AP® Computer Science A Access to Education Teaching Module AP ® Computer Science A ACCESS TO EDUCATION Teaching Module AP® with WE Service College Board College Board is a mission driven not for profi[.]
Action Plan
plan for achieving one local and one global action.
Take Action
It is essential to encourage students to track their activities and gather artifacts that document their progress Providing guidance when they face obstacles and supporting them in maintaining motivation are crucial components of effective learning These strategies ensure that students stay engaged and able to reflect on their achievements, fostering continuous improvement and success.
Report and Celebrate
and share their accomplishments Presentations and celebrations may be in your class or in the community.
Everyone has the right to education, which should be free, especially at the elementary and fundamental levels Elementary education must be mandatory to ensure all children have access Additionally, technical, professional, and higher education should be widely accessible and available to everyone based on merit, promoting equal opportunities for all learners.
– UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS (ARTICLE 26)
Getting to Know the Topic
In 2015, the United Nations launched SDG 4 as part of the Sustainable Development Goals to ensure inclusive, equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all Despite progress toward this goal, around 262 million children and youth remained out of school in 2017 Key barriers such as poverty, limited access to quality healthcare, geographical challenges, gender inequality, child labor, and food insecurity continue to hinder children’s ability to attend school globally.
An estimated 40% of people are taught in a language they don’t speak or fully understand.
In 2016, approximately 750 million adults were illiterate—two thirds of them women
Globally, only 85% of primary school teachers are trained to educate students
Students can actively contribute to improving global access to education by taking action within their schools and communities Initiatives such as organizing fundraisers, volunteering for educational programs, and raising awareness about educational inequalities are effective strategies By partnering with local organizations and leveraging social media, students can amplify their impact and support developing communities worldwide Engaging in these activities not only promotes social responsibility but also helps bridge educational gaps across the globe.
Volunteer at an organization that works for global issues—many organizations offer ways to get involved on their websites and in their offices
Collect supplies (in consultation with the organization) or raise funds for an organization that will share the outcomes of the donations
Create a campaign writing letters to the United Nations, government bodies, and other leaders to ask for added resources on the issue
Support and fundraise for the WE Villages program to make an impact on global education Students can find ideas and resources for action by visiting WE.org/we-schools/programs/campaigns Contributing to this initiative helps promote education equity worldwide and encourages student engagement in social change.
In 2015, 617 million students across the world were not achieving minimum proficiency levels in reading and mathematics
Getting to Know the Topic
Despite doubling educational spending in the United States since the mid-1970s, average educational attainment has stagnated, highlighting persistent challenges in education Education levels are strongly linked to employment and workforce participation, with high school dropouts experiencing significantly higher unemployment rates—3.5 times those of college graduates Over half of high school dropouts are not in the labor force, and nearly 20 percent are actively seeking employment Additionally, male high school dropouts face a drastically higher risk of incarceration, being 47 times more likely to be imprisoned than college graduates.
American 15-year-olds rank near the bottom among OECD countries in math and science achievement, highlighting significant educational disparities Additionally, the United States is 27th out of 29 wealthy nations in the percentage of college students obtaining degrees in science or engineering, underscoring challenges in STEM education and workforce readiness These comparisons reveal critical gaps in the U.S education system compared to other industrialized nations.
According to the National Assessment of Educational Programming (NAEP), only 25% of 12th grade students are
“proficient” or “advanced” in math.
As of 2019, the United States was experiencing a 307,000 job shortfall in public education, according to the
Only 37% of high school dropouts indicated their school tried to talk them into staying.
Within their local or national community, students can:
Work with a local organization addressing the topic
Collect educational resources—like books, notepads, pens, and backpacks—and donate them for distribution to benefit students in need
Create and deliver an educational workshop to raise awareness about educational topics and their local impact with a strong call to action that leads to enacting change
With both their global and local actions, encourage students to be creative with the ideas they develop through their action plans.
Of high-poverty schools, 45% recieve state & local funds below what is typical for other schools in their district
Global and Local Service Projects
For more than two decades, WE Villages has been engineering an international development model to end poverty
It works It’s proven It’s scalable.
We partner with developing communities worldwide to implement projects and programs that empower families to break the cycle of poverty through our five Pillars of Impact: Education, Water, Health, Food, and Opportunity These pillars target the root causes of poverty with holistic, sustainable solutions designed to transform communities By addressing key issues such as lack of access to education, clean water, healthcare, adequate nutrition, and economic opportunities, our initiatives promote long-term community development and resilience.
When children are educated, they are armed with the courage and self-confidence to better themselves and their families, their communities, and ultimately the next generation
With an education, children are more knowledgeable about safe sources of drinking water to keep their bodies feeling their best
Lessons on health empower children and their families to take proactive measures for disease prevention, enabling quicker recovery when illness occurs and enhancing overall well-being.
At school, children can learn about nutrition and farming techniques to ensure their communities are food secure Students can also get hands-on experience in school gardens
Educating children is essential for raising adults who recognize and defend fundamental rights, leading to improved opportunities in the workforce and higher incomes Quality education empowers individuals to better support their families and break the cycle of poverty Ultimately, investing in schooling is key to fostering long-term social and economic development.
This module introduces students to how computer science can be a powerful tool for social good, focusing on improving global and local access to education Key topics covered include variables, conditional statements, iteration, methods, and object-oriented programming, providing a comprehensive understanding of programming fundamentals Students will have opportunities to practice traversing strings, arrays, and ArrayLists, enhancing their coding skills Additionally, students are encouraged to document and collect evidence of their progress throughout the course, fostering a hands-on, evidence-based learning approach.
This module combines programming and service learning activities to provide a comprehensive educational experience Many activities are designed to be completed within a single class period by pairing related tasks, ensuring efficient lesson planning Teachers are encouraged to review all activities to decide on the most effective sequence for their students, with some activities benefiting from being spread over multiple days in smaller segments Additionally, there are key pieces of work that educators may want to collect throughout the year to monitor student progress and engagement.
Posters Maps Reflections Thank you notes
As presented in the Introduction, this teaching module contains four parts These are also the four rubric topics you will assess your students on in the digital portfolio:
Invest in developing educational apps by exploring the causes and impacts related to access to education, emphasizing the importance of research in understanding the broader effects of educational disparities These lessons highlight key service learning concepts, including the necessity of thorough investigation to comprehend complex issues and recognizing how local challenges are interconnected with global educational trends.
Part 2: Action Plan: Guide students as they form teams, develop their action plans, and reflect on their ideas
Part 3: Take Action: Provide students with suggestions for how to navigate obstacles, overcome conflicts, record actions, and reflect on their work
Part 4: Report and Celebrate: Support students as they create portfolios, celebrate their actions, and complete a final reflection on their experiences
Throughout Parts 1–4, activities that are required for the Recognition Rubric are labeled with an icon (see Icon Legend on page
Optional activities that assist students in designing and completing their service projects are provided throughout various sections in the program These activities are not mandatory but serve as helpful resources to enhance project planning and execution Details of these optional activities can be found in the AP with WE Service Program Guide and are accessible on the designated program website.
WE website, as indicated in the tables.
Students should be able to:
Use an electronic discussion/blog to share summaries, opinions, and/or reflections.
Learn to create simple apps using MIT App Inventor 2 with our basic app tutorials, which can be completed before the lesson or assigned as a summer project These beginner-friendly tutorials provide step-by-step guidance to help you develop your first mobile applications Access the comprehensive App Inventor beginner videos at appinventor.mit.edu/explore/ai2/beginner-videos.html to enhance your app development skills.
Based on the current AP ® Computer Science A Course and Exam Description, here are the elements of the curriculum framework addressed in this module:
Enduring understandings are the long-term generalizations that specify what students will come to understand and take away about the key concepts in the course
• VAR-1: To find specific solutions to generalizable problems, programmers include variables in their code so that the same algorithm runs using different input values.
VAR-2 enables programmers to efficiently manage large datasets or complex relationships by consolidating data into a single structured format Instead of creating multiple variables for each value, they write code that groups related data together, simplifying data handling and enhancing code organization This approach is essential for optimizing data processing and ensuring scalable, maintainable software solutions.
• CON-2: Programmers incorporate iteration and selection into code as a way of providing instructions for the computer to process each of the many possible input values.
The learning objectives articulate what students need to be able to do.
• VAR-1.E: For String class: a Create String objects b Call String methods.
• VAR-2.A: Represent collections of related primitive or object reference data using one-dimensional (1D) array objects.
• VAR-2.B: Traverse the elements in a 1D array.
• VAR-2.D: Represent collections of related object reference data using ArrayList objects.
• VAR-2.E: For ArrayList objects: a Traverse using a for or while loop b Traverse using an enhanced for loop.
• CON-2.I: For algorithms in the context of a particular specification that requires the use of array traversals: a Identify standard algorithms b Modify standard algorithms c Develop an algorithm.
• CON-2.J: For algorithms in the context of a particular specification that requires the use of ArrayList traversals: a Identify standard algorithms b Modify standard algorithms c Develop an algorithm.
Connections to AP® Computer Science A Focus Areas