Computer science education steadily growing in Alberta high schools, study finds

More and more Alberta high school students have been taking computer science courses, according to a recent study by researchers at the University of Alberta.

Researchers examined the records of more than 36,000 high school students who took computer science courses between 2009 and 2019.

The researchers, whose findings were published this fall in the peer-reviewed Alberta Journal of Educational Research, found the subject area had an annual average growth rate of more than 30 per cent.

"There was a really substantial growth rate and it's been pretty consistent over the last 10 to 12 years, but that growth rate was not necessarily consistent within different groups," said Quinn McCashin, the paper's lead author and a PhD candidate in education at the U of A.

McCashin said several factors have likely contributed to the subject's growth over the years, including a 2009 Alberta curriculum redesign, more education students specializing in computer science, and more universities accepting computer science as a science option for entrance requirements.

David Hay teaches computer science at Bev Facey high school in Sherwood Park, Alta. (Madeleine Cummings/CBC)

The study found computer science education has been growing at similar rates for male and female students, but classes continue to be dominated by male students.

Just under 14 per cent of computer science course completions between 2009 and 2019 were by female students.

Data for non-binary students wasn't available for the whole study period so was not included in the analysis.

The research also revealed that the subject area has been growing faster in cities than in rural Alberta.

David Hay, who teaches computer science, robotics, information technology, design studies and math at Bev Facey Community High School in Sherwood Park, said some rural schools might lack the enrolment to support a computer science teacher.

Bev Facey Grade 10 student Platinum Anyanwu has been learning coding skills. (Madeleine Cummings/CBC)

"Even for a couple periods a day, there's often not enough either interest or not enough ability levels, or just too many other things for the Grade 12 students," he said.

Hay said he has definitely noticed an increase in interest in computer science since he started teaching the subject in 2007.

"Kids still want to be video game designers when they grow up, but they're realizing computing science touches all sorts of areas that every industry needs," he said.

Grade 10 student Nathan Benjafield works on a game development project. (Madeleine Cummings/CBC)

Even as artificial intelligence threatens to replace some programming tasks, he said, there's still a lot of employer demand for computational thinking and design skills.

"I think this is one of the most important disciplines that there is," he said.

Grade 10 Bev Facey student Nathan Benjafield said he signed up for computer science because he thought it would be a good idea to know how computers, programming and technology work.

"With the new iPhones, laptops and computers, a lot more students and kids are getting into technology at earlier ages," he said.

Platinum Anyanwu, another Grade 10 student at Bev Facey, said he has always been interested in video games and felt he should learn computing skills that could be useful in a future job.

Anyanwu said he has enjoyed learning how to set up a computer and learn how to code using the Java programming language.

"When you see the final result, you look at all the efforts you've done to come to this point and it's really satisfying."