Mr. Bousquet receives the 2022 National CS Teaching Excellence Award

Nicholas Bousquet is the Lead Computer Science Teacher at Plainfield High School in Central Village, Connecticut. Nick has been teaching project-based STEM since 1998, computer science since 2010, and data science since 2019. In 2021, Nick founded HourOfData.org to promote accessible data science integration across content areas.

Nick has founded three CSforALL pathways, including one of the first fully accredited CS CTE Pathways in Rhode Island. Then at a Title I district in Connecticut, Nick teamed up with school counselors to grow total CS enrollment fivefold, including a sevenfold increase in female and nonbinary enrollment, and a nearly tenfold increase in BIPOC enrollment. Now at an Alliance district in Connecticut, Nick is teaching five differentiated CS courses, facilitating K-12 CSforALL SCRIPT, leading a Coding Club, and co-advising a GSA Club.

Nick strives to craft authentic, interest-driven, and inquiry-based blended learning activities that prioritize self-expression and personal agency. These immersive projects include: developing mobile apps to meet community needs, digital making with Raspberry Pi, coding pop music with Java, using a Kanban agile framework to analyze DNA, developing Artificial Intelligence algorithms for Mancala Madness Tournaments, and uncovering insights hidden within large datasets, from New York City’s stop-and-frisk policing data to Vermont’s vehicle-wildlife collision data. Nick and his students practice an empathy-centered design methodology that grows their confidence, creativity, and collaboration skills as they celebrate courage, kindness and inclusion. Read more...