A cross-section of fifteen mathematics and computer science teachers 
from Nebraska high schools and community colleges assembled with UNL
computer science chief undergraduate advisor Charles Riedesel this
summer for a week-long workshop.  For some of the participants, this
was the third summer in a row to examine issues in computer science
education.  The theme this year was "Public-Domain Languages for
Teaching Computer Science in the High School."

The week was spent in discussions, presentations, guided laboratories,
and open laboratories.  The opening thesis was that the languages
commonly being taught (primarilly Visual Basic, C++, and Java) may
not be the best languages to use for teaching mathematics and computer
science topics.  This is in addition to their constant updates, cost,
and intensive teacher preparation.  

The languages that were studied during the week included Forth, Lisp
and a dialect Scheme, Prolog, and ML.  BlueJ, a student oriented IDE
for Java was also included.  Only small parts of the languages were 
covered: the stack manipulation of Forth, the functional nature and
list structure of Lisp, the declarative logic (rather than imperative)
nature of Prolog, and the powerful data typing capability of ML.

The participants were given tutorials, web addresses for free access
to everything discussed, summary sheets, ideas for incorporating the
material into their courses, and time in the laboratory to practice.
With this material it is expected that anything from small modules for
standard mathematics and computer science courses up to full course
curricula can be developed for their schools.

The Computer Science & Engineering Department at UNL has started to see
some incoming students who have benefitted from past workshops of the
series that their teachers attended.  It is hoped that this is the start 
of an innovative trend that reaches beyond the typical AP Computer 
Science curriculum.  Plans will soon be made for next summer's workshop.

Funding has been provided by Nebraska Math & Science Initiative.  There
is some prospect that this program will be able to expand NSF funds.
If this can be obtained, watch for more year-round opportunities,
a more responsive resource center, and closer coordination with the
state's teachers colleges.