Computer Science:
The tremendous effectiveness of the computer and computing technology in shaping modern society has created the need for an educated public that can utilise such technology most effectively for the betterment of society and humankind. There is, therefore, a 46 growing realisation of the need to have a place for these domains of knowledge in the school curriculum.
A distinction must be made between the Information Technology (IT) curriculum, which involves the use and application of tools of the information and computer age, and the Computer Science (CS) curriculum, which is concerned with how these tools are designed and deployed. Both of these have their place in school education.
While several countries have implemented CS and/ or IT curricula in schools, we need to be aware of the challenges that Indian school students face. The first of these is the paucity of technology resources for computer science. It is absurd to teach computer science (let alone computer usage) without access to computing resources. Providing computer access and connectivity for all children is a tremendous technological and economic challenge. However, given the pervasive impact of computer technologies, we need to address this infrastructure challenge seriously and explore viable and innovative alternatives with regard to hardware, software and connectivity technologies appropriate for rural and urban Indian schools.
We also need to address the issue of the development of a comprehensive and coherent curriculum model in computer science and IT, which can serve as the basis for the beginning of a discussion between educators, administrators, and the general public. Certain core elements are common to several CS and IT curricula, and are applicable to Indian schools as well. These include the concepts of iterative processes and algorithms, general problem-solving strategies arising from computing, possibilities of computer usage, the place occupied by computers in the modern world, and the societal issues that arise thereby.
The tremendous effectiveness of the computer and computing technology in shaping modern society has created the need for an educated public that can utilise such technology most effectively for the betterment of society and humankind. There is, therefore, a 46 growing realisation of the need to have a place for these domains of knowledge in the school curriculum.
A distinction must be made between the Information Technology (IT) curriculum, which involves the use and application of tools of the information and computer age, and the Computer Science (CS) curriculum, which is concerned with how these tools are designed and deployed. Both of these have their place in school education.
While several countries have implemented CS and/ or IT curricula in schools, we need to be aware of the challenges that Indian school students face. The first of these is the paucity of technology resources for computer science. It is absurd to teach computer science (let alone computer usage) without access to computing resources. Providing computer access and connectivity for all children is a tremendous technological and economic challenge. However, given the pervasive impact of computer technologies, we need to address this infrastructure challenge seriously and explore viable and innovative alternatives with regard to hardware, software and connectivity technologies appropriate for rural and urban Indian schools.
We also need to address the issue of the development of a comprehensive and coherent curriculum model in computer science and IT, which can serve as the basis for the beginning of a discussion between educators, administrators, and the general public. Certain core elements are common to several CS and IT curricula, and are applicable to Indian schools as well. These include the concepts of iterative processes and algorithms, general problem-solving strategies arising from computing, possibilities of computer usage, the place occupied by computers in the modern world, and the societal issues that arise thereby.
