EAGER: Collaborative Research: Developing a Parallel and Distributed Computing Concepts Curriculum Enhancement for the Computer Science Principles Course

该项目正在启动计算机科学原理(CS0)课程的并行与分布式计算(PDC)课程增强设计，该课程也适用于相应的高中高级选修(AP)课程。现代计算系统通常采用高水平的并行性(例如，多核、图形处理器)和分布式计算(例如，云服务)。PDC显著影响日常生活，它在解决有意义的社会问题方面的重要性可以激励学生对在STEM领域和其他领域应用计算产生更深的兴趣。然而，大多数CSO课程主要建立在较老的、顺序的计算模型上。CS0有多种用途，面向众多受众，现在被视为提高学生，特别是代表不足的群体，深入学习计算或主修计算机科学的兴趣的一种工具。因此，它已经成为创建一种新的AP考试以及相关高中课程的努力的主题。由于AP考试仍处于试点阶段，因此有一个短暂的窗口来修改课程，以适应21世纪的计算。AP课程潜在的巨大影响可能很快就会在旧的顺序范式下教育学生，获得一种惯性，使其难以改变。这一合作努力正在为CS0和AP课程制定PDC课程指南，方法是收集专家意见并让必要的利益攸关方参与进来，以确保制定和采用适当的课程。目标是让学生了解现代计算技术的实际运作方式，而不是教给他们过时的操作模式。这一努力遵循的过程与提出者之前非常成功地为本科课程设计PDC指南的过程类似，该指南被纳入ACM标准课程。该方法首先对CS0中涉及PDC主题的实践状况进行了彻底的调查。在调查之后，专家和利益攸关方参加了一次讲习班，以利用他们的知识和经验。然后成立一个特别的指导委员会，就课程的设计向调查人员提供建议，并帮助他们找到实现这一目标的方法。这一努力寻求尽可能广泛地传播结果，以产生尽可能大的影响。广泛影响是这一努力的核心，旨在扩大对PDC基础上的重要概念的认识和欣赏，面向许多不同学科的学生和高中学生。使这些有趣和令人兴奋的主题更容易为更多的学生所接受，应该会激发人们对计算机科学研究以及并行计算在科学、工程和商业中的应用的更深层次的兴趣。通过向下一代从业者和研究人员提供必要的技能和知识，以定期认识如何以及在哪里应用PDC概念，推进PDC教育进一步促进科学和工程的进步，而科学和工程比以往任何时候都更加依赖高性能计算。

This project is initiating design of a Parallel and Distributed Computing (PDC) curriculum enhancement for the Computer Science Principles (CS0) course that is also applicable to the corresponding high school advanced placement (AP) course. Modern computing systems routinely employ high levels of parallelism (e.g., multiple cores, graphics processors) and distributed computing (e.g., cloud services). PDC significantly affects daily lives, and its importance in solving meaningful societal problems can inspire students to take a deeper interest in applying computing in STEM fields and beyond. However, most CS0 curricula are founded predominantly on older, sequential models of computing. CS0 has multiple purposes that address many audiences, and is now seen as a vehicle for increasing interest among students, especially from underrepresented groups, for studying computing in depth or to major in computer science. It has thus been the subject of an effort to create a new AP exam, with associated high school courses. Since the AP exam is still in a pilot phase, there is a brief window for amending the curriculum to reflect 21st century computing. The potentially vast impact of the AP course could quickly settle into educating students under the old sequential paradigm, acquiring an inertia that makes it difficult to change. This collaborative effort is developing PDC curriculum guidelines for CS0 and AP courses through gathering expert input and involving necessary stakeholders to ensure that an appropriate curriculum is developed and adopted. The goal is for students to gain an understanding of how modern computing technology actually functions, rather than being taught an obsolete operational model. The effort is following a process similar to the proposers' highly successful prior effort to design a PDC guideline for undergraduate curricula, which was incorporated into the ACM standard curriculum. The approach begins with a thorough survey of the state of practice in covering PDC topics in CS0. The survey is followed by a workshop attended by experts and stakeholders to draw upon their knowledge and experience. Then a select steering committee is formed that advises the investigators on the design of a curriculum and helps them identify means to bring it to fruition. The effort seeks the broadest possible dissemination of the results to have the greatest possible impact.Broad impact is the core of this effort, which seeks to expand awareness and appreciation of the important concepts at the foundation of PDC, to students in many different disciplines and in high school. Making these interesting and exciting topics more accessible to a wider range of students should generate deeper interest in the study of computer science and the application of concurrent computation in science, engineering, and commerce. Advancing PDC education further enables advances in science and engineering, which depend ever more on high performance computing, by providing the next generation of practitioners and researchers with the necessary skills and knowledge to routinely recognize how and where PDC concepts may be applied.