Digital Literacy and Computer Science

From the Massachusetts Department of Education:

Digital Literacy and Computer Science (DLCS) knowledge, reasoning, and skills are essential both to prepare students for personal and civic efficacy in the twenty-first century and to prepare and inspire a much larger and more diverse number of students to pursue the innovative and creative careers of the future. In Massachusetts, DLCS instruction includes the areas of computing and society, digital tools and collaboration, computing systems, and computational thinking.

Springfield Renaissance began offering middle school DL/CS courses in 2021, after the district used grant funding to create Computer Science Teacher and Lead Technology Coordinator positions for all schools. The DLCS standards cover much more than can be fit into a quarter. We begin with developing digital literacy and computer science skills, and end with a major project that students choose.

Because DL/CS teacher Bram Moreinis also teaches a HS course, there is only a two-year sequence for MS Humanities. For the 2021-2022 school year we focused on Digital Literacy, learning about social media and misinformation, coding in HTML, and creating online publications (see The Renaissance Renegade). This will become the 7th grade course.

This year, we are focusing on creating digital multimedia (images, videos and websites), and learning to program with JavaScript. Students choose either to write code (using Replit.com) from flowcharts (using LucidChart.com) , or follow a block-based tutorial course (CodeHS.com). This will become the 8th grade course.

The decision to offer DL/CS to 6th graders this year was made over the summer in response to staffing changes. The 8th grade learning targets are also being used, but we are modifying how they are taught and how far to go in each one. There is more of a focus on developing skill with digital tools than with learning to program, for example.