Future K-12 Data and Computing Competencies: Implications for the Workforce and Higher Education

The rapidly changing landscape of computing, information, and communications technologies have catapulted us into the computing revolution and the era of data science and artificial intelligence (AI). Currently, multiple, disconnected efforts in K-12 are attempting to address these new demands, which have profound implications for the workforce and higher education. A recent National Academies consensus study identified a set of competencies students need to navigate and succeed in the changing computational landscapes that influence life, education, and work. The competencies provide a starting point for understanding fields such as data science, computer science, machine learning, and artificial intelligence. This talk will describe the findings, conclusions, and recommendations of the report, including a review of the K-12 data and computing landscape, an outline of the key foundational competencies in these areas, and discussion of implications for the future of K-12, the workforce, and higher education. 

In grades K-12 science and mathematics education, data and computing have a complicated status—at once central and often peripheral in standards, curricula, and teacher professional. This presentation uses the new report from the National Academies as a lens to look back at the roles of data and computing in K-12 science and mathematics classes. Furthermore, it uses this report to try to sharpen questions and ideas about how data and computing can be integrated across the curriculum and where K-12 science and mathematics education should head in the future. 

Data and computing are often considered advanced topics, best introduced to students at high school - or possibly middle school, at the earliest. However, young students are quite capable of engaging with carefully-chosen basic concepts of data and computing as early as kindergarten, with appropriate support from a teacher. Some of these concepts already reside in elementary school curricula (math, science and even language arts) and need only a bit more attention to help lay the foundation of students' competence in these subjects. The National Academies report provides a structure and guidance for enhancing students' experience with data and computing appropriately in elementary school.