Veronica Cateté

Use and development of entertainment technologies in after school STEM program

This design research paper examines the implementation and curriculum changes of an after school computer science program that promotes computational thinking to middle school students. The program, Students in Programming, Robotics, and Computer Science (SPARCS), can adapt to different presentation environments, such as independent after school sessions or a semester-long apprenticeship program. We trace one implementation of the program through the initial deployment, the development of infrastructure, and a reorganization of content to address student interests. We found that student attrition dropped and the average session enjoyment increased when our sessions integrated consumer technologies such as mobile applications, video games, and the Minecraft computer game. In this paper, we provide readers a framework for running computing outreach activities around similar consumer technologies.

BJC in action: Comparison of student perceptions of a computer science principles course

The Beauty and Joy of Computing (BJC) is a curriculum for the new AP Computer Science Principles course. Over the past 2 years, we have collected post-course surveys from 399 students participating in the BJC course. This paper investigates how the responses of females and students from underrepresented racial minority groups (URMs) differed from those of their counterparts. We found that female students had taken fewer CS courses prior to BJC but that students from URMs had taken more prior CS courses. Both groups were nearly equally likely to recommend the course to a friend, with about 80% recommending. We found no evidence to suggest that female students showed more or less interest in specific CS topics, such as learning how computing has changed the world or making mobile apps/games. Despite having taken more CS courses prior to BJC, we found that students from URMs were overall less likely to intend to take additional CS courses. Overall, our findings are fairly consistent with the literature, and suggest that BJC makes some progress towards broadening participation in computing.

Table tilt: making friends fast

Social capital implies that social networks have value. It is therefore important that when a person is at an academic conference, they must strive to build a strong professional social network for themselves. This can be difficult for many academic conference attendeees. We present Table Tilt, a two-minute ice-breaker game for 2--6 players with iPhones or iPods, that was built to facilitate team building and help individuals build social capital. Table Tilt leverages human sociality and game rules to promote communication and teamwork.

Application of the Delphi Method in Computer Science Principles Rubric Creation

Growing public demand for computer science (CS) education in K-12 schools requires an increase in well-qualified and well-supported computing teachers. To alleviate the lack of K-12 computing teachers, CS education researchers have focused on hosting professional development workshops to prepare in-service teachers from other disciplines to teach introductory level computing courses. In addition to the curriculum knowledge and pedagogical content knowledge taught in the professional development workshops, these new teachers need support in computer science subject matter knowledge throughout the school year. In particular, these new teachers find it difficult to grade programs and labs. This research study uses two variations of the Delphi Method to create learning-oriented rubrics for Computer Science Principles teachers using the Beauty and Joy of Computing curriculum. To perform this study we implemented (1) a heavy-weight, heterogeneous wide-net Delphi, and (2) a lower-weight, homogeneous Delphi composed of master teachers. These methods resulted in the creation of two systematically- and rigorously-created rubrics that produce consistent grading and very similar inter-rater reliabilities.

Infusing computational thinking into middle grade science classrooms: lessons learned

There is a growing need to present all students with an opportunity to learn computer science and computational thinking (CT) skills during their primary and secondary education. Traditionally, these opportunities are available outside of the core curriculum as stand-alone courses often taken by those with preparatory privilege. Researchers have identified the need to integrate CT into core classes to provide equitable access to these critical skills. We have worked in a research-practice partnership with two magnet middle schools focused on digital sciences to develop and implement computational thinking into life sciences classes. In this report, we present initial lessons learned while conducting our design-based implementation research on integrating computational thinking into middle school science classes. These case studies suggest that several factors including teacher engagement, teacher attitudes, student prior experience with CS/CT, and curriculum design can all impact student engagement in integrated science-CT lessons.

Creation and validation of low-stakes rubrics for K-12 computer science

With increased numbers of K-12 computing courses, we also see an increase in teachers new to the subject, making it difficult for them to properly assess student programming assignments. Many of these teachers require project-specific rubrics to help assess student learning. Researchers have attempted to create systematic, validated, and reliable rubrics for these courses with only minor success. In this research, we make an argument for the validity of our low-stakes computing rubrics. In doing so, we establish a validated method for creating a full-suite of project-based rubrics for K-12 computing courses, helping teachers, researchers, and practitioners make much-needed course materials. Evaluating these rubrics, we see grader consistency as well as heatmaps of where teachers are looking for computational thinking concepts in code.

Making games and apps in introductory computer science (abstract only)

The new CS Principles curriculum, a pilot Advanced Placement course, offers novice students an exciting opportunity to learn computing in a hands-on, fun way. High school and college teachers of introductory computer science course are invited to this workshop to learn basic game and mobile phone development. Participants will learn GameMaker, AppInventor, and Touch Develop. These tools allow students to create and have fun with computing while teaching object-oriented and event-driven programming and game architectures. Participants should bring their own laptops (ideally with AppInventor installed). Windows 7 phones will be provided during the workshop. We will provide links to curricular modules for the CS Principles: Beauty and Joy of Computing course.

CS outreach to high school enrollment: bridging the gap

Researchers in CS have heard of disparities between underrepresented groups and the lack of people to ll future jobs. Initiatives focus on strengthening the computing pipeline and getting more students interested. This research goes further by analyzing factors that affect behavioral change and get students to enroll in computing courses. We focus on a middle grades outreach program called SPARCS that has a 84% transfer rate into high school courses. We approach with a lens on identity, social cognitive career theory, and other attitudes and demographics perspectives.

Augmenting introductory computer science classes with GameMaker and mobile apps (abstract only)

Students often take computing classes because they are eager to create games, to learn to create meaningful and useful software, or both. Connecting computing to real, cutting-edge applications has been shown to increase engagement of women and minorities. The new CS Principles curriculum, a pilot Advanced Placement course, seeks to broaden the participation in computing to a larger and more diverse audience. This curriculum emphasizes that computing is a creative activity where people work together to solve relevant problems. In this workshop, we introduce free software and curricula to enable novice high school and college students in a first computing course to learn basic game and mobile phone development. We discuss how these activities facilitate teaching high school and non-major (CS0) course topics, but they can also be used to illustrate more advanced topics. Participants will learn GameMaker and mobile phone programming using AppInventor, and/or Touch Develop. These tools allow students to create and have fun with computing while teaching object-oriented and event-driven programming and game architectures. If possible, Windows 7 phones will be provided for use during the workshop. We will provide links to curricular modules for the CS Principles: Beauty and Joy of Computing course, as well as links to the GameMaker, AppInventor, and Touch Develop platforms and tutorials. Participants must bring a network-connected laptop with a modern browser, and the latest version of Java (ideally with AppInventor installed), and may optionally bring an Android or Windows 7 phone.