The STRONG Computing Pipeline is a partnership between Wayne State University and local community organizations that is creating an integrated program that connects K-12 outreach activities, pre-college bridge programs, and underg  ... more

The STRONG Computing Pipeline is a partnership between Wayne State University and local community organizations that is creating an integrated program that connects K-12 outreach activities, pre-college bridge programs, and undergraduate computing degree programs in Detroit, MI to increase the participation and success of underrepresented students in computer science, particularly African-Americans and women. The pipeline offers a broad spectrum of summer camps, Saturday classes, after school and in-school programs having engaging curricula in Alice, robotics, gaming, and web design. These classes are offered in conjunction with community organizations having experience with the K-12 educational processes and with recruiting minority students, and target students from 2nd grade through high school. In addition, the project offers opportunities for teacher education, in particular in Alice, Robotics, and AP computer science. Parents are also participating, in the form of parent cafes, in which they engage in dialog with computing educators about how to support and encourage their children in the computing disciplines. Finally, the project offers pre-college and first year bridge instruction which remediates academic deficiencies and explicitly prepares disadvantaged students for undergraduate education in the computing disciplines.   less

The SpelBots are a team of female,African American students who conduct robotics research, compete worldwide in robotics and computer science competitions, and conduct K-12 outreach. The long-rage vision of this project is to leve  ... more

The SpelBots are a team of female,African American students who conduct robotics research, compete worldwide in robotics and computer science competitions, and conduct K-12 outreach. The long-rage vision of this project is to leverage the SpelBots activities to provide career role models in cutting-edge computer science and robotics from underrepresented communities. This project will bring attitude-changing computer science and robotics showcase presentations to underrepresented students and their teachers, nd in conjunction with these showcases, promote the formation and mentoring of robotics and computer science clubs among K-12 students using social media as well as local robotics and mobile app workshops. These K-12 students will be invited to join the National SPELBOTS Club for mentoring. Further, we will recruit, mentor and train undergraduate African American women students in computer science and robotics research, outreach, and competition projects. The goals of the SpelBots project are to: 1) investigate the effectiveness of the showcase approach to exposing, exciting, recruiting, and mentoring underrepresented middle and high school students in computing, 2) study the impact of our recruitment and retention activities in computer science among African American women, specifically, and underrepresented students, generally, in order to disseminate best practices, and 3) increase the amount of autonomous humanoid and mobile robotics research performed by African American undergraduate women.   less

Extending Georgia Computes! expands the work done at Georgia Tech under the initial Georgia Computes! grant to several additional activities at Columbus State University. The mission of Georgia Computes! is focues on increasing th  ... more

Extending Georgia Computes! expands the work done at Georgia Tech under the initial Georgia Computes! grant to several additional activities at Columbus State University. The mission of Georgia Computes! is focues on increasing the number and diversity of computing students in the state of Georgia by improving the computing education pipeline across the state of Georgia. Our primary activities include: 1) Attract girls into computig with activities in summer camps and after-school programs through Girls, Inc. and Boys and Girls Clubs, 2) Host a regional First Lego League competition, 3) Offer summer camps to middle school and high school students, 4) Offer in-service workshops for middle and high school teachers, 5) Provide on-line access to Georgia's new computer science teaching endorsement for in-service teachers, and 6) Encourage students in the university's math and science education programs to add a computer science teaching endorsement.   less

The National Science Foundation (NSF) project, Broadening Female Participation in Computer Science, supports programs and interventions at the Colorado School of Mines (CSM) that are designed to encourage young girls and women to  ... more

The National Science Foundation (NSF) project, Broadening Female Participation in Computer Science, supports programs and interventions at the Colorado School of Mines (CSM) that are designed to encourage young girls and women to enter the field of computer science. CSM's approach to outreach in computer science is to provide the opportunity for teachers and students to be immersed in mathematics, science and technology at the elementary, middle school, and high school levels. Through a $2.5 million grant of the Bechtel Foundation, CSM works directly with Colorado's Adams County District 50 (AC50) elementary schools and supports hands-on and technology rich instruction. NSF is supporting our efforts at the middle school level as part of the GK-12 Learning Partnerships grant. The current grant has expanded these efforts to high school and college.   less

The goals of Penn COMP-ACT are: 1) Learning by Teaching: to demonstrate the feasibility of having college students become teachers of computational activities through a CS service-learning course by implementing it as part of the  ... more

The goals of Penn COMP-ACT are: 1) Learning by Teaching: to demonstrate the feasibility of having college students become teachers of computational activities through a CS service-learning course by implementing it as part of the standard academic year program or as part of the summer course, 2) Cascading Mentoring: to broaden participation not only at the college level but to start the process at middle and high schools through the creation of a cascading mentor model that has undergraduates teach and mentor high-school students and then engage these high school students to mentor middle school students, and 3) Model Course: to generate sample course activities and approaches for a service-learning course that could be adopted by other colleges and universities.   less

When it comes to computer programming, blind and visually impaired individuals are at a significant disadvantage compared to their sighted counterparts. Computer programming is a highly visual task, and the modern programming tool  ... more

When it comes to computer programming, blind and visually impaired individuals are at a significant disadvantage compared to their sighted counterparts. Computer programming is a highly visual task, and the modern programming tools that blind users must use are designed almost exclusively for sighted users. Moreover, computing curricula at schools for the blind are nearly non-existent; those rare blind individuals who are able to enter the computing profession are largely self-taught. That the blind are significantly underrepresented in the computing profession is an unfortunate state of affairs, as computer programming offers the blind population both a rich world to explore - one that is potentially accessible through carefully designed auditory cues - and a lucrative career path. We are developing and empirically evaluation a new educational infrastructure inteded to address the challenge of significantly increasing the participation of blind individuals in undergraduate computing programs, and ultimately in the software engineering profession. The educational infrastructure, in collaboration with five K-12 schools for the blind and a mentorship board of successful blind programmers, consists of three key components: 1) a novel open-source auditory programming environment called Sodbeans and a new programming language called Hop, tailored to the special needs of the blind, 2) a novel studio-based computing curriculum that engages students in the construction, customization, and sharing of speech-based virtual worlds in order both to teach computer programming skills and inspire students to consider computing as a career, and 3) a blind-accessible web-based community portal designed to facilitate peer mentoring and support, and to provide opportunities for students to interact with role models who have overcome their visual impairment and succeeded in the computing profession.   less

Two frameworks that use culturally responsive approaches for teaching math - AADMLSS City Stroll (African American Distributed Multiple Learning Styles System) and CSDT (Culturally Situated Design Tools) - have been developed for  ... more

Two frameworks that use culturally responsive approaches for teaching math - AADMLSS City Stroll (African American Distributed Multiple Learning Styles System) and CSDT (Culturally Situated Design Tools) - have been developed for math education and are currently being expanded to computing education. This demonstration project is being used to test the following four hypotheses: 1) the use of cultural tools will result in a statistically significant increase in the interest in math and computing subjects, as assessed through pre-test/post-test comparisons, 2) the use of cultural tools will result in a statistically significant increase in the engagement of students to use web-based tools for supplemental learning as assessed through pre-test/post-test comparisons, 3) the use of the cultural tools will result in a statistically significant increase in positive attitudes towards computing careers as measured by pre-post comparisons, and 4) the use of the cultural tools will result in a statistically significant increase in positive achievement in math and computing subjects as measured by pre/post comparisons and grades in the appropriate subjects. The target student group consists of 4th through 7th grade students.   less

Demonstration Projects (DPs) are focused initiatives in broading participation in computing. Typical DPs pilot innovative programs that, once fully developed, could be incorporated into the activities of an Alliance or otherwise s  ... more

Demonstration Projects (DPs) are focused initiatives in broading participation in computing. Typical DPs pilot innovative programs that, once fully developed, could be incorporated into the activities of an Alliance or otherwise scaled for widespread impact. Projects might, for example, be proposed by a single institution or might focus on a single underrepresented community, a single point in the academic pipeline, or a single impediment to full participation in computing.   less

The Computer Science Collaboration Project aims to efficiently increase participation of underrepresented groups in computer science opportunities and activities by effectively building collaborations between K-12 education, commu  ... more

The Computer Science Collaboration Project aims to efficiently increase participation of underrepresented groups in computer science opportunities and activities by effectively building collaborations between K-12 education, community-based organizations, higher education and industry. Project activities include in-person and online collaboration opportunities, mini-grants as an incentive for collaborative projects, and dissemination of exemplary practices via a Web site, webcasts, and in professional development events.   less

Despite the essential role that computer science plays as a driving force of innovation, computer science education in K-12 is still languishing in an educational backwater. The lack of broadly-implemented curriculum standards, ap  ... more

Despite the essential role that computer science plays as a driving force of innovation, computer science education in K-12 is still languishing in an educational backwater. The lack of broadly-implemented curriculum standards, appropriate and consistently applied teacher certification requirements, ongoing professional development focusing on both technical and pedagogical content, and access to grade-leel appropriate teaching and learning resources has left teacher ill-equiped to meet increasing demands for qualifications, curricula, and resources and unable to access the professional development critical to a continually evolving body of knowledge. CSTA is a membership association of more than 8000 educators dedicated to improving and supporting computer science education in K-12 by achieving the following core objectives: 1) Communications, 2) Standards, 3) Professional Development, 4) Research, 5) Opportunities, and 6) CSTA builds partnerships across all education levels and stakeholder groups to leverage best practices and share resources.   less