Introduction—What Is this Guide About? - Guide to Teaching Computer Science: An Activity-Based Approach - page 5

Zimudzi ( 2012 ) also suggests an MTCS course in which there are four general
objectives:

• Demonstrate knowledge of programming techniques
• Apply algorithmic tools in solving problems
• Show understanding of different programming languages
• Show understanding of program translators

Gal-Ezer and Zur ( 2013 ) present a computer science teacher certification program
being offered by the Israeli Open University, combined of courses and practical
training. They describe their version of the methods course, which is called To p -
ics in Computer Science Education . This course was designed to combine several
academic skills: self-study of professional scientific literature, scientific research
skills, presentation skills, and the skills required for preparing and delivering a les-
son.
Another suggestion for the MTCS course was piloted in the Center X Teacher
Education program at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) as part
of the MOBILIZE project 2 . The two-unit course explores CS “as a discipline that
encourages inquiry, creativity, and collaboration” and highlights “four related ar-
eas of emphasis: (1) Representing and connecting CS concepts; (2) Engagement
with particular instructional strategies that foster inquiry-based teaching and learn-
ing; (3) Eliciting, assessing, and understanding students' CS content knowledge
and computational thinking practices; (4) Development of equity-based teaching
practices in CS education.”
This guide elaborates on all the above mentioned topics as well as on a variety
of additional topics.

1.3.2 Course Population

Course participants are either prospective or in-service computer science teachers
who wish to broaden their education related to computer science education in the
high school. In addition, some students study the course even though they do not
intend to become computer science teachers. These students can apply the peda-
gogical skills they acquire in the course in their future professional work either in
the academia or the industry. This wide perspective at computer science teaching
includes also those who view computer science teaching as an additional profes-
sion, which they may use at some point in the future (Hazzan and Ragonis 2014 ).
The course's academic prerequisites are the relevant computer science courses
and part of the general education and teaching studies, e.g., psychology.

2 Computer Science Project: http://centerx.gseis.ucla.edu/parent-project.