Introducing computer science to educationally disadvantaged high school students - the Israeli experience

The social and educational issue of making the discipline of computer science accessible to the public, including high school students who grow up in low socio-economic status families and in rural areas, have been shaping our thinking for over a decade. In the phrase "our thinking" I refer to the Israeli community of computer science (CS) educators, educational researchers and curricular developers in general, and to the "Migvan" R&D team I belong to in particular. In what follows I will shortly describe the current high school CS curriculum in Israel, suggest principles for a course that is intended to introduce basic CS concepts and ideas to educationally disadvantaged high school students, and reflect upon our experience with teachers and students taking that course.