Data Science (DS) blends computer science, statistics, mathematics, and visualization. The absence of a nationwide DS curriculum in the US prompts educators to independently devise engaging DS curriculum. With support from the National Science Foundation and the United States Amateur Radio on the International Space Station, UC Berkeley teaching faculty developed a pilot curriculum, Student Mission Control (SMC), to engage middle and high school students with direct access to data and experiments aboard the International Space Station (ISS) to help develop skills of data inquiry, analysis, and exploration.

The Beauty and Joy of Computing (BJC) Sparks curriculum is an innovative computer science curriculum designed to introduce middle school and early high school students to the world of computer science through functional programming. Developed by the creators of BJC CS Principles (CSP), BJC Sparks presents a simplified yet engaging approach to programming, emphasizing the flow of information through functions. By focusing on functions rather than commands and iteration, BJC Sparks nurtures problem-solving skills and reduces bugs in future programming experiences.

We present our experience with the design and implementation of BJC Sparks, a new introductory computer science curriculum for middle school piloted by ten teachers in the 2021-2022 academic year. Our curriculum is functional-first, using abstraction, functional decomposition, immutable data, and powerful higher-order functions such as map, keep, and combine. Based on a decade of experience teaching thousands of first-time programmers, we believe starting with functions teaches students the habit of solving problems functionally when possible, helping to avoid bugs in later programming experiences.

The Beauty and Joy of Computing (BJC) is a CS Principles (CSP) course created at UC Berkeley to reach high school and university nonmajors in computer science. It was chosen for the CSP pilot and endorsed by the College Board as an AP CSP curriculum and PD provider since the first AP CSP exam sitting in 2017. This past year, BJC developed a new course for middle school and early high school that teaches a functional approach to programming, emphasizing iteration and commands, and including exciting projects in graphics, data, and media. In this workshop, we will provide an overview of the BJC middle school and high school curriculum including course materials, teacher resources, and an introduction to Snap!, the chosen visual programming language of BJC. We will not only cover curriculum updates, Snap! updates, BJC for middle school, BJC in other languages, but also dive into labs with hands-on programming. Laptop is required.

The Beauty and Joy of Computing (BJC) is a CS Principles (CSP) course created at UC Berkeley to reach high school and university non-majors in computer science. It was chosen for the CSP pilot and endorsed by the College Board as an AP CSP curriculum and PD provider since the first AP CSP exam sitting in 2017. In this workshop, we will provide an overview of the BJC curriculum including course materials, teacher resources, and an introduction to Snap!, the chosen visual programming language of BJC. We will not only cover curriculum updates, Snap! updates, BJC for middle school, BJC in other languages, but also dive into labs with hands-on programming. Some of our experienced BJC Lead Teachers will provide support and answer questions based on personal classroom experience. This workshop is intended to be an introduction and update to the Beauty and Joy of Computing curriculum (bjc.edc.org) and community. This is not intended to be an in-depth experience, but an overview. Note: It is recommended to use least a Chromebook during the workshop in order to achieve the learning outcomes. Also, having Multiple/dual monitors will make for a better experience.

The Beauty and Joy of Computing (BJC) is a CS Principles course developed at UC Berkeley for high school juniors through university non-majors. Together, UC Berkeley, the Education Development Center, and NC State have brought BJC to 700+ teachers nationwide. Since 2011, NC State has developed regional partnerships and a train-the-trainer model to offer nationwide PD to 600+ high school teachers. Our guiding philosophy is to meet students where they are, but not leave them there. BJC covers the big ideas and computational thinking practices in the AP CSP curriculum framework using Snap!, an easy-to-learn blocks-based programming language, and powerful computing ideas like recursion, higher-order functions, and computability. Through BJC, students create beautiful images, and realize that code itself can be beautiful. Having fun is an explicit course goal. BJC takes a "lab-centric" approach, and most learning occurs through guided programming labs where students explore and play. In this workshop, we will provide an overview of BJC, share experiences as instructors at university and high school levels, and share details of summer PD opportunities. Laptop needed.

The Beauty and Joy of Computing (BJC) is a CS Principles (CSP) course developed at UC Berkeley, intended for high school juniors through university non-majors. It was twice chosen as a CSP pilot, and both the College Board and code.org have endorsed it. Since 2011, we have offered professional development to over 400 high school teachers. BJC covers the big ideas and computational thinking practices required in the AP CSP curriculum framework, using an easy-to-learn blocks-based programming language called Snap! (based on Scratch). During this workshop, we will provide an overview of the BJC curriculum, share our experiences as instructors of the course at the university and high school levels, and share details of potential summer professional development opportunities. Attendees should be prepared to program a BJC project in the Snap! environment. Please bring laptops with the Chrome browser installed.

CS10, is UC Berkeley's CS0 course. Each semester we have between 40% and 50% of our students continue on to CS61A, our CS1 course. Meanwhile an average of 25% more students express interest in continuing learning computer science through other means. CS10 is taught in a visual language called Snap! and CS61A in Python. This poster explores some of the trends we have seen between CS10 and CS61A enrollment, and our new "Besides Blocks" curriculum which helps transition students from a visual to text based language. Besides Block is approximately one fourth of the CS10 curriculum which introduces Python in the context of the Turtle Graphics system, and a tool called Codification which is a way of translating Snap! blocks to Python.