Computer Science Teacher Profile: Teri Bauerly
This is Teri’s seventh year teaching and her first teaching a Computer Science course. She teaches at Spearfish Middle School, in Spearfish, SD, where she has taught STEM courses for four years and helps organize the school-wide Hour of Code each December. In addition to having coached robotics for 2 years and advising the Spartan Tech Squad, Teri started a makerspace where students have been coding robots & drones as well as creating 3D prints, cardboard furniture, and duct tape items. In our conversation, Teri talked about helping students make connections between their lives and computer science, the reasons why her high achieving students struggle with computer science, and the importance of CS in middle school.
What Computer Science Looks Like at Spearfish Middle School
Students in 6th, 7th, and 8th grade have two electives each trimester, P.E. and one choice, and right now it’s mandatory that they take a tech course in each grade. We have been doing Project Lead the Way for four years, and this trimester I piloted Computer Science Discoveries from Code.org as an additional computer science elective. I have twenty 7th grade students who wanted to try the class and were able to get their schedule adjusted.
The kids really like coding. They will ask if they can do coding as a medium for projects in other classes. Where kids would traditionally would have done a poster for geography, there was a student who took an avatar and programmed it to walk across a map of the country and tell facts about it as it went. So they use their coding knowledge to complete projects for other classes.
As faculty, we’re all really excited about coding and it’s spreading. Last year, we hired a new staff member who trained in the PLTW Computer Science curriculum at the middle school level. Our students K-5 have experience with Code.org in their Computer courses.The expansion of our program has now spread to other grade levels, so kids coming up have already been exposed to coding and then, high schoolers are saying “you know, we really need some more.”
Making that Connection: Starting with Interest and Success
The most difficult part of coding is that it’s so abstract for some kids. Like “Ok, I typed a number here, what does that mean?” With robotics and app labs students can enter code and immediately see the connection, the effect of it. That has been the most helpful.
I’ve noticed that it helps to start students off with something that they will have success at. So, Code.org, Hour of Code lessons. So if it’s a Star Wars one, even if it’s not their grade level, if it matches their interest. When they’re successful with that then as a teacher you can say “you already know how to do XYZ, and you’re going to take this to apply how to do this problem.” It’s easier to work with the kids with the harder stuff when you have things to build on.
And, finding ways to build coding with projects that they can see. Whether that’s with using Code Academy with HTML and the website shows up as you’re coding. Or using Sphero Robots, or Lego Robots, where you’re putting the code in and you can see exactly what it does or doesn’t do help you make that connection.
Making that Connection: Rural Learners Seeing Themselves in Computer Science
If they want to program a drone, you can show them videos of how in the hurricane areas they’re using drones to do insurance claims. And when we had a blizzard in South Dakota, we had a lot of cattle die. They had drones fly over the field to fly over the fields so the ranchers could see where the carcasses were. So to help them see “this is why it’s important, this is what you can do with it.” This helps them with the desire for learning it.
Kids should go and get an education and learn a trade. But, we also don’t want our communities to disappear. So what can you offer them in Computer Science that will help them with their communities, with their families? There are crop-planting robots and crop management and all these kinds of things that computer science helps with. They need more examples from rural communities so they see the value. They need to see themselves in the examples.
Students who Struggle with Computer Science: High Achieving Students
The students who struggle the most are the high achieving students who are not used to encountering academic struggles. Because traditional school, they have mastered — they are pros.
Then they get to Computer Science, and there’s a lot of possibilities — there’s not always a right or wrong answer. There’s so many ways that you can solve a problem.
And even with our competitive robotics team and we had students who were strong academically, straight-A students, and they got really frustrated really quickly and had a hard time because they’re not used to not knowing what the problem is, first of all, they have to figure that out. And not having A, B, C, or D to answer.
Those are the students who have struggled most because it’s not a write or wrong answer.
Computer Science and Introverts, Extroverts
The most challenging for me at TeacherCon was all the group work. The Computer Science Discoveries curriculum is all partner programming. And I’m an introvert so I was struggling by Friday because I had to talk to people all day and be around people. It was really challenging for me.
But, it’s led me to a lot of reflection as educator. How frequently do I force my students to be collaborative? I’m thinking about how to provide opportunities for kids to learn how to work alone but also work with a group. But give them breaks when the need them. My goal when I start teaching Computer Science Discoveries is to find ways to honor the introvert and to find alone time and to have kids work together constructively in partners. And find that balance.
Students Supporting Students
I believe that kids learn best by talking with other kids. I say to them: “I’m not an expert — I know way less than you do. So you have to help each other out if we’re going to get anywhere.”
We’re doing Hour of Code and I encourage kids to do ‘ask three before me’ talk to your peers. They do! They’ll say “I got this one!” and run around. They’ll ask each other, “Did you use the help icon? Did you use the tips?”
When I was gone — I missed a week of school in October — I left the Express course on Code.org for my 8th graders. And the sub left all these notes about how she had no idea about what was going on but the kids were amazing. The students who were far ahead kept going around and checking in with their peers and helping with the parts they got stuck on. They wanted to do more of that — they wanted to do it when I got back.
Reaching All Students
I have students who are on IEPs and aren’t in mainstream classrooms the entire day and they participate in my classes. There is an equal interest in STEM and Computer Science courses among male and female students. I do have English Language Learners who are in the classes and participate. We’ve never had a student feel like “well, that’s not for me, I can’t do it.”
Being a female who has a higher education degree and loves coding, I want to share that with students, I love hearing, “I got it!” or “I used coding!” or “I went home and taught my little sister!” The best is when the kids are getting excited about it.
