Our PD Program
As we have seen in ongoing research, effective teacher learning requires multiple professional development sessions over time, with lots of opportunities to grow and reflect.
Summer 1
Prior to implementation, this week-long summer institute introduces the instructional philosophy and content from the early units.
Quarterly PDs
During the school year, quarterly PDs focus on remaining units and the three strands: CS Concepts, Inquiry, and Equity. Most quarterly PDs are online.
Summer 2
After a year of teaching ECS, teachers attend our week-long summer institute again, but with a focus on deepening understanding of content and pedagogy.
Explore Our Curriculum
The ECS Curriculum has been developed by researchers over the course of 15 years to ensure ease of implementation for teachers and maximal engagement for students. This page reflects version 10 of our curriculum, which was soft-launched in 2024.
Unit 1: Human Computer Interaction
Students are introduced to the concepts of computer and computing, algorithms, and data, while drawing connections to the contexts of identity, economics, culture, and justice-related issues.
Unit 2: Problem Solving
Students apply a variety of problem-solving techniques to create solutions to a diverse range of problems and contexts. They explore searching and sorting algorithms and these algorithms’ embedded biases, and they draw connections between computing tools and problems in their communities.
Unit 3: Programming
Students explore program design and development within contexts of exploring aspects of identity and communities. They reflect on the implications of programming constructs on systems that aid social decision-making.
Unit 4: Data & Computing
Students explore how computing has led to new methods of managing and interpreting data. They work with large data sets from diverse social contexts, as well as collect and generate their own data related to local community issues.
Unit 5: Robotics
Students are introduced to robotics as an application of computer science that can be used to solve problems in a variety of settings, and how it enables innovation by automating processes that may be dangerous or otherwise problematic for humans. Students explore how to integrate hardware and software and see the effects of their design on the resulting product.
Join a Community of Teachers
When you teach ECS, you join a team of teachers all over the U.S. and Puerto Rico committed to ensuring all students have an opportunity for meaningful computer science education.
