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The AP course built for newcomers
The UCLA course
Researchers at UCLA noticed that many kids have no computer at home, have never coded, and do not see themselves in the industry. They built Exploring Computer Science, a broad course that covers how the internet works, what a computer is, a little data science, the consequences of tech for society, and coding too.
Jan Cuny's push
Jan Cuny, a program officer at the National Science Foundation, had the job of broadening who studies computer science in college, a field dominated by white and Asian men. She concluded the problem started much earlier, in middle schools and high schools, and she funded the UCLA course. The AP course of the day, Computer Science A, was a decade old and pure programming, like learning Russian syntax without reading the novels or learning the history, and most of its students were boys.
The College Board says yes
Cuny took the idea to the College Board. Trevor Packer, who ran the AP program, judged the existing course horrifically non-diverse and approved a new one, with the National Science Foundation paying for it. AP Computer Science Principles became an on-ramp, a much broader approach than the standard programming class.
How does Exploring Computer Science teach?
The course is built around six units: human-computer interaction, problem solving, web design, programming, computing and data analysis, and robotics. Lessons are inquiry-based, with students investigating questions and working on projects instead of memorizing syntax. The course grew out of work between UCLA researchers and schools in the Los Angeles Unified School District.
Why would a phone count as a computer?
A phone has the same basic parts as a desktop: a processor, memory, storage, input from a touchscreen and microphone, and output through a display and speaker. It also runs programs stored in memory, which is the defining feature of a general-purpose computer. A typical smartphone today has far more processing power than the guidance computer on the Apollo missions.
How lopsided was AP Computer Science?
College Board data show girls were roughly one in five test takers on the AP Computer Science A exam in the early 2010s. Black and Hispanic students were also far less represented than in their share of the student population. The new course first ran as a full AP exam in 2017.
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