Author Archives: Maggie Johnson

CSEdWeek 2016: Proud to be part of the CS community

Editor’s Note: Every year during Computer Science Education Week, partners and educators come together to encourage millions of students to try computer science (CS). This year, Google is focusing on improving perceptions of CS while making it more accessible for underrepresented students. Follow along here throughout this week (Dec 5 - 11) to find out what we've learned from the latest research about CS education, what we're doing for CSEdWeek and how each of us can help champion #CSForAll.

It takes countless hours and dedication to fill the CS gap in today's schools. Thanks to a lot of hard work by organizations and educators, the CS education landscape in the U.S. is changing for the better — 40 percent of K-12 principals say they’re offering CS classes this year with programming and coding, up from 25 percent last year.

We’re grateful to have collaborative partnerships with many organizations, educators and others working to make computer science accessible to students every day. As this year’s CSEdWeek comes to a close, we'd like to acknowledge some of our partners dedicated to making #CSforall a reality. To all of the nonprofits, institutions, and the students themselves, committed to CS education: We’re proud to be a part of your community.

Supporting nonprofits working to close the CS education gap

We partner with many nonprofits to bring CS education opportunities to every student.  Here are some recent projects:

CS OPEN: helping underrepresented minorities and girls pursue STEM

Last year, National Girls Collaborative Project (NGCP) announced a new initiative at the White House: the Computer Science Outreach Program Evaluation Network (CS OPEN). This program provides community-building opportunities and grants so that nonprofits can evaluate their work in order to improve it. With support from Google, CS OPEN currently funds 12 organizations helping underrepresented minorities and girls pursue their STEM interests, including the STEM Academy at Oregon State University. The Academy engages K-12 youth in programs designed to increase college attendance and participation in the STEM fields. Through a recent CS OPEN grant, the Academy was able to move from a 1-page survey evaluation to full interviews and observations in order to understand how their programs were truly engaging youth.

“With the support for full evaluation of our initiatives, we were able to make real, actionable changes to our program that will actually make more impact for the students we serve.”  - Cathy Smith, Director, STEM Academy @ OSU

Next year, we'll be helping provide an additional $50K in seed funding in 2017 to help even more nonprofits evaluate and learn from their inspiring work.

MentorNet: empowering college students to pursue CS careers

Sometimes, students just need a little advice from someone who's done it before. MentorNet has made it possible for professionals to use their skills to offer career insights, project assistance, and guidance to university students pursuing a career in STEM. MentorNet partners with igniteCS, an initiative at Google, that provides funding and resources for groups of college and university students to make a difference in their local communities through CS mentorship. The 2017 funding round opens in January, so If you’re a current university student, learn more on our website.

I can say without a doubt, that having a MentorNet mentor while in college is one of the most eye-opening and impactful things for a student. Aza T Student, Boise State University

If you’re a student studying STEM, check out free opportunities for mentors through MentorNet.

Meet the new generation of computer scientists

Making CS accessible for all takes more than programs and partnerships. Research shows that students and parents see fewer portrayals of women, Hispanic or Black computer scientists in today's media. That makes us especially inspired by the many students who are helping redefine what it means to be a computer scientist. These role models are using CS to solve real-world problems and make a difference. Here are a few of their stories:

Lilia, 18: code can connect passionate people to volunteer opportunities

Lilia.jpg

"OOL is a bridge between passionate people who want to change the world and projects that need that passion”

 -Lilia

Lilia, an 18-year-old student from Mexico, recently won an award in the 2016 Technovation World Pitch competition, for her app, OOL. The first app of its kind in Mexico, OOL creates a bridge between nonprofit organizations and the people of Mexico, by connecting them to each other. Volunteer opportunities are presented to the user through a dynamic interface and, with a single click, the volunteer match is complete.

Made with Code is joining forces with Iridescent to launch the 2017 Technovation Challenge, and we're excited to see Lilia inspire next year's participants to create their own apps to tackle real-life issues. 

Anika, 14: code can help diagnose Alzheimer's and predict breast cancer

andrewweeksphotography2016GSF_000227 (1).jpg
“Computer science doesn’t just mean coding in your basement” - Anika

Anika, a high school sophomore in Cupertino, CA volunteered in a senior care facility last year, which led her to learn more about Alzheimer's disease. She was shocked to learn that with no standard test for diagnosis, most doctors rely on their own opinions. By extracting image features from MRI scans, Anika built an interface for doctors to upload an image, enter some basic patient information, and get a reliable Alzheimer's diagnosis.


Anika’s innovative app won her a Global Finalist seat at the 2015 Google Science Fair and again in 2016, when she used code to predict the likelihood of a patient developing breast cancer by analyzing images from previous mammograms. We can’t wait to see what Anika does next.

We’re humbled to be a part of the community of organizations that are making CS education accessible to all students. As CSEdWeek comes to a close, we’re humbled to be a part of the community of organizations that are making CS education accessible to all students.


CSEdWeek 2016: Proud to be part of the CS community

Editor’s Note: Every year during Computer Science Education Week, partners and educators come together to encourage millions of students to try computer science (CS). This year, Google is focusing on improving perceptions of CS while making it more accessible for underrepresented students. Follow along here throughout this week (Dec 5 - 11) to find out what we've learned from the latest research about CS education, what we're doing for CSEdWeek and how each of us can help champion #CSForAll.

It takes countless hours and dedication to fill the CS gap in today's schools. Thanks to a lot of hard work by organizations and educators, the CS education landscape in the U.S. is changing for the better — 40 percent of K-12 principals say they’re offering CS classes this year with programming and coding, up from 25 percent last year.

We’re grateful to have collaborative partnerships with many organizations, educators and others working to make computer science accessible to students every day. As this year’s CSEdWeek comes to a close, we'd like to acknowledge some of our partners dedicated to making #CSforall a reality. To all of the nonprofits, institutions, and the students themselves, committed to CS education: We’re proud to be a part of your community.

Supporting nonprofits working to close the CS education gap

We partner with many nonprofits to bring CS education opportunities to every student.  Here are some recent projects:

CS OPEN: helping underrepresented minorities and girls pursue STEM

Last year, National Girls Collaborative Project (NGCP) announced a new initiative at the White House: the Computer Science Outreach Program Evaluation Network (CS OPEN). This program provides community-building opportunities and grants so that nonprofits can evaluate their work in order to improve it. With support from Google, CS OPEN currently funds 12 organizations helping underrepresented minorities and girls pursue their STEM interests, including the STEM Academy at Oregon State University. The Academy engages K-12 youth in programs designed to increase college attendance and participation in the STEM fields. Through a recent CS OPEN grant, the Academy was able to move from a 1-page survey evaluation to full interviews and observations in order to understand how their programs were truly engaging youth.

“With the support for full evaluation of our initiatives, we were able to make real, actionable changes to our program that will actually make more impact for the students we serve.”  - Cathy Smith, Director, STEM Academy @ OSU

Next year, we'll be helping provide an additional $50K in seed funding in 2017 to help even more nonprofits evaluate and learn from their inspiring work.

MentorNet: empowering college students to pursue CS careers

Sometimes, students just need a little advice from someone who's done it before. MentorNet has made it possible for professionals to use their skills to offer career insights, project assistance, and guidance to university students pursuing a career in STEM. MentorNet partners with igniteCS, an initiative at Google, that provides funding and resources for groups of college and university students to make a difference in their local communities through CS mentorship. The 2017 funding round opens in January, so If you’re a current university student, learn more on our website.

I can say without a doubt, that having a MentorNet mentor while in college is one of the most eye-opening and impactful things for a student. Aza T Student, Boise State University

If you’re a student studying STEM, check out free opportunities for mentors through MentorNet.

Meet the new generation of computer scientists

Making CS accessible for all takes more than programs and partnerships. Research shows that students and parents see fewer portrayals of women, Hispanic or Black computer scientists in today's media. That makes us especially inspired by the many students who are helping redefine what it means to be a computer scientist. These role models are using CS to solve real-world problems and make a difference. Here are a few of their stories:

Lilia, 18: code can connect passionate people to volunteer opportunities

Lilia.jpg

"OOL is a bridge between passionate people who want to change the world and projects that need that passion”

 -Lilia

Lilia, an 18-year-old student from Mexico, recently won an award in the 2016 Technovation World Pitch competition, for her app, OOL. The first app of its kind in Mexico, OOL creates a bridge between nonprofit organizations and the people of Mexico, by connecting them to each other. Volunteer opportunities are presented to the user through a dynamic interface and, with a single click, the volunteer match is complete.

Made with Code is joining forces with Iridescent to launch the 2017 Technovation Challenge, and we're excited to see Lilia inspire next year's participants to create their own apps to tackle real-life issues. 

Anika, 14: code can help diagnose Alzheimer's and predict breast cancer

andrewweeksphotography2016GSF_000227 (1).jpg
“Computer science doesn’t just mean coding in your basement” - Anika

Anika, a high school sophomore in Cupertino, CA volunteered in a senior care facility last year, which led her to learn more about Alzheimer's disease. She was shocked to learn that with no standard test for diagnosis, most doctors rely on their own opinions. By extracting image features from MRI scans, Anika built an interface for doctors to upload an image, enter some basic patient information, and get a reliable Alzheimer's diagnosis.


Anika’s innovative app won her a Global Finalist seat at the 2015 Google Science Fair and again in 2016, when she used code to predict the likelihood of a patient developing breast cancer by analyzing images from previous mammograms. We can’t wait to see what Anika does next.

We’re humbled to be a part of the community of organizations that are making CS education accessible to all students. As CSEdWeek comes to a close, we’re humbled to be a part of the community of organizations that are making CS education accessible to all students.


Computational Thinking for All Students

Editor's note: Cross-posted on The Huffington Post and the Google Research blog.

Last year, I wrote about the importance of teaching computational thinking to all K-12 students. Given the growing use of computing, algorithms and data in all fields from the humanities to medicine to business, it’s becoming increasingly important for students to understand the basics of computer science (CS). One lesson we have learned through Google’s CS education outreach efforts is that these skills can be accessible to all students, if we introduce them early in K-5. These are truly 21st century skills which can, over time, produce a workforce ready for a technology-enabled and driven economy.

How can teachers start introducing computational thinking in early school curriculum? It is already present in many topic areas - algorithms for solving math problems, for example. However, what is often missing in current examples of computational thinking is the explicit connection between what students are learning and its application in computing. For example, once a student has mastered adding multi-digit numbers, the following algorithm could be presented:
  1. Add together the digits in the ones place. If the result is < 10, it becomes the ones digit of the answer. If it's >= 10 or greater, the ones digit of the result becomes the ones digit of the answer, and you add 1 to the next column.
  2. Add together the digits in the tens place, plus the 1 carried over from the ones place, if necessary. If the answer < than 10, it becomes the tens digit of the answer; if it's >= 10, the ones digit becomes the tens digit of the answer and 1 is added to the next column.
  3. Repeat this process for any additional columns until they are all added.
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This allows a teacher to present the concept of an algorithm and its use in computing, as well as the most important elements of any computer program: conditional branching (“if the result is less than 10…”) and iteration (“repeat this process…”). Going a step farther, a teacher translating the algorithm into a running program can have a compelling effect. When something that students have used to solve an instance of a problem can automatically solve all instances of the that problem, it’s quite a powerful moment for them even if they don’t do the coding themselves.


Google has created an online course for K-12 teachers to learn about computational thinking and how to make these explicit connections for their students. We also have a large repository of lessons, explorations and programs to support teachers and students. Our videos illustrate real-world examples of the application of computational thinking in Google’s products and services, and we have compiled a set of great resources showing how to integrate computational thinking into existing curriculum. We also recently announced Project Bloks to engage younger children in computational thinking. Finally, code.org, for whom Google is a primary sponsor, has curriculum and materials for K-5 teachers and students.

We feel that computational thinking is a core skill for all students. If we can make these explicit connections for students, they will see how the devices and apps that they use everyday are powered by algorithms and programs. They will learn the importance of data in making decisions. They will learn skills that will prepare them for a workforce that will be doing vastly different tasks than the workforce of today. We owe it to all students to give them every possible opportunity to be productive and successful members of society.

Source: Education