this works out.  I’m working on related projects, following Bootstrap’s lead.

Lots of governors, superintendents and principals made pledges to bring CS to every child, but discovered that dedicated CS electives and required CS classes were either incredibly expensive (hiring/retaining new teachers), logistically impossible (adding a new class given finite hours in the day and rooms in the building), or actively undermined equity (opt-in classes are only taken by students with the means and/or inclination). As a result, they started asking how they might integrate CS into other subjects — and authentic integration is our special sauce! Squeezing CS into math is something folks have been trying to do for decades, with little success. Our success with Bootstrap:Algebra means we’ve got a track record of doing it right, which means we’ve been approached about integration into everything from Physics to Social Studies.

Source: Computer Science Teacher: CS Teacher Interview: Emmanuel Schanzer–The Update