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

Into the Loop is three year grant (2007-10) supported by the Broadening Participation in Computing (BPC) division of the National Science Foundation (NSF). Its mission is to increase and enhance the computer science learning oppor  ... more

Into the Loop is three year grant (2007-10) supported by the Broadening Participation in Computing (BPC) division of the National Science Foundation (NSF). Its mission is to increase and enhance the computer science learning opportunities in the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) - the second largest and one of the most diverse school districts in the country. Our implementation plan is based on changes being addressed in multiple domain: 1) Curriculum and Teachers 2) Policy Strategy and 3) Research and Dissemination. Our mission is to help deepen the capacity of the LAUSD to offer and support high-quality, college preparatory CS classes, especially in high schools with high numbers of African American and Latino/a students. The mechanisms and beliefs that channel traditionally underrepresented students away from computer science learning opportunities do the very same thing throughout the entire college-preparatory educational system. The end result is that students of color in low resourced schools are commonly denied a wide range of occupational or educational futures. Therefore, in the end, it can be fairly stated that our mission is about equity in computer science education, but also addresses the larger inequities in our current educational system.   less

The problem of broadening participation in computing runs from middle school where students lose interest in STEM, to graduate schools that are predominantly male and white. Research shows that women and minorities avoid computin  ... more

The problem of broadening participation in computing runs from middle school where students lose interest in STEM, to graduate schools that are predominantly male and white. Research shows that women and minorities avoid computing because they perceive it as boring, tedious, and irrelevant. Our goals are to: 1) Increase the percentage of women and minorities in graduate programs. 2) Double the percentage of women and minorities in undergraduate computing courses. 3) Double the number of Georgia high school teachers capable of teaching CS AP. 4) Increase the number of high schools offering CS AP by 50%. 5) Double the percentage of women and minorities taking CS AP.   less

Multi-Tiered Mentoring Model (M3) tests a new model for sustainable computer science education for a larg urban school system's students, who are predominantly minority (98% African American) and underserved (about 30% below the n  ... more

Multi-Tiered Mentoring Model (M3) tests a new model for sustainable computer science education for a larg urban school system's students, who are predominantly minority (98% African American) and underserved (about 30% below the national poverty line). The project targets four different age groups to provide high-level instruction in computational thinking. M3 engages minority students in a culture of computing that includes them in the pipeline to computational-intense careers, which are critical to the economic progress of the US. M3 has six specific aims: 1) Recruit a cadre of minority and women middle and high school students into the computing pipeline by presenting engaging technology experiences with mentors, 2) Expose preservice secondary education students to pedagogical and technical aspects of computing education, through interdisciplinary peer mentorship, 3) Extend the coverage of computational thinking among high school teachers in predominantly minority schools with opportunities to both learn and teach computer science topics, 4) Support undergraduate computer science minority student retention by providing contextualized and meaningful opportunities to create tools for computing eucation under faculty mentorship, 5) Engage K-12 administrators and family members of participants through information awareness sessions that highlight the benefits of careers in computing, and 6) Evaluate the effects of M3 on student self-efficacy, teacher and student aptitude and interest, and historical tracking of career choices among participants.   less

The mission of the STARS (Students & Technology in Academia, Research & Service) Alliance is to increase the participation of women, under-represented minorities, and persons with disabilities in computing disciplines through mult  ... more

The mission of the STARS (Students & Technology in Academia, Research & Service) Alliance is to increase the participation of women, under-represented minorities, and persons with disabilities in computing disciplines through multi-faceted interventions focused on the influx and progression of students from middle school through graduate school in programs that lead to computing careers. The Alliance is organized as a national constellation of regional stars that include research universities, minority and women's universities & colleges, K-12 educators, industry, professional organizations, and community groups. NOTE: This project is an extension of an award from 2005.   less

NSF-funded Alliance and Alliance Extension Projects are broad coalitions of academic institutions of higher learning, secondary (and possibly middle) schools, government, industry, professional societies, and other not-for-profit  ... more

NSF-funded Alliance and Alliance Extension Projects are broad coalitions of academic institutions of higher learning, secondary (and possibly middle) schools, government, industry, professional societies, and other not-for-profit organizations that design and carry out comprehensive programs addressing underrepresentation in the computing disciplines. They have a large regional or national scope. Typically, Alliances operate across multiple stages of the academic pipeline and address multiple targeted groups. Together, Alliance participants (1) develop and implement interventions that support students and early career faculty, (2) create sustainable changes in culture and practices at the institutional, departmental, and organizational levels, (3) serve as models and contribute to repositories for effective practices to broaden participation, and (4) leverage the work of existing BP efforts and other Alliances. Competitive projects will have significant impact both in the quality of opportunities afforded to participants and in the number of participants potentially served. Successful Alliances are eligible to compete for additional funding: an Alliance Extension increases the duration of the Alliance award as well as its scope, introducing additional targeted student groups, partners, and/or projects. The list below in Related Resources provides a list of funded BPC Alliance projects with websites.   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

The Broadening Participation in Computing (BPC) program aims to significantly increase the number of U.S. citizens and permanent residents receiving post secondary degrees in the computing disciplines, with an emphasis on students  ... more

The Broadening Participation in Computing (BPC) program aims to significantly increase the number of U.S. citizens and permanent residents receiving post secondary degrees in the computing disciplines, with an emphasis on students from communities with longstanding underrepresentation in computing: women, persons with disabilities, and minorities. Included minorities are African Americans, Hispanics, American Indians, Alaska Natives, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders. The BPC program seeks to engage the computing community in developing and implementing innovative methods to improve recruitment and retention of these students at the undergraduate and graduate levels. Because the lack of role models in the professoriate can be a barrier to participation, the BPC program also aims to develop effective strategies for encouraging individuals to pursue academic careers in computing and become these role models. There are three components to the BPC program: Alliances. Broad Alliances of institutions and organizations will design and carry out comprehensive programs that address underrepresentation in the computing disciplines. Alliances will join academic institutions of higher learning with secondary (and possibly middle) schools, government, industry, professional societies, and other not-for-profit organizations. In most cases, Alliances will involve multiple academic institutions of higher learning. Together, the participants will (1) develop and implement interventions that support students, (2) create sustainable changes in culture and practices at the institutional, departmental, and organizational levels, and (3) serve as models and repositories for effective practices to broaden participation. The emphasis will be on activities that have significant impact both in the quality of opportunities afforded to students and in the number of students potentially served. While the focus is on implementations, an Alliance may include complementary research that informs the design of its activities. The leveraging of existing efforts both across and within the underrpresented communities is strongly encouraged. Alliance Extensions. Successful BPC Alliances can propose additional funding to significantly expand the impact of their work. The new funding can overlap with the final year of the Alliance project and can extend it for up to two years. Extensions must increase not just the duration of the Alliance award but also its scope, introducing additional targeted student groups, partners, and/or projects. Demonstration Projects. Demonstration Projects (DPs) are smaller in scope and narrower in focus than Alliance projects. Typically DPs will be pilots of innovative programs that, once fully developed, could be incorporated into the activities of an Alliance. Projects might, for example, be proposed by a single institution or might focus on a specific underrepresented community, a specific point in the academic pipeline, or on a specific impediment to full participation in computing. As in the case of Alliances, complementary, well-defined research aimed at informing the development of the project can be included.   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