CS principles: piloting a new course at national scale

Since 2008, NSF and The College Board, have been developing a "Computer Science: Principles" curriculum to "introduce students to the central ideas of computing and CS, to instill ideas and practices of computational thinking, and to have students engage in activities that show how computing and CS change the world". We report on the initial pilot of the CS Principles curriculum at 5 universities in 2010/11. The instructors from the pilot schools will describe their classes, the piloting experience (teaching under a microscope), and successes and failures. Emphasis will be on: mapping the CS Principles curriculum to a college's specific needs, and how others can use or modify the existing materials for pilots at their schools.