In general, STEM subjects (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) are competing for enrollment in universities with an ever-increasing range of options, to the detriment of them. The Australian Institute of Mathematical Sciences revealed that basic mathematics was gaining popularity among high school students at the expense of intermediate or advanced studies. This has resulted in fewer universities offering tertiary mathematics courses and consequently a reduction in mathematics graduates. Therefore, educators are continually looking for innovative ways to attract students to college STEM courses.

First, an examination of the causes of low interest in college STEM programs revealed the following: An October 2011 report from Georgetown University’s Center for Education and the Workforce (CEW) reported that American science graduates saw traditional scientific careers as “too socially isolated”. ” In addition, a liberal arts or business education was often seen as more flexible in a rapidly changing job market. High school students had the perception that computer science and information technology careers were outsourced and not an at-level career. They had a belief that the only IT careers available were “back room” jobs such as data entry. The challenge, says Professor Ian Chubb, head of Australia’s Office of the Chief Scientist, in his report Health of Australian Science (May 2012), is to make STEM subjects more attractive to students. As it points out, math and science are studied in high school, but not engineering and technology. Therefore, high school students are not receiving a “taste” for STEM subjects in a practical and applied context.

To deal with this, on an experimental basis, Australia’s secondary schools are running a pilot program in computer science and technology. In the state of Victoria in South Australia, secondary schools will test the country’s first computer science and technology subjects in Year 12, the final year of secondary school. The premise is that the pilot program will give students a taste for the subject, applied to real situations, in order to examine whether it produces greater interest and enrollment in related subjects at the university level. The pilot is seen as a form of early intervention.

Twelve high schools will participate in the pilot program. Therefore, up to 120 secondary school students will undertake the computing program developed by computer science and engineering academics at the University of Melbourne and Monash University in partnership with the Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority of the Victorian Department of Education and Development. Victoria’s Early Childhood. Melbourne and Monash universities are holding workshops for teachers and educators on the pilot, as well as promoting the pilot to parents.

The pilot program is a subject added to the final year curriculum in the twelve public schools in the state of Victoria. The course is a modified version of the two collaborating universities’ first-year computer science curriculum, delivered in two modalities: face-to-face teaching at the twelve selected high schools and through online subjects.

The computer science pilot subject is not teaching students to use technology, because they already know it. The subject aims to extend your thinking to a level of academic rigor equivalent to upper secondary and pre-university standards. Thus, students will be able to create software and focus on specialized skills, such as complex analysis, that are sought after by high-tech employers, thus exploring a multidisciplinary approach to computer science and engineering. An introduction to the skills required at the university level is expected to increase students’ confidence in the applied techniques.

University of Melbourne graduates of computer science and information communication technology (ICT) courses have a 90% employment rate within six months of graduation. The high employment rate is also expected to improve the rate of high school program transitioning to computer science and STEM courses in college.

The United States and the United Kingdom have had computer science programs in their secondary school curricula for twenty years and the subject is taken as part of the International Baccalaureate. However, Australia has lagged behind in introducing computer science and engineering subjects in secondary school. If the pilot proves successful, the subject will be included in the national secondary school curriculum.