K-12 Initiative
We Believe
Computational thinking is a crucial mindset for the age of AI.
Computing education should be taught with rigor and joy.
Teachers need consistent, ongoing support to teach computer science and AI.
We learn from others and share what we learn.
Students and teachers must learn to be ethical, responsible users, creators, and interrogators of tech.
What We Do
CS and AI education planning and implementation with NYCPS districts and schools
We partner with the NYCPS Office of Student Pathways to develop professional learning and resources that support meaningful CS and AI education in K-8 classrooms.
With funding from the office of Assemblymember Clyde Vanel, we are working with District 29 (Queens) to develop a districtwide strategy for CS and AI education in every school, for every student.
We continue to work with our legacy schools: PS/IS 217 (Roosevelt Island), PS 86, PS 32, and PS 89, to provide professional learning and consultation on sustaining and evolving their schoolwide implementation of CS and AI.
Field trips to Cornell Tech
Bring your students (grades 4-12) to Cornell Tech for a free hands-on learning experience! Twice a month, we offer four 1.5 hour workshops (in AI/machine learning, programming with Microbit, design thinking, and cyber safety) differentiated by grade level. Workshops are led by the K-12 Initiative and supported by our graduate student volunteers. If your time permits, we will take your students on a walking tour describing the sustainability features of our state-of-the-art campus.
Please complete this form indicating your workshop choice and the date(s) you prefer. Once submitted, our team will reach out with confirmation or available dates. Your field trip is confirmed when you hear back from us.
We encourage you to extend your visit to Roosevelt Island with a trip to neighboring Four Freedoms Park as well!
Convening the K-12 computing education community
Once a year, Cornell Tech’s K-12 Initiative hosts To Code + Beyond, a conference surfacing important questions facing K-12 computing educators, nonprofit leaders, policymakers, and funders. See videos from our previous conferences here.
We collaborate with NYCPS and our nonprofit partners to provide professional learning opportunities for teachers and administrators. We are an approved provider of CTLE courses in NY State.
Developing resources to support teachers and teaching
Cornell Tech’s K-12 CS Coaching Toolkit supports professionals from a variety of backgrounds who coach computer science educators. The Toolkit includes steps for planning and implementing a schoolwide CS program as well as coaching and pedagogical strategies, many research-validated. We are currently working on an AI CS coaching support tool that will leverage the Toolkit in a bot. Please contact us if you’re interested in piloting this tool.
The K-12 Initiative has been working with teachers and researchers to develop rich, unplugged computational thinking tasks for K-5 students, aligned to literacy and designed to create fluency and understanding of the conceptual building blocks of computing and artificial intelligence. We have a bank of tasks aligned to the widely used Into Reading curriculum, and a series of short, asynchronous online videos to prepare teachers to bring computational thinking to their classrooms.
The Cornell High School Programming Workshop and Contest
Every year, Cornell (Ithaca) and Cornell Tech collaborate on The Cornell High School Programming Contest, a competitive event created for students who can already solve problems writing code. To help prepare students new to competing, we also hold a pre-contest instructional workshop, when our team and Cornell Tech graduate student mentors teach students competition strategies. Registration typically opens in December. Check the website for details.
When we started out, your work was very NYC focused, and still is. But it is also now a national model with national reach, and our other work in other places is informed by this work.”
Middle School Robotics Workshop with Dr. Angelique Taylor’s Grad Students
Who We Are
Sophie Lanchez
Program Coordinator
Spence Ray
Director of the K-12 Equity Lab
Nancy Sohlbreck
Admin. Assistant