trevordayschool

Trevor's computer science department mission state- ment reflects the evolution of computer science into a core and foundational subject in the school's N–12 curriculum. Given that Trevor promises its students a program of ambitious academics, engagement, and balanced lives over the course of an academic career, we believe citizens must be able to engage in intelligent discussions and decisions regarding the uses of technology and computational thinking in everyday life. "Coding is the new literacy," notes Mitchel Resnick, Lego Papert Professor of Learning Research at the MIT Media Lab and Director of the lab's Lifelong Kindergarten research group. "To thrive in tomorrow's society, young people must learn to design, create, and express themselves with digital technologies." ese digital technologies are introduced in the Lower School at Trevor, where coding apps, computational thinking exercises, and hands-on applications within higher-level thinking we see in Trevor's Middle and Upper School students. In Middle School, students can choose between two programming classes as well as a digital art class and a MiniTerm coding class for further immersion into the diverse computer science arena. en, in Upper School, students can fulfill their computer science requirement by taking either Exploring Computer Science (ECS) or Programming Fundamentals. ECS covers topics that affect our culture—including social media and data collection, cryptography, and facial recognition, and provides a brief introduction to programming. Programming Fundamentals includes elements of the ECS curriculum, but it also introduces the Java language in a programming environment known as Processing, which teaches coding within a visual arts context in order to make the language more accessible. Gina M. '22 confirms this intentional accessibility: "Programming Fundamentals was the perfect introductory course a robust STREAM Lab are threaded through the curriculum at every grade level. Computational thinking refers to the thought processes involved in expressing solutions as computational steps or algorithms that can be carried out by a computer. (Cuny, Snyder, & Wing, 2010; Aho, 2011; Lee, 2016). Exposing students to computational thinking concepts as they develop intellectually and academically helps to hone their logical thinking and problem-solving skills. is cultivation of skills is readily apparent in the e Trevor Day School computer science department promotes the development of computational thinking skills that will remain useful in a constantly changing environment. Students develop a foundation of computer science knowledge and learn myriad approaches to problem solving using multiple languages and platforms. By applying computational thinking as a tool for learning and expression in a variety of disciplines and interests, students can actively participate as digital citizens in a world that is increasingly influenced by technology. T R E V O R T R A N S L AT E S : upper school computer science by Stan Golanka, Director of Academic Technology as told to Morgan Porzio, Director of Marketing and Communications 2 0 T R E V O R D AY S C H O O L n S U M M E R 2 0 2 0 – 2 0 2 1

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