Sarah Hug

Learning to love computer science: peer leaders gain teaching skill, communicative ability and content knowledge in the CS classroom

This paper describes the benefits of Peer-Led Team Learning (PLTL), an NSF-sponsored program in the sciences, to peer leaders serving in the Computing Alliance for Hispanic Serving Institutions (CAHSI). Beyond the benefits to students enrolled in the PLTL courses, survey findings show the majority of peer leaders report increased self-efficacy in teaching computer science, improved content knowledge, and better communication and leadership skills following a semester of leading PLTL. Results from this diverse group of leaders indicate no differences in gains between underrepresented minority and majority students, suggesting the program may provide a path for improving retention of underrepresented groups in the field.

The Computing Alliance of Hispanic-Serving Institutions: Supporting Hispanics at Critical Transition Points

Hispanics have the highest growth rates among all groups in the U.S., yet they remain considerably underrepresented in computing careers and in the numbers who obtain advanced degrees. Hispanics constituted about 7% of undergraduate computer science and computer engineering graduates and 1% of doctoral graduates in 2007--2008. The small number of Hispanic faculty, combined with the lack of Hispanic role models and mentors, perpetuates a troublesome cycle of underrepresentation in STEM fields. In 2004, seven Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs) formed the Computing Alliance of Hispanic-Serving Institutions (CAHSI) to consolidate their strengths, resources, and concerns with the aim of increasing the number of Hispanics who pursue and complete baccalaureate and advanced degrees in computing areas. To address barriers that hinder students from advancing, CAHSI defined a number of initiatives, based on programs that produced promising results at one or more institutions. These included the following: a CS-0 course that focuses on adoption of a three-unit pre-CS course that uses graphics and animation to engage and prepare students who have no prior experience in computing; a peer mentoring strategy that provides an active, collaborative learning experience for students while creating leadership roles for undergraduates; an undergraduate and graduate student research model that emphasizes the deliberate and intentional development of technical, team, and professional skills and knowledge required for research and cooperative work; and a mentoring framework for engaging undergraduates in experiences and activities that prepare them for graduate studies and onto the professoriate. CAHSI plays a critical role in evaluating, documenting, and disseminating effective practices that achieve its mission. This paper provides an overview of CAHSI initiatives and describes how each addresses causes of underrepresentation of Hispanics in computing. In addition, it describes the evaluation and assessment of the initiatives and presents the results that support CAHSI’s claim of their effectiveness.

Cultivating a K12 computer science community: a case study

In this paper, we use a sociocultural lens to provide an in-depth case study of a computer science program at a high school serving traditionally underserved youth. The study illuminates the contextual factors that supported dramatic programmatic growth, including the policy, curriculum, pedagogy, community, and school factors leading to student recruitment and retention in computer science. By focusing on computer science classroom practices and beyond, the study sheds light on the role multiple stakeholders can take in supporting computer science education in a K12 setting, and suggests strategies for program development in other K12 computer science settings.

DISSECT: An experiment in infusing computational thinking in K-12 science curricula

This paper summarizes the design and preliminary outcomes from the deployment of the DISSECT (Discovering SciencE through Computational Thinking) project. The project has two primary objectives. On one hand, it aims to revitalize the teaching of traditional K-12 science concepts through the introduction of tools and concepts drawn from the field of computing, enabling the use of interactive and constructive methods to exemplify and explore scientific materials. On the other hand, the project explores how the teaching of sciences could become a vehicle to engage students in the learning of computational thinking, stimulating their interest towards this discipline and providing them with a baseline preparation to facilitate access and success in more formal computer science courses.

Work in progress - CS0 course implementation in Computer Science

The Computing Alliance of Hispanic Serving Institutions (http://cahsi.fiu.edu), a consortium of 7 institutions focused on the recruitment, retention, and advancement of Hispanics in computing, is implementing and promoting the development of recruitment mechanisms to attract other majors to the field of computer science. CS has lost roughly 50% of its majors in the last 5 years. The member institutions have introduced a 3-credit hour course called CS0 that is intended to motivate students, especially those who have a weak background in computing, to continue studies in computing and to prepare students for success in the first CS course. There are two models that are being implemented: one using Alice software and another using Python. CAHSI is creating a repository for support materials for dissemination of each of the implementations and collecting data to determine the success of the approaches. This paper discusses the structure, materials, and implementations, and presents preliminary results.

Expanding our understanding of backbone organizations in collective impact initiatives

Abstract This article explores the question of what mechanisms a backbone organization uses in a collective impact initiative to help diverse participants make organizational and social change. Qualitative data gathered from interviews with and observations of the participant organizations illustrate the ways that the backbone organization facilitated movement toward a common goal, making change. In this initiative, the participants were responsible for making their own organizational changes, which in turn, help to change the larger inequitable ecosystem. Data revealed five key mechanisms the backbone organization used to facilitate change-making among participating organizations: regular convenings, accountability, national visibility, top-level leader involvement, and coaching. These mechanisms helped participant organizations integrate new knowledge and implement multi-pronged, customized strategies to navigate systemic change together. Finally, four suggestions for intentional backbone facilitation are proposed to help strengthen collective impact initiatives.

Case Studies of Use: Creating Counselor Champions for Change in K12 Computing Education (Abstract Only)

Counselors for Computing leverages the National Center for Women & Information Technology (NCWIT)s organizational membership, applies evidence-based approaches for professional development, and monitors and adjusts practices to make inroads into CS education through K12 counselor engagement. This engagement is needed to assure more girls and other underrepresented people are prepared for careers in computing. Colleges and universities, businesses, youth-serving organizations, computer science educators, professional counselor associations and others work to bring C4C to places where reform is underway (e.g., CS Principles, CS10K, Exploring Computer Science initiatives). These new education and teaching initiatives have implications for K12 student computer science guidance, and C4C materials can provide the knowledge necessary to promote counselor and educator engagement with computing. In this poster presentation, the authors: a) illustrate how computer science educators have partnered with NCWIT and incorporated counselor education into multiple elements of their own work, b) direct K12 computer science educators and stakeholders to free resources developed for C4C, c) provide initial evidence of the programs effectiveness, and d) develop future partnerships with poster viewers at SIGCSE 2015 to educate K12 counselors about the opportunities available for their students in the computing fields.

Learning to learn: Creating engineering classrooms for deep understanding

Metacognition involves an ability to reflect upon a learning episode, understand what strategies provoked learning, and gauge ones current level of understanding. This paper details preliminary evidence regarding the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) Metacognitive Learners course, a pre-engineering course structured to develop metacognitive strategies and habits through scaffolded collaborative group work, small and large group discussions about learning, and guided writing exercises designed to support learner reflection. Course curriculum addressed metacognition and metacognitive skill development in three explicit ways: a) team problem solving, b) student goal setting, and c) reflective writing about group process, project progress, and individual learning. Following this course, student survey data across all 4 sections suggests initial success in creating a learning environment that supports developing metacognition - students considered how they learned best, described their knowledge to others, and were asked to check their own understanding and progress throughout the course via dialogue and reflective writing.

DISSECT: integrating computational thinking in the traditional K-12 curricula through collaborative teaching (abstract only)

The goal of the DISSECT program is to integrate computational thinking lessons into general education K-12 classrooms via graduate student/teacher partnerships. The idea of combining the teaching of CT with other disciplines is not new and it has taken shape in a variety of recent efforts in the formal education of youth. What is promising and innovative is the approach as it is implemented in K12 DISSECT classrooms. Through a collaborative teaching partnership, teachers gain a new perspective regarding computer science, and in cooperation with graduate students well-versed in computer science concepts, develop lessons and course modules that serve two purposes: 1.) Address K-12 content standards in core disciplines (e.g., language arts, life science) and 2.) Introduce CT concepts, such as abstraction, algorithms, data analysis and modeling. This poster describes ways computational thinking (CT) is taught in general K-12 classrooms in New Mexico through cooperative teaching. Along with their potential to stimulate interest in computing, these pilot modules were viewed by K12 teachers as enhancing disciplinary course content that teachers are charged with teaching (e.g., middle school science, language arts), deemed vital for sustainability in K12 schools by participating teachers. Preliminary data indicate graduate student and teacher satisfaction with cooperative teaching of CT. Next steps for research will involve student level data collection and analysis.

Developing Technology Fluency in Community Practice: Exploration of the “Paintbrush” Metaphor

In this qualitative study of a girls only technology program, the authors argue that an emphasis of self-expression through the use of technology limited middle school girls’ developing technological fluency. The authors show how the metaphor of “technology as a paintbrush” was evident in (1) the organization of the physical environment of the program, (2) its curriculum, and (3) the interactions between the facilitators and the girls during the program. The authors conclude that educators need to analyze critically how the “technology as a paintbrush” metaphor is enacted in the context of facilitating girls’ identity development as technologists.