trevordayschool

As the size of the class grew, the end-of- year activity became a bit more formal, and served as a kind of final exam. It was expected that each student would present and demonstrate a project of their choice to everyone in the class. is meeting usually happened around lunchtime during the last week of school, and we provided some food. In the first year, and for reasons now forgotten, that food was sushi, so, from then on, the "Advanced Programmer's Workshop" final has been called the "Sushi Fest," even though as the classes increased in size, it quickly became impractical to provide actual sushi. e rest of this story is one of growth and expansion while retaining the fundamental philosophy and structure of the program. Two highly gifted teachers, Stan Golanka and Dan Rencricca, joined me on the faculty, and computer science at Trevor is now a four-year program that in 2021–22 enrolled more than 50 students despite it still being an optional elective that students take on top of their regular academic load. (A happy side note: After years of being heavily male-dominated, the classes are now virtually equal in gender distribution.) e first two years of Trevor's computer science program are more structured than the original programmer's workshop, but for their last two years, student take an (Advanced) Programmer's Workshop that is essentially the same as the one described above. It is still rooted in individually conceived projects. Not surprisingly, however, the kinds of projects being done now are markedly more sophisticated than the ones from decades ago. Different languages, application interfaces, and development platforms abound, and topics such as microcontrollers/Internet of ings (IoT), 3-D design/printing, AI, game theory, and front- and back-end web coding have become popular. Along with these projects, classes continue to function as a community of learners. Everyone in "Advanced" is part of a team that designs and maintains a website where all projects are documented. Students are also expected to present regularly to their peers about what they are working on. Conclusions e timeline of continuity from my experience in 1966 to the present is very clear to me, and it lies in the definition of "inquiry-based learning" outlined at the beginning of this article. e essential question that the students in Trevor's computer science program ask today is fundamentally the same one I was asking way back then: "How can I get these amazing technological tools to do something that interests me?" Curiosity is a fundamental human trait, and computer science is a wonderland for the curious—often challenging and frustrating, but never judgmental—and, at the end, frequently and immensely satisfying. Computer science is truly "real-world" in the sense that the system is the programmer's ongoing authentic assessment partner—the coding either works, or it doesn't. (Pro alert: It almost never works on the first try). I think the fact that so many students at Trevor opt for this experience speaks to its power. n Page 28: Teletype Model 33 with an optional paper tape attachment from the mid 1960s; Page 29, left: Eric in the Church of the Heavenly Rest computer lab sometime in the 1970s; Page 29, right: IMSAI 8080 microcomputer circa 1978. It now resides in Eric's attic; Page 30 , top: Middle School (grades 3-5) computer lab in mid 1980s; Page 30, bottom: Photo editing in the 1980s; is page left: Stan Golanka works with two computer science students; is page, top right: Computer lab in the mid 1990s; is page, bottom right: Eric stands by to offer assistance to Sophie Kofsky '19 in her construction of a 3-D printer—a project she worked on for fun, as part of her Advanced Programming class.

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