Championing Computer Science in the Early Elementary Grades

With over 22 million students enrolled in PreK-5 grades in the United States alone, we recognize that this is an important opportunity to bring computer science (CS) education to millions more students than who have traditionally had access. It also presents a unique opportunity to embrace teaching computer science in these early grades that is highly inclusive, engaging, and even blended with traditional subjects taught in these early years. In this panel, we bring together a collection of experts in the PreK-5 field, including researchers, a curriculum designer, and teachers, to discuss promising practices for including CS instruction in the PreK-5th grades, focusing in particular on PreK-2nd grades. The intended audience for this panel includes researchers and practitioners who are interested in CS in the early elementary and early childhood years. This topic is highly relevant to the SIGCSE community since it brings together teachers, curriculum designers, and researcher perspectives into a shared space to highlight the ways schools, teachers, and researchers can think about successfully adding computer science into young children's education.