Why are children left out of the CS rethinking process?
Authors: Bianco Giovanni M. , Tinazzi Simonetta 
Published: October 2006

Developing Computer Science curricula for children is a priority in most countries. In Italy, for example, the Minister of Education has recently reformed the Primary School curricula (6 to 10 years old). One of the main priorities concerns Computer Science.However, CS curricula for children do not seem to take into account "their particular world", since they are an "abstraction" or a reduction of classical Computer Science curricula for adults. In addition, children CS curricula are often left as the last topic of the "rethinking processes" in the Academic courses of Computer Science.Amazingly, there is a lack of attention on the "crucial" age for the development of many features concerning intellect and personality. New approaches need to be worked out to enhance children's imagination, so as to help them to better understand CS topics. The goal should not be devoted to CS Literacy, i.e. specific-but-limited applications. Indeed, the major objective must consider CS Fluency, i.e. building "solid bases" for CS knowledge.The process of rethinking Computer Science curricula, especially for children and youth does not seem to have started yet. There are many confirming signals on this. One of the most important evidence is a recently published and detailed analysis,"Oversold and Underused. Computers in the classroom" by Larry Cuban (2001). The computer is taught as a mere tool which reshapes, restructures, resembles and substitutes other domestic devices: the typewriter, the game machine, the CD/DVD player, the TV and the Radio, and so on. As a result, creativity, one of the essential ingredients of a child, is still missing.Following these inadequate practices, children cannot learn, explore or find their own solutions, nor can they follow their ideas or try out new tools. On the contrary, children need to focus on imagination, self-identification, analogy, play, and many other features characterizing their bubbling world.At the University of Verona, we have been developing an original and well founded CS course for future children's teachers. The whole CS course is composed of eight modules, each one referring to features of a "Realm" (i.e. the PC): archivists, secret agents, carriers to the external world, travelling companies, ambassadors and Masters. The approach is designed to gain the child's interest; indeed, the story itself, how the people of the realm interact with each other and how they behave will attract and entertain the child. In the meantime, in this way, the student will also gain a deep understanding of computer architecture. This is the rationale lying at the basis of our research.Although at present there is no statistical evidence to support this contention, first feedbacks are encouraging: firstly, teachers have sufficient material and content (figures, novel ways of describing the hardware, ideas on how to describe hardware functioning principles) in order to prepare children's lessons; secondly, the children show deep interest in the "hidden" parts of the computer; and finally, their parents are also "absorbed" by the material.However, a highly efficient research team is needed to reach scientific results, statistical evidence, further development, etc. Is anyone interested in creating "The fellowship of the CS children"?