If students are to graduate college and career ready in today’s high tech society, they must become competent in Computer Science, Design Thinking, and Life Literacies. According to the New Jersey Department of Education, these three standards are essential if students are to thrive in a high-tech world.
The three standards are listed below.
To see the questions on the self-assessments, please click the links below.
*IMPORTANT NOTE: NJTRAx Digital Innovations self-assessments are designed for schools serving students in middle and high schools (or K-8/K-12 schools). The self-assessments will be taken by grade 6-12 students, all teachers, and school administrators.
Computer Science - Standard 8.1
Disciplinary Concept 1: Computing Systems
People interact with a wide variety of computing devices that collect, store, analyze, and act upon information in ways that can affect human capabilities both positively and negatively. The physical components (hardware) and instructions (software) that make up a computing system communicate and process information in digital form.
Disciplinary Concept 2: Networks and the internet
Computing devices typically do not operate in isolation. Networks connect computing devices to share information and resources and are an increasingly integral part of computing. Networks and communication systems provide greater connectivity in the computing world.
Disciplinary Concept 3: Impacts of Computiing
Computing affects many aspects of the world in both positive and negative ways at local, national, and global levels. Individuals and communities influence computing through their behaviors and cultural and social interactions, and, in turn, computing influences new cultural practices.
Disciplinary Concept 4: Data and Analysis
Computing devices typically do not operate in isolation. Networks connect computing devices to share information and resources and are an increasingly integral part of computing. Networks and communication systems provide greater connectivity in the computing world.
Disciplinary Concept 5: Algorithms and Programming
An algorithm is a sequence of steps designed to accomplish a specific task. Algorithms are translated into programs, or code, to provide instructions for computing devices. Algorithms and programming control all computing systems, empowering people to communicate with the world in new ways and solve compelling problems.
Design Thinking - Standard 8.2
Disciplinary Concept 1: Engineering Design
People design for enjoyment and to solve problems, extend human capabilities, satisfy needs and wants, and improve the human condition. Engineering Design, a systematic approach to creating solutions to technological problems and finding ways to meet people’s needs and desires, allows for the effective and efficient development of products and systems.
Disciplinary Concept 2: Interactions of Adults and Humans
Societies influence technological development. Societies are characterized by common elements such as shared values, differentiated roles, and cultural norms, as well as by entities such as community institutions, organizations, and businesses. Interaction of technology and humans concerns the ways society drives the improvement and creation of new technologies, and how technologies both serve and change society.
Disciiplinary Concept 3: Nature of Technology
Human population, patterns and movement focus on the size, composition, distribution, and movement of human populations and how they are fundamental and active features on Earth’s surface. This includes understanding that the expansion and redistribution of the human population affects patterns of settlement, environmental changes, and resource use. Patterns and movements of population also relate to physical phenomena including climate variability, landforms, and locations of various natural hazards and their effects on population size, composition, and distribution.
Disciplinary Concept 4: Effects of Technology on the Natural World
Many of engineering and technology’s impacts on society and the environment are widely regarded as desirable. However, other impacts are regarded as less desirable. Effects of Technology on the Natural World concerns the positive and negative ways that technologies affect the natural world.
Disciplinary Concept 5: Ethics and Culture
Ethics and Culture concerns the profound effects that technologies have on people, how those effects can widen or narrow disparities, and the responsibility that people have for the societal consequences of their technological decisions.
Disciplinary Concept 1: Creativity and Innovation
Creativity includes the use of a wide range of idea-creation techniques (such as brainstorming) to generate new and worthwhile ideas (both incremental and radical concepts). Additionally, within creativity, flexibility is evident through the elaboration, refinement, analysis and evaluation of ideas in order to maximize creative efforts. Originality and inventiveness in work may also be evident while understanding the real-world limits to adopting new ideas. Failure is viewed as an opportunity to learn and adapt as well as understand that creativity and innovation is a long-term, cyclical process of small successes and frequent mistakes.
Diisciplinary Concept 2: Critiical Thinkiing
Critical thinking involves the ability to use various types of reasoning as appropriate to the situation. Essential to critical thinking is systems thinking, which analyzes how parts of a whole interact together to produce outcomes. Critical thinking also includes making judgements and decisions by analyzing evidence, claims, points of view then communicating the interpretation of both the information and conclusions based on the best analysis. In tandem with critical thinking, problem solving involves the ability to generate and execute a solution to a problem. Problem solving occurs through one’s use of initiative and flexibility to use trial and error to solve a problem until a successful solution is found.
Discipliinary Concept 3: Global and Cultural Awareness
To possess a cultural and global awareness is to fully understand that individuals are composed of complex cultural backgrounds, which are influenced by a multitude of factors. Armed with this crucial understanding, individuals can then better learn and work collaboratively with people from diverse cultures, religions and lifestyles in a spirit of mutual respect and open dialogue, whether in a personal, work, or community-based context. Such an awareness also stresses the importance of recognizing and understanding the rich histories and multitude of languages of other nations and cultures.
Disciplinary Concept 4: Digital Citizenship
Digital citizenship addresses the norms of appropriate, responsible behavior with regard to the use of technology.
Disciplinary Concept 5: Information Literacy
Information and Media Literacy empowers learners to access, retrieve and produce well managed resources. This access promotes and fosters inquiry learning as well as a deep understanding of target knowledge, skills or concepts. Information and Media Literacy is the vehicle for learners to pursue and create relevant information using the opportunities of high-quality materials. Information and Media Literacy also includes a basic understanding of ethical use of information.
Disciplinary Concept 6: Technology Liiteracy
Continually developing and evolving digital competency across a broad spectrum of technologies results in an informed, skilled decision-maker who strategically and ethically uses digital tools to solve problems, discover meaning, analyze and synthesize information, communicate, collaborate, develop identities, think critically, represent ideas, and learn.
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