Building Imagination with Knowledge Exchange (BIKE)
Building Imagination with Knowledge Exchange (BIKE)
The discipline of Computer Science and Engineering at IIT Gandhinagar, in partnership with the Center for Creative Learning, is organizing a one-day workshop on Computing in Schools on the 7th of February, 2024 (Wednesday).
Venue: AB1/201
Target Audience. Anyone interested in matters of CS Education in the context of schools is welcome to attend.
Logistics. This is a hybrid event. The registration cost to attend in-person is Rs. 300 (all-inclusive). This covers all meals during the event and a registration kit. Joining over Zoom has no cost.
Registered participants are eligible for a certificate of participation, subject to participation :)
Registrations are now closed. If you registered to participate in-person and you have not had a chance to pay the registration fee, you can use this link to register.
Inquiries. Please direct any questions you have to neeldhara.m@iitgn.ac.in with BIKE Inquiry as the subject.
9:30AM — 10:00AM. Registration
10:00AM — 11:00AM. Computing Masti by Shridhar Iyer
Coming Soon
Sridhar Iyer has been a faculty member at IIT Bombay since 1999. Currently he is a Professor in the Educational Technology Programme, while earlier he was with the Dept of Computer Science & Engg.
His current research interests includes: Technology enhanced learning of disciplinary practices, Teacher use of educational technologies, and Computer science education research. Prior to Educational Technology, he has worked in wireless networking protocols and mobile applications.
Sridhar Iyer received the ACM India Outstanding Contrubution to Computing Education Award in 2020, the AECT International Contribution Award in 2019, and Excellence in Teaching Award at IIT Bombay in 2016 and 2013. He is also the President of the EdTech Society in India.
Some development projects that that he has conceptualized and led are: (i) Computer Masti, a series of books for teaching-learning of Computers in schools. These products have seen more than 100K downloads from 120 countries. In 2016, Computer Masti was acquired by a company and the books are now being used in ~1000 schools in India. (ii) Project OSCAR, a repository of ~450 Interactive Visualizations for topics at the school and higher education levels.
Sridhar Iyer received his BTech, MTech and PhD from the Dept of Computer Science & Engg at IIT Bombay. More information is available from his webpage.
11:00AM — 11:30AM. Coffee Break
11:30 — 1PM. The CSPathshala Initiative: Computational Thinking in Schools
Coming Soon
1PM — 2PM. Lunch
2PM — 3:30PM. The Center for Creative Learning: Hands-On Interventions in Teaching Computation
Coming Soon
3:30PM — 4PM. Coffee Break
4PM — 5PM. Curriculum Design as an Engineering Problem • Shriram Krishnamurthi
Around the world, numerous countries are rushing to add computer science to school curricula. Given this sense of urgency, many curricula are being proposed and tried out, often with the goal of teaching “computational thinking”. Due to the lack of widespread expertise in computing education, technologists everywhere — many with a minimal understanding of schools — are being drafted to weigh in on curricula or are even designing their own, in some cases turning these into commercial ventures.
In this climate, how should we actually address curriculum design? What are the constraints and affordances in schools, and what does it take for computation to actually be effective in teaching thinking? Given that curricula, once adopted, often stay in place for a long time, the need for research-driven designs is especially pressing.
This talk will primarily critique the notion of “computational thinking”. It will also distill lessons from Bootstrap, one of the largest computing outreach programs in the USA. The core principles discussed apply across curricula, countries, and ages.
Shriram is the Vice President for Programming Languages at Brown University in Providence, RI, USA. He’s not, really, but that’s what it says on his business card. At heart, he’s a person of ill-repute: a Schemer, Racketeer, and Pyreteer. He believes tropical fruit are superior to all other kinds. He is terrified of success, because he may be forced to buy a suit. He is known to interrogate his audiences to ensure they’re paying attention. So, be alert. You can read email later.
5PM — 5:30PM. Closing Remarks
Anyone with an interest in CS Education at the school level will find this event to be of interest. We hope to bring together school and college teachers, CS Education researchers, industry professionals, and aspiring educators at any stage of their career — in particular, students with an interest pedagogy are also welcome.
There are no explicit pre-requisites, although some experience with teaching introductory programming classes and/or data structures and algorithms would be relevant.
If you would like to join us in person and need accommodation, please send an email to neeldhara.m@iitgn.ac.in with the subject Accommodation Request for BIKE. We expect most of the in-person attendance to be local, and encourage others to join us online. However, we are happy to explore accommodation options on request.
Yes. The sessions will be recorded and made available in early March 2024.
The main difference is that you will be able to join the lectures over Zoom and have an opportunity interact with the speakers and other participants. You will also be eligible for a certificate subject to participation.
You can register for virtual participation and switch to onsite later by paying the registration fee. However, if you decide to switch from onsite participation to virtual, please note that we are generally unable to process refunds.
The registration fees are not refundable in general. We may be able to make exceptions in special cases: please send an email to neeldhara.m@iitgn.ac.in with the subject BIKE registration cancelation if you have to cancel your participation due to exceptional circumstances.
Please see this page for more details about reaching IITGN and this page for general information about the IIT Gandhinagar campus.
- Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport (AMD) is an international airport serving the cities of Ahmedabad and Gandhinagar in Gujarat, India and is nearer to our IIT campus.
- Ahmedabad Junction Railway Station (ADI), locally known as Kalupur station is the main terminus which is very well connected with the other parts of the country.
- Geeta Mandir & Paldi are the bus terminals of Ahmedabad city.
Please direct any questions you have to neeldhara.m@iitgn.ac.in with BIKE Inquiry as the subject.
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To obtain a certificate of participation, you would be requested to fill out a form after the event.
