Vision

Design a High School Curriculum

Data are everywhere: students will learn about spatial analysis, temporal analysis, and text interpretation, through their own data collection and analysis project.  Mobilize curriculum units will map onto California state standards for mathematics the science, and other disciplines on campus.

Develop Participatory Sensing Software

Flexible, open, tools for authoring, implementing, and analyzing participatory sensing data campaigns using mobile phones and web services will be created.

Build Multidisciplinary STEM Teacher Teams and Professional Development

Inquiry based investigations on topics from mathematics and the sciences will be the focus of Professional Development for 300 teachers across LAUSD with the goal of increasing student learning.

Enhance Student Learning and Engagement

Through Mobilize units, students will engage with and learn about:

• The nature of data – its representation, formats, and protocols for sharing.
• Computational thinking (the problem-solving, logical thinking at the heart of CS).
• Algorithms (the rules governing data collection and strategies for analysis).
• Statistics (visualization, basic inference, etc.).
• Intersection of mathematics, science and other disciplines with civic engagement.
• Problem-solving skills.
• Innovation, inventiveness, and interdisciplinary collaboration.

Support the Following LAUSD Initiatives

• Response to instruction and intervention.
• Personalization of the learning experience for all students based on student needs and talents.
• College preparedness and career readiness.
• Mathematics and science student achievement

Campaign for New Educational Policy

In addition to the instructional and professional development focus of Mobilize, educational policy change is also addressed and includes:

• Collaborating with other national and state organizations to change state and national educational policy with the goal of improving the quality of high school computer science instruction, assuring equal access and quality instruction in underserved schools with high numbers of African American and Latino/a students.
• Changing the academic status of computer science from vocational to academic and establishing a CS teaching credential pathway and methods course.

Build National Dissemination and Impact

Mobilize curriculum units and our model of professional development for teachers will be made available for national distribution through other school districts and informal education networks, including school clubs and community organizations.

Conduct Research, Evaluation, and Assessment of Student Learning

Mobilize at its core is focused on student learning, and for this teachers are key.   Research will investigate teachers’ participation, engagement, and adoption of inquiry-based teaching methods, and students’ identity as doers of computer science.  An extensive evaluation program will assess Mobilize impact on student learning, and design new and needed assessment tools and methods.