Minor in Computer Science Education

The University of Rhode Island’s School of Education and Computer Science Department are jointly sponsoring a minor in Computer Science Education. This minor is intended for students who wish to have a credential to go into K-12 teaching to teach Computer Science.

Why A Minor In Computer Science Education?

There is a massive national movement to teach computer science (CS) in every grade K-12. The CS4All federal initiative was started in January 2016, and the State of Rhode Island’ CS4RI initiative was started immediately afterwards in February 2016. These initiatives have the stated goal of providing computer science education to every student in K-12. By the start of 2018 RI Governor Raimondo expects every school in RI to offer CS. These initiatives are driven by factors such as computational thinking being essential in all academic subjects and careers, and projections that indicate that there will be over one million unfilled jobs in CS by 2020.

Most states, including Rhode Island (RI), do not yet have teacher certification in Computer Science. However, most schools are scrambling to find qualified CS teachers to meet the national and state mandates to teach CS. So, teachers, including new teachers, with a recognized credential, such as a minor or major in CS, will be leading candidates to fill those teaching positions. Unfortunately, without teacher certification in CS, pre-service undergraduates in RI and many other states must double major in Education and one of the traditional subjects like Math, or English – making a third major in Computer Science unreasonable. However, a 5 course minor in CS, as we offer, is reasonable.

URI is recognized leader in developing K-12 CS education. It is a founding partner in CS4RI and has obtained several million dollars in federal and state funding to develop CS education programs, including this minor. Details on URI’s efforts are provided at k12.cs.uri.edu. This statewide and national reputation means that a minor in CS from URI is considered a strong CS teaching credential.

Another benefit of the minor is that it teaches you programming and basic CS. The job market is so good for these skills, that the minor can also help you get a job in doing CS in business/industry if you wish to augment your teaching income, or have work in CS until you find your teaching position.

If you decide not to teach, many of these courses can be applied to a minor in CS programming, which can help prepare you for an industry job.

How To Minor in Computer Science Education For Education Majors

The Computer Science Education minor is a faculty-directed minor, which means that you work with a URI faculty member. The following faculty members advise students in this minor, so contact one of them:

  • Dr. Victor Fay-Wolfe, Professor of Computer Science – vfaywolfe@uri.edu
  • Dr. Jay Fogleman, Associate Professor of Education – fogleman@uri.edu
  • Dr. Cornelis de Groot, Professor of Education – degrootc@uri.edu

The required courses for the Computer Science Education minor are:

  • CSC 101 (4cr) – Computing Concepts – Fall both in-person and online sections; Spring both in-person and online sections; Summer either session online only.
  • CSC 106 (4cr) – The Joy of Programming – Fall both in-person and online sections; Spring both in-person and online sections; Summer spans both sessions online only.
  • CSC 201 (4cr) – Computer Programming For Data Science – Fall in-person; Spring in-person.
  • CSC 211 (4cr) – Object-Oriented Programming – Fall in-person; Spring in-person; Summer spans both sessions in-person only.
  • CSC 492 (2cr) – Practicum in Teaching Computer Science – Any semester, in-person. You go to a RI school one day a week to work with teachers teaching CS. You also meet with URI staff to learn about CS teaching and review your experiences. These credits may be taken concurrently with EDC 331 or EDC 332 where your EDC school placement also involves some work teaching/assisting with CS in a K-12 class.

Recommended course sequence:

  • Freshman Year: CSC101 (Summer after Freshman year).
  • Sophomore Year: CSC106 (Fall); CSC201 (Spring).
  • Junior Year: CSC492 (Fall); CSC211 (Spring).

This Computer Science Education minor is not available for CS majors.

How To Minor in Computer Science Education For Computer Science Majors

CS majors can minor in Education, but this is not a teaching certification. Such a credential may help getting a teaching job in a non-public teaching institution, such as a private school. It will also provide you with Education courses that will likely be required when/if the the state approves a certification process for CS teachers (which is projected to happen in 2-5 years).

The URI Education minor is flexible as described here. A recommended Education minor for CS majors is:

  • EDC 102 (3cr) – Introduction to American Education – Fall in-person; Spring in-person; Summer session I in-person.
  • EDC 312 (3cr) – The Psychology of Learning – Fall in-person; Spring in-person; Summer session I online only.
  • HDF 201 (3cr) – Lifespan Development II – Fall in-person; Spring in-person; Summer session II in-person.
  • EDC 250 (1cr) – Supervised Preprofessional Field Experience – Fall in-person; Spring in-person;
  • CSC 492 (2cr) –Practicum in Teaching Computer Science, Any semester, in-person. You go to a RI school one day a week to work with teachers teaching CS. You also meet with URI staff to learn about CS teaching and review you experiences. These credits may be taken concurrently with EDC 250 where your EDC school placement also involves some work teaching/assisting with CS in a K-12 class.
  • CSC 192 (4cr) – Teaching Computing Concepts – Spring in-person.
  • CSC 292 (4cr) – Teaching Computer Programming for Data Science – Spring in-person.

This Computer Science Education minor is not available to Education majors.