There’s been lots of coverage elsewhere, but just a reminder that it’s CSEdWeek.  Congress declared Dec. 5-11, 2010, as Computer Science Education Week “to recognize the critical role of computing in today’s society and the imperative to bolster computer science education at all levels.”  Several planned events and activities are taking place throughout the nation to “illustrate how computer science education is essential for exposing students to critical thinking and problem-solving; instilling understanding of computational thinking for success in the digital area; and preparing students to attack the world’s most challenging problems from a computation perspective.”

For example, on Wednesday, NSF hosted a webcast highlighting two NSF-funded research programs that are aiming to fill the gap and engage populations of students not typically drawn to computer science.  The first project uses video games as a way for high school students to “break open” the games and look at them as a piece of technology.  The second one involves research into how best to integrate high and low technology from cultural, material, and practical perspectives to engage diverse groups of people in developing their own technologies.

And just this morning, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy blogged about CSEdWeek, noting the significance of computer science as a field:

Computer science is increasing its stature in Washington and throughout the Nation given predictions that some 800,000 high-end computer science jobs are expected to be created between now and 2016, making it one of the fastest growing occupational fields. The President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) emphasized the importance of computer science as an element of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education in its recent report, Prepare and Inspire: K-12 Education in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) for America’s Future.

Much more information — including a list of CSEdWeek activities — is available at http://www.csedweek.org/.  The activities run through tomorrow.

(Contributed by Erwin Gianchandani, CCC Director)