Computer technology has revolutionized both scientific research and our society as a whole. With computers being able to perform up to 1018 operations per second, it is generally well worth to consider what tasks we can leave to a computer. At MN we have for the last 15 years addressed this systematically in our educational programs through the Computing in Science Education (CSE) initiative with the aim to educate students that are familiar with the possibilities, but also the limitations of technology.
Norway is the only Nordic country where programming is optional at school, an option resulting in a gender divide. This means that a large proportion of young people, especially girls, complete school with little or no mastery of a competence that seems to become essential in our future society. A central part of the present school reform Fagfornyelsen, literally ?discipline (subject) renewal?, is to introduce programming as an obligatory part of the curriculum, but linked to the traditional school disciplines, especially mathematics.
«Science is what we understand well enough to explain to a computer. Art is everything else we do.»
Donald Knuth, known professor emeritus in Informatics at Stanford University and creator of TeX.
The key to good learning is good teachers
We know that the key to good learning is good teachers. We also know that most mathematics teachers are not familiar with programming. There is therefore a major need for further education of teachers. And the teachers do not only need to learn programming, they also need to learn different approaches to teaching programming to a diversity of pupils.
MN has unique expertise in this area. The CSE initiative has provided us with considerable experience in linking programming to the classical, scientific disciplines, and we have offered in-service training of teachers since the 70’s. We have a network of didactic specialists in the STEM disciplines, and we have extensive experience with teaching programming to beginning computer science students.
This is the background for establishing ProFag – programming in STEM disciplines. School is focused around the traditional disciplines, and our in-service training of teachers emphasizes how programming can contribute to strengthening and developing the disciplines.
Contribute to creating a better school for the future
We have already completed the first course for teachers in high school. We have also been granted funding of a major project in collaboration with the Department of Education in the Oslo City Council. This involves 2–3 teachers from 15–20 junior high schools attending courses at Blindern where they will both learn to program and learn how programming can enhance and further develop the disciplines. Together with the schools we aim to develop a model for competence dissemination within the schools.
The ProFag team at MN consists of members from several different scientific disciplines. Five academic departments are contributing (MI, FI, IFI, KI and IBV). In addition to strong disciplinary expertise, this also includes competencies in didactics, programming and numerical methods, as well as professional teacher experience. In this way, MN and UiO aim to contribute to creating a better school for the future.