project description booklet

2016 CISE / EHR Principal Investigator & Community Meeting for CS in STEM

February 1-2, 2016National Harbor, Maryland

Project Description Booklet

Table of Contents

Award # Title Lead PI(s) Page1138378 CSLearning 4U: Using Instructional Design Techniques to Create

Distance CS Education to Suppport In-Service TeachersM. Guzdial 20

1227689 Exploring Social Programming Environments in Early Computing Courses

C. Hundhausen O. Adesope

22

1240768 Computing Beyond the Double Bind: Women of Color in Computing Education and Careers

A. Hodari 23

1240786 Gidget: Computing Education through Collaborative Debugging A. Ko M. Burnett

24

1240809 Inclusive Exploring CS Curriculum Enhancement as Face-to-Face and Online Support for Visually Impaired, High School Students

S. Ludi D. Bernstein.K. Mutch-Jones

25

1240939 MyCS - Middle-years Computer Science Z. Dodds 261240964 CS Unplugged: Encourage Computing without Computers C. Rader

W. Dubow27

1240985 DEPICT: Developing Elementary (Learning) Progressions to Integrate Compuational into K-6 Education

D. Franklin 28

1339085 Building a Theory of Badges for Computer Science Education C. Schunn R. Shoop

30

1339181 Building the Capacity of Afterschool Computer Science Educators M. Bienkowski J. Remold

31

1339200 Factors Influencing College Success in Information Technology FICIST P. Sadler 321339244 Building Computational Thinkers in Informal Exhibit Experiences C. Cahill 331339335 The Computer Science and Engineering Early Research Scholars Program C. Alvarado 341339344 openHTML: Scaffolding Web Development to Support Elementary

Computational LiteracyA. Forte 35

1339404 Import PCK: What 10K Novice Teachers Can Learn from with 10K Hours of Experience (CSTeachingTips)

C. Lewis 36

1339424 The Development, Implementation, and Evaluation of an AP Computer Science Preparatory Sequence for Underrepresented High School Students with the SMASH Academy

A. Scott 37

Award # Title Lead PI(s) Page1042260 AccessComputing R. Ladner 21042341 CAHSI -- Computing Alliance of Hispanic-Serving Institutions A. Gates 41042468 STARS J. Payton 61203206 NCWIT -- National center for Women and Information Technology L. Sanders 91228352 ECEP -- Expanding Computing Education Pathways M. Guzdial

R. Adrion10

1241284 Into the Loop J. Margolis 121246649 Sustainable Diversity in the Computing Research Pipeline (CRA-W/CDC) T. Camp 141303156 iAAMCS -- Institute for African-American Mentoring in Computer

SciencesJ. Gilbert 16

Broadening Participation in Computing Alliances (BPC-A)

Computing Education for the 21st Century (CE21)Research on Broadening Participation in Computer Science Education

Table of Contents

Award # Title Lead PI(s) Page1138512 Computing Principles for All Students' Success (ComPASS) D. Baxter 461240822 The Partnership for Early Engagement in Computer Science High School

(PEECS-HS) Program: Exposing Students to Computer Science in Washington, DC Public Schools

L. Burge 47

1240841 Mobile CSP Using Moble Learning to Teach CS Principles in Connecticut Schools

R. Morelli 48

1240944 CS4Alabama: A Model for Statewide Deployment of CS Principles Courses J. Gray 501240977 ECS Utah: The Utah Exploring Computer Science Initiative H. Hu 511240992 New Mexico Computer Science for All M. Moses 521339265 CS Matters in Maryland: A Structured CS Principles Approach to

Professional Development for Maryland High School teachersM. desJardins J. Plane

53

1339270 Computing in Secondary Schools N. Sridhar E. Simon

54

1339356 Illinois State University Initiates Teacher Education in Computer Science A. Gokhale 551339392 PUMP-CS: Preparing the Upper Midwest for Principles of Computer

ScienceD. Brylow T. Gendreau

56

1339403 IDoCode: A Sustainable Model for Computer Science in Idaho High Schools

A. Jain 57

1440843 AccessCS10K: Including Students with Disabilities in Computing Education for the Twenty-First Century

R. Ladner 58

1441045 Infusing Cooperative Learning into CS Principles O. Astrachan J. Gray

59

1441068 Computer Science: Creating a Village for Educators (CS:CaVE) D. Baxter 601441075 Bringing a Rigorous Computer Science Curriculum to the Largest School

System in the U.S.P. Goldenberg 61

1502462 Assessing Just-in-Time Professional Development for Computer Science Teachers

A. Yadav 62

1543014 Leveraging the National Uteach Network to Strengthen and Expand Computer Science Principles Education

C. Lin 63

1433065 CS 10K Community of Practice M. Rasberry 64

Award # Title Lead PI(s) Page1433065 Computer Science in Secondary Schools: Studying Context, Enactment,

and ImpactE. Snow M. Bienkowski

38

1440911 YO-GUTC: Young Women Growing Up Thinking Computationally E. Pontelli 391440996 Creating Personalized Learning Pathways by Managing Cognitive Load C. Kelleher 401441041 Computational Thinking in STEM: A Whole-School Model for Broadening

Participation and Education in ComputingK. Orton 41

1441057 Broadening Participation in Computing through a Community Approach to Learning

N. Pinkard 42

1441071 Learning From Young Women Who Participate in Computing: Longitudinal Research on NCWIT's Aspirations in Computing Program

W. Dubow 43

Research on Broadening Participation in Computer Science Education (Cont’d)

Computing Education for the 21st Century (CE21)Computer Science 10K (CS10K)

Table of Contents

Award # Title Lead PI(s) Page0922662 Partnership to Improve Student Achievement in Physical Science:

Integrating STEM ApproachesK. Sheppard 66

0962840 Science Learning through Engineering Design (SLED) Partnership J. Lehman 670962919 MOBILIZE: Mobilizing for Innovative Computer Science Teaching and

LearningR. Gould 68

1102729 MSPinNYC2--A New Partnership to Transform Urban secondary School Mathematics and Science Experiences

P. Mills 69

1102990 CEEMS: The Cincinati Engineering Enhanced Mathematics and Science Program

A. Kukreti 70

1238253 A Research+Practice Collaboratory B. Bevan 711240555 MSPnet.og: An Online Professional Learning Network J. Falk B.

Drayton72

1321227 Creative Robotics: An Inclusive Program for Fostering Diverse STEM Talent in Middle School

I. Nourbakhsh 73

1543258 Quality Understanding and Engagement for Students and Teachers on Computational Thinking

Y. Ouyang 74

Award # Title Lead PI(s) Page1042210 Integrating Computer Science and Algebra in Middle and High School E. Schanzer 761440821 FACTS: Foundations of Achievement through Computational Thinking

SkillsL. Milenkovic 77

1542801 Integration of Computing with Electronic Textiles to Improve Teaching and Learning of Electronics in Secondary Science

C. Tofel-Grehl 78

1542828 Learning Trajectories for Integrating K-5 Computer Science and Mathematics

A. Isaacs 79

1542842 Elementary STEM Curriculum L. Milenkovic 801542954 Research on the Development of Computational and Systems Thinking in

Middle School Students through Explorations of Complex Earth SystemsG. Puttick 81

1542965 Scaling K-12 Computer Science in Large Urban Districts: A Leadership Conference

M. Lach 82

1542982 Development of Computing-Based Science Investigations for Middle and High School Students

V. Fay-Wolfe 83

1543022 Integrating Computational Thinking into the Core Curriculum D. Tatar 841543061 Research on Practice Using STEM Inquiry Embedded with Computational

Thinking in Elementary SchoolA. Elby 85

1543062 Thinking Outside the Box: integrating Dynamic Mathematics to Advance Computational Thinking for Diverse Student Populations

S. Grover 86

1543124 Development of Asessment Protocols for Assessing Compuational Thinking in Physics and Engineering Making Activities

R. Hadad 87

1543136 Broadening Participation of Elementary School Teachers and Students in Computer Science through STEM Integration and Statewide Collaboration

J. Maylin-Smith

88

Mathematics and Science Partnership

STEM + CIntegration of Computing in STEM Education

Table of Contents

Award # STEM + C Track 2 Lead PI(s) Page1339256 BASICS: Barriers & Supports to Implementing Computer Science S. Wille 981433832 LEAD Computer Science J. Century 991542737 Prioritizing & Expanding Access to Computer Science Instruction in High-

needs High SchoolsJ. Wilson 100

1542963 The Hidden Underrepresented Group: Bringing AP Computer Science Principles to Students with Learning Differnece

S. Wille 101

1542970 Toward Using Virtual Identities in Computer Science Learning for Broadening Participation

F. Harrell 102

1543001 The Digital NEST: Building Pathways to Computing Education and Careers for Latino/a Youth

J. Denner 103

1543156 Expanding Computer Science Curriculum, Diversity, and Teacher Preparedness in Montana High Schools

Y. Reimer 104

1543195 Training Arkansas Computing Teachers (TACT) D. Thompson 1051543217 What Features of the Exploring computer Science Course Equitably Inspire

Students to Pursue Further Computer Science Coursework?S. McGee 106

1543231 C-START: Colorado - Strategic Approach to Rally Teachers T. Camp 107

Award # Title Lead PI(s) Page1543139 Assessing the Impact of Computer Modeling and Programing in Secondary

AlgebraA. Perez 89

1543144 Computational Thinking in the Ecosystems (CT-E), A Program-to-Play Approach to Infusing Computational Thinking into Environmental Science Learning

S. Uzzo 90

1543175 Integrated STEM and Computing Learning in Formal and Informal Settings for Kindergarten to Grade 2

M. Cardella 91

1543204 The Evaluation of a Model Spatial Thinking Curriculum for Building Computational Skills in Elementary Grades K-5

S. Moore 92

1543209 SciGirls Code: A National Connected Learning Model to Integrate Computing in STEM Learning with Middle School Girls

J. Freese 93

1543228 Research on Effects of Integrating Computational Science and Model Building in Water Systems Teaching and Learning

J. Moore 94

1543255 Research and Design of a Curriculum Authoring System for Computational Project-Based Learning Units in Education

P. Bell 95

1547051 Expanding the Reach of AP CSP Curricula A. Isaacs 96

Integration of Computing in STEM Education (Cont’d)

STEM + CComputing Education Knowledge and Capacity Building


Broadening Participation in Computer Science Education


2 Project Description Booklet, February 2016

www.uw.edu/[email protected]

Principal Investigator: Richard Ladner Co-Principal Investigator: Sheryl Burgstahler

Co-Principal Investigator: Andrew KoCo-Principal Investigator: Jacob O. Wobbrock

AccessComputing collaborators apply evidence-based practices to• Increase the number and success of students with disabilities pursuing undergraduate and

graduate degrees and careers in computing fields.• Increase the capacity of postsecondary computing departments and other organizations to

fully include students with disabilities in computing courses and programs.• Create a nationwide resource to help students with disabilities pursue computing fields

and assist computing educators and employers, professional organizations, and other stakeholders develop more inclusive programs and share effective practices nationwide.

AccessComputing Achievements• Developing capacity building institutes,

which bring together people from a variety of stakeholder groups to explore problems and solutions regarding the success of students with disabilities in college and careers.

• Engaging members in Communities of Practice, which promote stimulating discussion and actionable change among stakeholder groups.

• Supporting paid work-based and research internships and other work-based experiences for students with disabilities nationwide.

• Engaging more than thirty institutional and organizational partners who share the goals of AccessComputing.

• Curating an AccessComputing Knowledge Base that allows users to search frequently asked questions, case studies, and promising practices regarding the pursuit of computing careers by people with disabilities.

• Supporting enrichment programs for students with disabilities through the minigrant program.

• Creating replication packages for educators and professionals to replicate successful AccessComputing outreach activities.

the Alliance for Access to Computing Careers

Online Resources• Searchable Knowledge Base of questions

and answers, case studies, and promising practices

• Guidelines for making computing instruction and departmental services welcoming and accessible to students with disabilities

• Proceedings of capacity building institutes exploring issues related to students with disabilities and computing fields

• Videos about accessibility and individuals with disabilities pursuing computing careers

The AccessComputing website offers easy access to all of our programs and resources.

February 2016, Project Description Booklet 3

AccessComputing Partners and FundingAccessComputing is led by the Department of Computer Science and Engineering, DO-IT (Disabilities, Opportunities, Internetworking, and Technology), and the Information School at the University of Washington. Project partners include 26 institutional partners and 11 organizational partners, including other Broadening Participation Alliances and professional organizations. Project collaborators include 160 professional organizations, K-12 schools/districts, postsecondary institutions, and industry/research organizations. It is funded by the National Science Foundation as part of the Broadening Participation in Computing Alliance (BPC-A) program of the Directorate for Computer and Information Sciences and Engineering (CISE) (Grant #CNS-1042260 and #CNS-1539179). Significant supplementary funding for AccessComputing is provided by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and Johnson Scholarship Foundation.

For Students with Disabilities• AccessComputing Team—for high school,

college, and graduate students with disabilities who would like to engage in conversations with each other and mentors and learn about computing internships.

• Choose Computing—students with disabilities can learn more about computing careers options through profiles of successful computing students and professionals with disabilities.

For Faculty, Staff, and Employers• AccessComputing Communities of Practice—

join discussions on how to promote the increased participation of people with disabilities in computing careers.

• AccessComputing Minigrants—funds to promote computing careers for students with disabilities.

• Capacity-Building Institiutes and Training—events and programs to increase the capacity of computing departments to welcome and support students with disabilities.

• Accessibility in the Curriculum—computing curriculum related to accessibility, disability, and universal design to better prepare the next generation.

• Industry Affiliates—working together to better recruit and retain computing professionals with disabilities.

PI Richard Ladner works with a student on a computing project.

AccessComputing students collaborate.


Jamie Payton Principal Investigator Dept. of Computer Science University of North Carolina at Charlotte [email protected]

Tiffany Barnes Co-‐Principal Investigator Dept. of Computer Science North Carolina State University [email protected]

Heather Lipford Co-‐Principal Investigator Dept. of Software & Information Systems University of North Carolina at Charlotte [email protected]

The STARS Computing Corps is a Broadening Participation in Computing alliance with the mission to grow a diverse 21st century computing workforce. STARS serves as a framework for integrating civic engagement into college computing departments with the goals of broadening participation of underrepresented groups in computing, recruiting K-‐12 students into the computing pipeline, and retaining students in computing majors. The STARS approach to broadening the participation of women and under-‐represented minorities in computing is based on research that has shown the value of creating a community and sense of identity. However, the representation of some demographic populations is so small within an institution that it is difficult to foster communities of “like” students. The Corps creates such a community across multiple institutions, including women’s and historically black colleges and universities. Each regional community is led by a STARS member university that collaborates with local K-‐12 schools and industry partners to conduct outreach, such as developing an IT patch for Girl Scouts, teaching robotics or web design in after school programs in low-‐income communities, and leading summer camp computing programs on university campuses. The diverse group of STARS Computing Corps students provides an opportunity for K-‐12 students from underrepresented groups in computing to interact with potential role models and to see the opportunities for being a part of a supportive computing community.

STARS students host events at the annual Julia Robinson Math & Science Festival for area high school women in Charlotte, NC

STARS Computing Corps:

A National Community for Broadening Participation through Civic Engagement

STARS COMPUTING CORPS IMPACT • Fostering national community for broadening participation

o 2,500+ students, 80+ faculty members, 50+ colleges and universities, 250+ partners o 46% of members are women and 39% are underrepresented minorities

• Increasing interest and preparation for computing study o 86% of STARS students say that participation increased interest in grad school o 93% of STARS students say that participation increased their computing skills

• Reaching over 116,000 in student-led computing outreach in local communities


Since 2006, 53 colleges and universities have implemented the STARS Computing Corps, over half of which have permanently instituted Corps practices. Corps institutions have conducted computer science outreach programs in elementary, middle and high schools reaching over 116,000. In 2015, we hosted the 10th Annual STARS Celebration, a student leadership and community building conference; over the past decade, the conferences has served as a venue to host over 2,500 college students, faculty, and partners as they build capacity for BPC. STARS participants saw increases in undergraduate and graduate student enrollments in advance of the national trends. College students in the STARS Computing Corps have shown significant positive gains in GPA, computing identity, self-‐efficacy, commitment to computing, and awareness of computing social relevance. The STARS Computing Corps continues to expand as a vibrant community of practice with an active online community, casting a wide net of resource dissemination through a digital library with more than 100 quality resources for catalyzing and supporting Corps practices.

We invite those interested in broadening participation in computing to attend the 11th Annual STARS Celebration (www.starscelebration.org), which will be held August 11-‐13, 2016 in Atlanta, GA. Our annual conference is attended by ~250 faculty and students from across the country, and features sessions on developing leadership skills, technical skills, and preparing for graduate study or career advancement. Students and faculty also present the results of their outreach projects, attend workshops on best practices and curriculum for K-‐12 computing outreach, and build community centered around common interests in civic engagement and broadening participation in computing. We also invite submissions to the 2nd Annual Conference on Research in Equity and Sustained Participation in Engineering, Computing, and Technology (RESPECT), a publication venue for research on broadening participation in computing sponsored by the IEEE Special Technical Committee on Broadening Participation in Computing (IEEE STCBP). For details, see http://stcbp.org/.

Capacity Building:

10 Celebrations with 2,500+ students, faculty & partners

250+ community and industry partners

100+ journals & conference papers; 200+ media products

National Resource: STARS Online

100+ resources, guides, outreach materials including Evaluation Assistant Toolkit, Program Evaluation Tools,

Computing Corps 'How Tos'

Get Connected: starscomputingcorps.org Download tools, resources, and engage with the Corps

community and partners

STARS students and faculty attend the annual STARS Celebration conference.

NSF CNS-1042468


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Rick Adrion & Renee Fall (UMass Amherst)Evaluators: SageFox Consulting GroupWebsite: www.ECEPalliance.orgContact: [email protected]

To increase the number and diversity of students from the K-16 educational pipeline to computing-intensive degrees by supporting state-level computing education reforms. ECEP Alliance convenes leaders from 12 states to broaden participation in computing in their states through interventions, public policy, outreach, or chang-es in the education system.

OBJECTIVES

EXPANDING COMPUTING EDUCATION PATHWAYS

2014-2015 GOALS AND HIGHLIGHTSInterventions: Identifying and developing interventions in the teaching and learning of computing

• ProjectRiseUp4CS: Expanded this project to increase the number of underrepresented students who pass the AP CS A exam, targeting African American students in GA, MD, and FL, and female students at Georgia Tech. In 2015, FL, GA, and MD all had a record number of African American stu-dents pass the AP CS A exam. Georgia also had a record number of females pass the exam in 2015.

• TeacherProfessionalDevelopment: Five workshops in MA served 70 educators. GA offered four work-shops. Four SC educators prepared to lead ECS PD by attending training in Chicago in summer 2015. In California, ECEP supported a Tapestry workshop. ECEP held PD sessions at CSTA, STARS, and SIGCSE. We also piloted a four-session “Train the Trainer” webinar series to Massachusetts PD providers, which we plan to extend to all ECEP states in Year 4.

• SummerCamps: Growing computing camps in AL, CA, GA, IN, MA and SC through “How to run a summer camp” workshops (in CA and online) and by providing seed funds for equipment for camps. We received $20,000 from Oracle for seed funding for camps in the Bay area of California.

• Artbotics: Expanded the Artbotics curriculum to be used with the LEGO Mindstorms platform (NXT and EV3) and Arduino, offered workshops, and pro-vided materials and units at artbotics.org.

ECEP Alliance States

ECEP Minigrant Projects Awarded, 2014-15

CA: updating and expanding state CS education landscape report

MD: strategic planning and a statewide summit

NH: create landscape report on CS education in NH; develop strategies and plans based on findings

PR: professional development for Exploring Computer Science; translating ECS to Spanish, implementing, evaluating and vali dating ECS-PR

SC: landscape report on CS education in SC; develop a steering committee and set state wide priorities

TX: statewide summit, Houston, Oct. 2015

UT: increase teachers offering AP-CS Principles and create clear CS teacher endorsement pathways


Pathways: Facilitating expanding and supportive computing edu-cation pathways at the state level

• Participating in development of K12 digital literacy and com-puter science standards in MA

• Working toward getting CS to count for high school gradua-tion and college admission in CA

• Developing new community-college to university articulation agreements in GA

• Improving transfer pathways and retention in CA

• Aligning 2- and 4-year CS programs in MA and aligning with workforce issues in MA

• InfluencingnewhighschoolCScoursesinGA

Models: Definingandsharingmodelstodrivechangeandpro-viding frameworks for evaluation

• Shared a four-step model for “How to change a state” and shared it and other models at SIGCSE, Tapia, CSTA, and NCWIT conferences.

• Developedandarerefiningamodelforexpandingtheco-hort of ECEP associate states.

• Evaluation support: ECEP evaluators SageFox Group share evaluation methods and instruments with ECEP state lead-ers, and developed a common data collection process and tool for CS10K projects.

Partnerships: Developing partnerships to implement and ex-pand computing pathway infrastructure and activities in states

• Among states: ECEP expanded to 12 states, building a com-munity to support and advance statewide change through annual meetings, monthly virtual meetings, guest speakers, and sharing resources including competitive minigrants.

• Within states: Each ECEP state has an organizing body with representatives from K12, higher education, state govern-ment, and industry to steer efforts and connect with local organizations.

• Nationally: ECEP collaborates with BPC-Alliances: STARS, NCWIT, AccessComputing, as well as CSTA and organi-zations such as Code.org. ECEP states have access to an experts bureau.

HOW TO CHANGE A STATE (1.0)1. Find your leaders and change agents

2. Understand your state’s computing education landscape and identify key issues/policies for change

3. Gather and organize your allies

4. Get initial funding to support change

HOW TO COLLABORATEECEP welcomes leaders initiating state-level computing edu-cation reforms to contribute to and learn from our growing community. Browse our website (www.ECEPAlliance.org) for ideasandresources.Onceyouhaveanidentifiedleader(s),asteeringcommitteeofstakeholders,andidentifiedpriorities,contact us about becoming an ECEP associate state (and pos-sibly eligible for minigrant funding) by emailing [email protected]

ECEP is an NSF CISE Broadening Participation in Computing Alliance. This material is based on work supported by the National Science Foundation under grants CNS-1228355 and CNS-1228352. Any opinions, fi ndings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily refl ect the views of the National Science Foundation.


Into

the

Loop

A K-12/UNIVERSITY ALLIANCE TO INCREASE AND ENHANCE THE COMPUTER SCIENCE LEARNING OPPORTUNITIES FOR AFRICAN AMERICAN, LATINO/A AND FEMALE STUDENTS

OBJECTIVESInto the Loop Alliance is a K-12/university partnership committed to democratizing CS knowledge. Exploring Computer Science (ECS) was created to increase high school computer science learning opportunities with a specific focus on traditionally underrepresented students. To carry out the mission of broadening participation in computing the ECS program has focused on the following essential areas: Curriculum; Teacher Professional Development, Leadership, and Learning Community; Student Learning Assessment; Policy. At the heart of our work is a commitment to Equity.

CURRICULUM

PROFESSIONALDEVELOPMENT

EQUITY POLICY

ASSESSMENT

POLICY• Working with local educational leaders to

facilitate the offering of ECS in their school settings

• ECS granted status as college preparatory and Career Technical Education (CTE) course in California

• Helped create Alliance for California Computing Education for Students and Schools (ACCESS)

CURRICULUM• Introductory year-long high school

computer science course focused on foundational computer science concepts and computational practices

• Six instructional units with daily instructional plans: Human Computer Interaction, Problem Solving, Web Design, Introduction to Programming, Computing and Data Analysis, and Robotics

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT• Three focus pillars of PD: equity, inquiry,

and CS content • Designed around educational research

findings that describe characteristics of effective STEM professional development

ASSESSMENT• The ECS curriculum has been mapped to national

academic standards (NGSS, CCSS), national computing standards (CSTA, ISTE) and California and Illinois state standards in Math, ELA, and CTE.

• Partnered with SRI international to develop student learning assessment measures aligned to the ECS curriculum and Computational Practices. These assessments can now be found on the CS10K Community of Practice website.

2014

- 20

15


Into the Loop and ECS Leadership Team 2014-15

Jane Margolis, PI, UCLA Joanna Goode, Co-PI, University of Oregon Gail Chapman, UCLA, National Outreach Julie Flapan, UCLA, Policy WWW.EXPLORINGCS.ORG

RESULTS AND OUTCOMES

NATIONAL EXPANSION SITE PARTNERS (NSF, CODE.ORG, TFA)

ECS is currently in the 7 largest school districts in the country, along with multiple additional sites nationwide.

ECS STUDENT ENROLLMENT IN LOS ANGELES TOTAL FEMALE LATINO/A BLACK

2014-2015 2,390 1,005 (42.1%) 1,762 (73.3%) 209 (9%)

2010-2011 1,377 564 (41.0%) 971 (70.5%) 133 (9.7%)

2011-2012 2,136 923 (43.2%) 1,649 (77.2%) 200 (9.4%)

2012-2013 1,927 877 (45.5%) 1,566 (81.3%) 126 (6.5%)

FINDINGS• Large and statistically significant increases in students’ self-perceived expertise across all ECS topics, with the largest increases coming in robotics and computer programming.

• Average gain in self-perceived CS knowledge was particularly pronounced among female students, replicating findings from previous school years.

• Learning in ECS can alter the system of beliefs that students hold about the nature of learning computer science (moving students from a fixed intelligence to growth through practice mindset); the findings suggest that these changes might be most pronounced among students who previously faced cultural and situational barriers to involvement in computer science.

• For the 2014-15 school year, 42.1% of the LA ECS students were female and 92% students of color.• ECS has expanded to 60 schools in LA with 2390 students; ECS has expanded to 133 schools in CA.

TEACHERS ARE KEY!

The ECS program closely couples the curriculum with a long-term teachers professional development program. The aim of this program is to:

• support teachers in their learning the content of the curriculum

• help strengthen teachers’ instructional approaches that support inquiry-based teaching and equity practices for diverse students

• create a professional teaching community among local teachers.

Approximately 700 teachers nationwide participated in ECS PD during summer of 2015.

2013-2014 2,365 1,084 (45.8%) 1,705 (72.1%) 255 (10.7%)

ECS enrollment demographics reflect the LAUSD student population demographics.


CRA-W/CDC Alliance Sustainable Diversity in the Computer Research Pipeline

CRA-W/CDC Alliance - NSF#1246649

The Computing Research Association’s Committee on the Status of Women in Computing Research (CRA-W) and the ACM/CRA Coalition to Diversify Computing (CDC) work together in a BPC Alliance to increase the participation of women and minorities in computing research. This project focuses on all aspects of the NSF CISE/EHR research pipeline from undergraduate to senior faculty. The goal is to increase the number of women and minorities

who enter the next phase of the research pipeline.

Experience theJoy of Research:

Join a research team at your college or university by applying to the Collaborative Research Experiences for Undergraduates (CREU).

Spend a summer at a mentor’s institution doing research by apply to the Distributed Research Experiences for Undergraduates (DREU).

Attend a Distinguished Lecture Series (DLS) and learn about current research.

Participate in the Mentoring Tracks at Tapia & Grace Hopper and receive advising from leading women in your field.

Thrive in Graduate School:

Learn how to navigate through graduate school by attending the Grad Cohort Workshop.

Participate in a Discipline Specific Workshop (DSW) that provides mentoring and technical knowledge in your field.



Become a Leader and a Mentor:

Host undergraduate students in your research group by applying to be a mentor for the Collaborative Research Experiences (CREU) or Distributed Research Experiences (DREU).

Have the opportunity to be a Grad Cohort Workshop speaker and advise attendees in their first three years of graduate school.

Participate in a Discipline Specific Workshops (DSW) that provides mentoring and technical knowledge in your field.



Graduate Students Undergraduates

Academia

Industry/Government

We Engage Researchers at Every Level of the Pipeline

Partner With Us, Diversify your Investments...In PeopleOrganize a Discipline-Specific Workshop at your next conference.

Lead a Distinguished Lecture Series as a host or speaker.

Enhance your research projects by engaging in our REU programs.

Mentor students at all levels at our Grace Hopper & Tapia events.

CRA-W: Nancy Amato ([email protected]) A.J. Brush ([email protected])

CDC: Jeff Forbes ([email protected]) Charles Isbell ([email protected])cra-w.org/broadening-participation-alliance


CRA Center for Evaluating the Research Pipeline (CERP)

Funded by NSF, the CRA-W/CDC Alliance founded CERP to evaluate the impact of intervention programs on in-creasing diversity in computer science research.

What does CERP do?

CERP evaluates programs designed to increase underrepresented students’ success in computing.

CERP conducts basic social science research on underrepresented individuals’ experiences in computing.

Where do we get our data?

A national sample of computing departments distributes an annual survey to computing students.

Check out our recent evaluation findings for CRA-W/CDC programs!

A resource for other programs

CERP data can be used to evaluate all programs aimed at broading participation in computing.

Twice as many of CREU/DREU students attendgraduate school compared to other REU students

Terminal M.S. students who participate in the CRA-W’s Grad Cohort show increased interest in pursuing a Ph.D.


Principal Investigators: Juan E. Gilbert, Ph.D. – Lead Principal Investigator Andrew Banks Family Preeminence Endowed Professor & Chair Department of Computer & Information Science & Engineering University of Florida [email protected]

Monica D. Anderson, Ph.D. – Co-Principal Investigator Associate Professor Department of Computer Science The University of Alabama [email protected]

Christina Gardner-McCune, Ph.D. – Co-Principal Investigator Assistant Professor Department of Computer & Information Science & Engineering University of Florida [email protected]

Elva Jones, Ph.D. – Co-Principal Investigator Professor & Chair Department of Computer Science Winston-Salem State University [email protected]

Cheryl D. Seals, Ph.D. – Co-Principal Investigator Associate Professor Department of Computer Science and Software Engineering Auburn University [email protected]

Website: iAAMCS.org


Description and Objective: The Institute for African-American Mentoring in Computing Sciences (iAAMCS, pronounced ‘i am cs’) serves as a national resource for all African-American computer science students and faculty. The objective of iAAMCS is to increase the number of African-Americans receiving Ph.D. degrees in computing sciences, promote and engage students in teaching and training opportunities, and add more diverse researchers into the advanced technology workforce.

Current Activities: • Academic Year Undergraduate Research (AYUR) • Annual Computing Competitions • Distinguished Fellows Writing Workshop (DFWW) • Distributed Research Experience for Undergraduates (DREU) • K-12 Outreach • Technical Webinar & Distinguished Lecture Series (DLS)

Outcomes: In its second year, iAAMCS has achieved the following outcomes: (1) increased its pool of participants, (2) developed products and materials to assist participants as they matriculate through the CS pipeline, (3) continued productivity from the conducted projects/activities (see example photos below), (4) witnessed current participants’ transition into graduate school (some as fellowship recipients), and (5) observed a handful of participants who either became Ph.D. recipients or Ph.D. candidates.

Collaboration: Based on the different activities offered within the organization, iAAMCS welcomes opportunities to work with collaborators and their students, researchers, and faculty. Activities like AYUR, DREU, and DLS sponsor students to work with iAAMCS and other affiliated faculty at different institutions. The computing competition and DFWW are specific areas where faculty and researchers can work directly with iAAMCS. Potential collaborators will also be welcomed to encourage their students to participate in these activities.

DFWW

(Taken by Tapia photographer)

Computing Competition

(Taken by Tapia photographer)

AYUR


Computing Education Research in the 21st CenturyResearch on Broadening Participation in Computer Science Education



Create effective and efficient eBook(s) for teachers who want to learn to teach programming. • Apply lessons from educational psychology and

instructional design to the design of eBooks.• Develop design guidelines for eBooks using an

examples plus practice model based on results from research studies.

PIs: Mark Guzdial & Barbara Ericson (Georgia Institute of Technology) Research Assistants: Briana Morrison, Miranda Parker, Neeti Pathak, Matthew Moldavan, and KantwonRogersWebsite: http://home.cc.gatech.edu/csl/CSLearning4UContact: [email protected], [email protected]

Goal

Goals & Activities

Activities

Supporting STEM Learning by Redesigning the Textbook: Creating High-Completion CS Online Learning Using Educational

Psychology Principles

• Improved upon our previously created CS Principles eBook to include more practice problems, discussion opportunities, and support for small reading groups (Figures 2 and 3).

• Conducted a trial of the eBook with ten prospective high school computer science teachers.• Conducted a participatory design session, usability surveys, and in-class feedback with high school

and university computer science students to help inform the design of the student version of the eBook.

• Conducted a large-scale deployment study with our teacher eBook in Summer.• Developed a review eBook for students in Advanced Placement CS A.• Integrated the CS Principles eBook in blended learning teacher professional development during

Summer 2015.• Developed a prototype for a dashboard for teachers using the eBook with their classes (Figures 4 &

5).

Figure 1: Runnable and editable Python code

Figure 5: Prototype of teacher dashboar d for eBook

Figure 2: Executable code worked example with subgoallabels, and answer and discussion tabs

Figure 3: Another worked example with subgoal labels

Figure 4: Overall progress feedback available in the teacher dashboard


Accomplishments• Introductory CS Knowledge assessment: We replicated a previously validated language-

independent CS1 assessment of introductory CS concepts. This new assessment has been validated and is available to the research community to study learning gains from interventions.

• Student eBook: Participatory design, usability studies, and in-class feedback guided our design of a student eBook. This eBook is currently being deployed, and features differences from the teacher eBook such as changes in communication between student and teacher, more worked examples, and a different color scheme.

• Design experiments: In laboratory study, demonstrating the value of subgoal labeling and the use of Parsons Problems to more sensitively measure learning (compared with traditional code writing assessments).

• eBook Trial: We conducted a trial with prospective high school computer science teachers. Ten teachers qualified for our study (i.e. scored less than 40% on a pretest). We asked them to read eight chapters of the eBook. Every two chapters, there was a post-test on those two chapters. Some of our findings showed:

• 50% of study participants finished all 8 chapters• Participants read the eBook in chunks of time when they could fit it in, seen in Figures 6

and 7. • Participants who did the interactive activities in the book (e.g., did the Parsons Problems,

ran the code examples, answered multiple choice questions, etc.), reported increased confidence in teaching CS and they performed well on the post-tests.

Current Efforts

• Extending our technology to work with other programming languages such as Java and Blockly.• Modifying the code ordering (Parsons problem) interactive feature to be adaptive and improve the

feedback given for incorrect solutions.• Conducting a laboratory study to demonstrate that rewriting code examples for loops can improve

learning and reduce cognitive load.• Trial our new eBook-based interventions in a face-to-face CS Principles classroom to compare the use

of the eBook offline and online, analyzing variables such as learning outcomes and completion rates.• Compare eBook use between teachers and students to help develop a better understanding of how

non-traditional and traditional students use eBooks differently.

CSLearning4U is a CE21 grant. This material is based on work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant 1138378. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.

Figures 6 and 7: Charting two teacher’s progress through the ebook exercises


Gidget is a programming game that teaches CS1 learning outcomes in formal and informal settings in just 5 hours, in a manner that is equally successful for all genders. The game has been played by tens of thousands of learners aged 8 to 80.

http://www.helpgidget.org

Andrew J. Ko University of WashingtonMargaret Burnett Oregon State UniversityMichael J. Lee New Jersey Institute of Tech.Catherine Law Oregon State University

Personifying Programming Tool Feedback Improves Novice Programmers' Learning (2011). Lee, M.J. and Ko, A.J. International Computing Education Research Workshop (ICER), 109-116.

Investigating the Role of Purposeful Goals on Novices' Engagement in a Programming Game (2012). Lee, M.J. and Ko, A.J. IEEE Symposium on Visual Languages and Human-Centric Computing (VL/HCC), 163-166.

In-Game Assessments Increase Novice Programmers' Engagement and Learning Efficiency (2013). Lee, M.J., Ko, A.J., Kwan, I. International Computing Education Research Conference, 153-160.

Comparing the Effectiveness of Online Learning Approaches on CS1 Learning Outcomes (2015). Lee, M.J. and Ko, A.J. ACM International Conference on Computing Education Research, 237-246.

Personifying error messages can double discretionary engagement in learning.

Leveraging animate, vertebrate data types can double discretionary engagement in learning.

In-game assessments cause learners to play longer and learn faster.

Gidget’s game-based instruction produces learning twice as fast as tutorials.

Principles of a Debugging-First Puzzle Game for Computing Education (2014). Lee, M.J. et al. IEEE Symposium on Visual Languages and Human-Centric Computing, 57-64.

In just 5 hours, teens master CS1 learning outcomes, create complex puzzles, and develop positive attitudes toward computing.

Adults of all ages, genders, and education develop positive attitudes toward to programming in minutes.Challenging Stereotypes and Changing Attitudes: The Effect of a Brief Programming Encounter on Adults' Attitudes toward Programming (2014). Charters, P., Lee, M.J., Ko, A.J., Loksa, D. ACM Symposium on Computer Science Education, 653-658.


I-ECS: Inclusive Exploring CS Curriculum Enhancement as Face-to-Face and Online Support for Visually Impaired, High School Students

www.se.rit.edu/~iecs PI’s: Stephanie Ludi ([email protected]), Debra Bernstein ([email protected]), Karen Mutch-

Jones ([email protected]) The purpose of the I-ECS project is to adapt an existing Computer Science curriculum – Exploring Computer Science (ECS) – for visually impaired students. The resulting curriculum will be enacted through a face-to-face summer academy and a series of online modules. Development Milestones

• Modified 5 ECS Units: HCI, Problem-Solving, Robotics, Web Development, Data Analysis – incorporating tactile graphics, sonification tools, and the JBrick programming environment.

• Designed face-to-face instruction for the HCI, Problem-Solving and Robotics units.

• Developed an online environment to support web-based curriculum delivery that includes multimedia content, gamification, and forums to support collaboration for the Web Development & Data Analysis units.

I-ECS Research: Ultimately, our research will compare the extent to which the curricular enhancements create access and influence participation, engagement, and learning in computer science for students with visual impairments. In the second year, we have focused on usability and support of the enhancements and accompanying instruction for the unit revisions and the Data Analysis unit pilot. Activity Highlights

• HCI, Problem Solving, and Robotics units presented during an in-person CS Summer Academy; Data Analysis, Web Development presented online

• Robotics software JBrick was tested with Robotics Unit lesson plans using C-based language

• Data Analysis software Glance was tested with Data Analysis unit, using sonification to provide audio depiction of data.

• Problem Solving unit drawing activities were tested with tactile graphics

Results from the CS Academy • Participants provided positive ratings of the CS Summer Academy overall, saying that the

“atmosphere was excellent”. They were enthusiastic about collaborating with other students who had visual impairments and a love of computing.

• Participants’ parents provided similarly positive ratings, commenting that the summer experience increased their children’s understanding of the opportunities in a computing career, as well as providing opportunities for independence and socializing with peers.

• Participant feedback suggests that adaptations made to the summer robotics unit were particularly successful in enhancing access. Students cited JBrick features such as line numbering, clear menus and robotic commands, audio indicators of program download, and the ability to change text size/color as enhancing their programming ability.

• Students commented that the videos added to the online module were a useful adaptation and helped to support their work.

• Data suggests that revisions are needed to better provide strategies to support minimizing cognitive workload for students who rely on tactile or audio.


MyCS: Middle-‐years Computer Science [names] Zachary Dodds, (with M. Erlinger, to 6/14) [place] Harvey Mudd College

[contact] [email protected] [URL] cs.hmc.edu/MyCS

Establish students' computational identity, i.e., maximize the set of students who believe "CS is something that people like me do." [goal]

[1240939] [logo] [collaborators sought]

Next? R4CS: Ready for CS, serving K-‐6 stakeholders

[snapshots]

[TeAM: Teacher-‐Adapted MOOC] [hands-‐on, idenFty-‐building curriculum]

To date, >5000 students, >80% CS-‐UR, have taken district approved, schoolday MyCS'd courses, with prof. dev. via

workshops and Teacher-‐Adapted MOOCs, or TeAMs. [outcomes]

[Lego CS]


CS Unplugged: Encourage Computing without Computers Cyndi Rader, [email protected]

Tracy Camp, [email protected] Wendy DuBow, [email protected]

Tim Bell, [email protected]

Objectives for middle school students: • increased interest in computing careers • confidence that they can learn CS concepts • understanding of the CS concepts in the activities • knowledge that a variety of computing careers exist Activities to date: • Deployed 11 different activities in 15 classrooms within two

different schools • Deployed in after-school program to compare interest results • Developed and deployed CT assessments, including worksheets

associated with 5 activities and 2 final projects

Plans: • Continue to refine the activities and assessments . • Create videos and other training materials so that teachers will

be able to deploy the activities • Deploy refined activities in 6th and 7th grade classes in the

Englewood School District (which has 47% minority students)

http://toilers.mines.edu/CS-Unplugged

binary numbers

Approach: Use fun, kinesthetic activities to teach fundamental computing concepts

minimal spanning tree

cryptography

Funding provided by the National Science Foundation grant #CNS-1240964

Student Quotes: • Thank you so much! I had so much fun and I learned so much!

This will help me in the future to get my dream job. • 010101000110100001100001011011100110101100100000010

110010110111101110101 (that’s thanks in binary)


CER: DEPICT: Developing Elementary (Learning) Progressions to Integrate Computational Thinking into K-6 Education

Diana Franklin Computer Science

Danielle Harlow Education

Develop 4th-6th grade learning environment & CT curriculum, perform CS Ed research

• 2-d navigation not an entry-level task for 4th graders • Initialization is challenging in Scratch for students • Engineering design-thinking is a good NGSS match with computer science

NSF – CNS-1240985 http://discover.cs.ucsb.edu/kelpcs https://octopi.herokuapp.com

Variable / state initialization is important in VBBLs and text-based languages. When viewing Scratch through the lens of the knowledge necessary for imperative languages, we find the following pieces of knowledge useful to develop in Scratch:

•  Initialization cannot occur at the end of the program •  Initialization should occur on the green flag •  Initialization should be hidden from the user / a special operation •  Absolute blocks need to be used rather than relative blocks

• Code runs on green flag Sprites need to be reset to work a second time Sprites need to be reset to guarantee correctness if someone stops in the middle

• Blocks perform actions Some blocks’ effects are dependent on previous state correct initialization needs blocks that always act the same way

• Blocks perform actions Some actions are invisible Some sequences of instructions containing invisible/fast actions will not show effect of those actions

• Individual blocks Individual scripts in one sprite Independent scripts in multiple sprites Coordinated scripts in multiple sprites

• Coordination through timing Coordination through programming

• Thinking like a user Thinking like a developer

• Math concepts in popular visual block-based languages (VBBLs) above 4th grade • Young students need a simpler interface with fewer items visible from beginning • Separate initialization event may be useful

Constructionism holds creating for others as a key component of learning. With programs, are students creating for others to observe or others to use? We analyzed two years of final projects for 4th-6th grade students:

•  When not specifically taught, students rarely provide instructions for the user. •  With explicit instruction and an engineering design-thinking curriculum, many

students provide user instructions. •  As students age from 4th grade to 6th grade, they increase in their use of

instructions and the sophistication of their control mechanisms.


Diana Franklin Computer Science

Danielle Harlow Education

Skill-building Activities Incremental, repetitive, fun Automated feedback Similar to code.org

Fun activities Tie CS concepts to daily life Inspired by CS Unplugged

•  4th grade students are not quite Scratch-ready •  Breaking movement into turns + distance not an entry-level task for 4th graders •  Math concepts in popular visual block-based languages are for middle school •  4th grade students are hard to draw out with research methods such as talk-

alouds, interviews, paired work.

NSF – CNS-1240985 http://discover.cs.ucsb.edu/kelpcs https://octopi.herokuapp.com

Software Engineering Process Thinking about the User Creative, Open-ended Final Project (Digital Storytelling)

Open-ended, creative play All blocks from module, plus some more, available

1.  Similar blocks & interface to Scratch 2.  Simpler math than required in Scratch 3.  Customizable interface per project (blocks, categories, buttons)

•  Student lab time is severely limited – logging in, uploading and downloading files can take half of the allotted time.

•  Students struggle with physical paper sheets paired with computers. •  Need combination of skill-building + open-ended projects


Buildingatheoryofbadgesforcomputerscienceeducation ChristianSchunn,RossHigashi RobinShoop LRDC,UniversityofPittsburgh CarnegieMellonUniversity [email protected],[email protected] [email protected] www.lrdc.pitt.edu/schunn cs2n.orgObjectives:Weseektobuildanempiricallygroundedtheoryofeducationalbadges,inparticularofwhatfactorsdeterminetheirvalidityasindicatorsofcomputationalthinkingcompetenciesandtheireffectsonstudentparticipationandlearningincomputationalthinkinglearningenvironments.Activities:1)DesignofabadgingecologyintheComputerScienceStudentNetwork(cs2n.org)thatisembeddedindiverseinstructionalunitsthatteachcomputationalthinkinginthecontextofroboticsactivities(LEGOandVEX);2)Designanditerativeimprovementofmeasurementtoolsforexaminingmotivationalfactorsandlearningoutcomesthatareinfluencedbybadges;3)Experimentsmanipulatingthepresenceandformofbadgesonmotivationandlearningoutcomes.Recentoutcomes:1)Wehavedevelopedanewbadgingframeworkthatbringstogetherdifferentsourcesofevidenceintoaunifiedstructure,enablingbadgestoreflectgeneralcompetenciesacrossdifferentkindsofexperiencesandrewardinglearnersforaccumulatingdiverseexperiencetypes.2)Wehaveconductedastudyofdiversebadgingapproachesininformallearningandtheireffectsonstudentengagementduringtheseprograms.


NSF Award CNS-1339181

Understanding How Afterschool CS and STEM Educators Engage with CSThe Afterschool Computer Science Educators (ACSE) project is helping the field understand how and under what conditions afterschool CS and STEM educators pursue their own computing education and careers. The project is also seeking to discern how after school educator engagement with CS influences youth outcomes.

Marie Bienkowski, SRI Education [email protected]

Julie Remold, SRI Education [email protected]

ProjectLeads

Gender, Race, and Culture Equity GuideWe’re refreshing our educator guide, “Equity Guide: Gender, Race, and Culture.” We welcome interested parties who want to give us feedback on the contents of this guide. http://ict4me.sri.com/curric/equity.html

About the Project ACSE is an exploratory study focusing on outcomes of an afterschool CS curriculum not only for student participants but also for educators who lead CS instruction out of school. The CS curriculum used in the ACSE project goes by the name of Build IT within the Girls Inc. network and ICT4me elsewhere. The curriculum was designed by SRI under prior NSF funding, and prior studies point to its effectiveness in engaging girls and youth from groups underrepresented in CS.

Research Questions1. Under what conditions do Build IT/ICT4me/STEM educators pursue CS or STEM learning and careers?2. What types of computer science or STEM learning and careers do educators indicate interest in and pursue?3. To what extent is there a relationship between educators’ computing interests and pursuits, their

implementation of the curriculum, and youth outcomes for Build IT/ICT4me?

2015 Updates• We are conducting the study in two networks of afterschool program affiliates. Girls Inc. serves K-12

girls in low-SES communities throughout the United States. The California School-Age Consortium (CalSAC) network provides professional development to afterschool programs throughout California.

• We worked with 11 Girls Inc. afterschool sites offering the Build IT curriculum and 13 California afterschool sites implementing ICT4me. For the comparison group of general STEM afterschool sites, we worked with 18 CalSAC sites across California and 14 sites in the Girls Inc. network.

• We conducted ‘train-the-trainer’ sessions for CalSAC trainers on Units 1-5 of Build IT/ICT4me and offered training on Units 1-3 for Girls Inc. and CalSAC sites interested in additional training on the curriculum.

• We are collecting data from afterschool educators and youth on attitudes toward and interest in STEM, background, and implementation of the curriculum. Data analysis will be conducted in the summer of 2016 as we wrap up the project.

Visit our websites at ict4me.sri.com and buildit.sri.comCollaborators are welcome. If you are an educator or researcher interested in working with the ICT4me curriculum, please contact us.

2016 Community Meeting for CS in STEM

Building the Capacity of Afterschool Computer Science Educators (ACSE)


Project Title: Factors Influencing College Success in Information Technology (FICSIT-1339200) Names: Philip Sadler, Ed.D. and Gerhard Sonnert, Ph.D. Institution: Harvard University Contact: [email protected], [email protected] FICSIT is an empirical research study examining the influence of pre-college, in- and out-of-school experiences on students’ success in introductory college computer science courses. These courses are generally the first formal exposure to key concepts and programming skills to which students interested in a CS or related career are exposed. Using a retrospective cohort study design, 10,202 students completed a 6-page survey at the start of their college CS course. They were taught by 167 professors at 122 randomly chosen colleges and universities. Preliminary analysis of the dataset has been carried out in preparation for the construction of models predicting success in college CS. Findings concerning college CS courses and students: • 73% male, 27% female • Racial/Ethnic diversity: 61% White, 27% Asian, 9% Black, 13% Hispanic • 88% attended high school in the U.S. • Year in college: 34% freshman, 31% sophomore, 19% junior, 9% senior • Mean grade is 84.4 (SD 13.9) on a 100-point scale with 6% failing and 5% withdrawing • Languages used in introductory college CS: 39% Java or C#, 13% Python, 12% C++, 8% C. Findings concerning student experience and coursework prior to college: • Students are well-prepared in mathematics: 65% took calculus in HS, Mean SAT-M is 640

(SD 127). This includes ACT math scores (36% of students) equated to SAT. • Of students who were exposed to computer programming prior to their college CS course,

30% were introduced by a family member or friend, 30% in school, 35% on their own, 5% in an out-of-school-time program

• Experiences learning CS or computer programming in school (prior to college): 7% took an AP CS course, 17% took a non-AP CS course, 17% were exposed in a non-CS course (primarily STEM)

• Language learned previous to college CS: 40% C or C#, 29% HTML, 23% C++, 22% Python, 18% JavaScript, 15% Visual Basic

• Gender differences found in popular computer related activities prior to college: took a computer apart: 33% males, 10% females; created a web design: 18% males, 16% females; designed and wrote a computer program: 17% males, 9% females.

Ongoing analysis seeks to determine the impact of: high school CS instruction (both teaching methods and offerings), mathematics proficiency, exposure to computer gaming, self-taught programming, and differential impact of specific programming language learned. Also of interest is whether findings differ by gender or by membership in particular underrepresented minority groups. Measuring the relative merits of approaches to supporting students that are often advocated in national policy studies and reports, while controlling for critical background and demographic factors, will aid educators and policy-makers in deciding on the optimal approaches to preparing students for initial success in the computer science major. CS professors may also benefit from understanding the factors that contribute to effective preparation for students’ first college computer science course, many of which could prove beneficial in the courses that they teach.


Building Computational Thinkers in Informal Exhibit Experiences Clara Cahill and Alana Parkes

Co-PIs: Christine Reich and Ben Wilson Museum of Science, Boston

Contact: [email protected]

Building Computational Thinkers in Informal Exhibit Experiences explores the affordances and challenges of different educational design strategies for supporting computational thinking capacity. The context for this research is a set of 6 exhibits in The Science behind Pixar, a large travelling exhibition developed by the Museum of Science, Boston in collaboration with Pixar Animation Studios and the Science Museum Exhibit Collaborative. The study exhibits are designed to build understanding of authentic creative and technical challenges from Pixar’s work. The exhibits all foster computational thinking capacity by supporting visitors to engage with and learn about problem decomposition, emphasizing how computer scientists systematically approach complex problems by breaking them down into manageable parts. The three pedagogical formats studied through this work include multimedia narrative explanations; guided solution exploration experiences, and creative design activities (See examples below). Experiences developed as part of this research study will be made available online soon.

Solution exploration Multimedia Narrative Creative design

We used a quasi-experimental design to study how diverse learners - middle and high school students representing a range of backgrounds, social group contexts, and prior experiences - engaged with and learned from the different pedagogical approaches, measuring behavior, engagement, and both immediate and longer-term learning outcomes. Broad preliminary findings suggest that engagement with all three types of exhibits led to more positive beliefs about the creativity involved in the work of computer programming (t=-2.985; p=0.004; Cohen’s d=0.28), a stronger understanding about how experienced programmers solve problems (t=-2.189; p=.032; Cohen’s d=0.23), and higher self-efficacy for computer programming (t=-4.943; p<0.001; Cohen’s d=.44).

We are currently working to develop a model to characterize relationships among student behaviors, engagement, characteristics, and outcomes. We are also working to analyze performance assessments focused on computational thinking skills, and we welcome collaborators!


openHTML: Scaffolding Web Development to Support Elementary Computational Literacy

Andrea Forte, Brian Dorn, Michael Wagner, Erin Knight Drexel University, University of Nebraska Omaha, Mozilla Foundation

Primary Contact: [email protected] http://openhtml.org

Description We conduct user research and design tools to support learning computation through web development.

Goals Outcomes include improved understanding of what computational literacies people gain from building web pages, the design of pedagogically informed tools for learning web development, materials for formal and self-directed learning, and assessment techniques for measuring learning outcomes.

Recent Activities • Conducted a study exploring ways of measuring code reading skills in HTML and CSS, and how they

relate to programming languages, through the development of an interactive instrument called Nester. • Developed a WordPress plugin called Snowball that enables journalists and bloggers to create

expressive longform articles through scaffolded web development. Presented at WordCamp US and downloaded 300+ times. We are collecting logs to assess activity from a learning analytics perspective.

• Collaborated with Mozilla Foundation on the design of Webmaker, an Android app that allows users to create web content on mobile.

• Created WebJumper, a tool designed to target the needs of middle-school and high-school students learning web design.Using WebJumper, learners can build basic platformer-style game levels, work through guided HTML and CSS challenges, explore independently, and share and remix their work.

Collaboration We are interested in chatting with people involved in teaching web development, or who have interests studying basic computational literacy embedded in other creative and expressive activities.


• • Access1200tipsforteachingCS• Earn$50forbeinginterviewedaboutyourNSFproject• Contributetipsonlineatcsteachingtips.org/contribute

ColleenLewisHarveyMudd

College

LeslieAaronsonFoshayTechnology

Academy

ArielleSchlesingerGeorgiaTech

CSTeachingTips.org

PI:ColleenLewis

[email protected]

@CSTeachingTipsNSF#1339404


Broadening Participation: The Development, Implementation, and Evaluation of an AP Computer Science Preparatory Sequence for Underrepresented High School

Students within the SMASH Academy

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATORS PI: Allison Scott, Ph.D. Co-‐PI: Alexis Martin, Ph.D. Co-‐PI: Jarvis Sulcer, Ph.D. GRANT INFORMATION Website: www.lpfi.org/research NSF CE21 Grant #1339424 Grant period: Nov 2013-‐Nov 2016 SUMMARY OF OUTCOMES (2014-‐2015): • AP CS Preparatory Sequence Curriculum (CS1-‐CS2-‐CS3-‐APCS) revised and implemented within SMASH Academy

(CS1 (10th graders), CS2 (11th graders), and CS3 + APCS (12th graders). Professional development series was revised and implemented with 12 Computer Science instructors (1 week course +one-‐on-‐one coaching throughout the 5-‐week program)

• 191 underrepresented high school students completed the 5-‐week SMASH Computer Science courses in 2015. To-‐date, a total of 298 students have taken at least one CS course in the course sequence, and 201 students have completed two years of the CS course sequence.

• 21 SMASH high school seniors enrolled in and completed the AP CS prep course (20 in-‐person sessions, weekly virtual tutoring sessions from November 2014-‐May 2015) and completed the AP CS A exam in May 2015.

• Students demonstrated statistically significant increases in computer science knowledge, understanding of the

field of CS, interest in CS, attitudes, access to role models, and aspirations from pre-‐ to post-‐SMASH, as assessed by surveys and assessments.

• 44% of SMASH students intended to major in computer science at the conclusion of the program, and 46% aspired

to a career in the field of computer science. These percentages have more than doubled since the beginning of the project period. 19% (n=14) of SMASH alumni in their Freshman year (students who had 1 year of CS) have declared CS majors

• Research on the SMASH CS interventions has culminated in: 2 evaluation reports, presentations of results at the CTSA

conference, the California STEM Symposium, the AERA annual meeting, and the preparation of manuscripts (in process).

SMASH Program Demographics SMASH Program Overview 54% Latino, 34% African American 5-‐week, 3-‐year HS summer program Male=51%, Female=49% STEM courses; Guest Speakers & Field Trips 81% FRPL, 75% First Generation 3 sites: UC Berkeley, Stanford, UCLA NSF CE21 Project Activities and Aims Curriculum: Develop a 4-‐course AP CS preparatory sequence for summer program setting Students: Implement CS course sequence in SMASH Academy; Increase access to rigorous CS courses; Increase the number of underrepresented students taking the AP CS exams Instructors: Develop and implement professional development for SMASH CS instructors Development and implementation of CS PD Research: Conduct research on short-‐ and long-‐term outcomes of interventions


NSF Awards CNS-1240625; DRL-1418149; CNS-1433065

Investigating the Impacts of Implementation on Computational Thinking Outcomes SRI Education is using the PACT assessments and other measures-classroom observation, surveys, teacher assignment/student work-to investigate how Exploring Computer Science (ECS) curriculum enactment and teaching quality impacts student computational thinking outcomes.

2015-16 Updates• Piloted unit (ECS Units 1-4) and summative assessments with a total of 21 teachers and 1014 students

in Chicago, IL, Boston, MA, New York, NY, Des Moines, WA, and Santa Clara, CA. Scored and revised constructed-response tasks based on student cognitive interviews, student performance on the assessments, and teacher and advisory board feedback. Developed new multiple choice and constructed response tasks.

• Designed and developed implementation measures to be piloted with a total 5-15 teachers and 10-150 students in Chicago, IL, Boston, MA, and Santa Clara, CA.

• Released paper-and-pencil forms of the ECS unit and cumulative assessments and rubrics to teachers and other CS education stakeholders via the CS10K web site; began validation of an online version of the assessments.

• Conducted 2 orientation webinars for the CS10K community to provide teachers with details about the assessments, their release schedule and format, and about future webinars on scoring and score interpretation. Access the recording here: http://air.adobeconnect.com/p9dv7rpkt7a/

Eric Snow, SRI Education [email protected]

Marie Bienkowski, SRI Education [email protected]

PrincipalInvestigators

Visit our website at pact.sri.com

Announcements• Come see us present at SIGCSE-2016 in Memphis, TN:

- Paper: “What Is A Computer?” What do Secondary School Students Think? - Poster: Deepening Learning in High School Computer Science through Practices in the NGSS

• �Get�a�first�look�at�our�framework�for�assessing�computational�thinking:�Assessment Design Patterns for Computational Thinking Practices in Secondary Computer Science overviews the computational thinking domain and presents the main portions of the design patterns with accompanying illustrative applications. Design patterns for collaboration and communications are also included. Access the report here: http://pact.sri.com/resources.html

• Collaborators are welcome. If you teach or sponsor ECS, or conduct any type of assessment of K-12 computational thinking, please contact us. We are also seeking experienced ECS teachers to help with scoring ECS unit and summative assessments.


Principled Assessment of Computational Thinking

Computer Science in Secondary Schools: Studying Context, Enactment, and Impact


ProjectTitle:YO-GUTC:YoungWomenGrowingUpThinkingComputationallyNames:EnricoPontelliandIreneLeeInstitutions:NewMexicoStateUniversityandSantaFeInstituteContactInformation:EnricoPontelli,

DepartmentofComputerScience,NewMexicoStateUniversityLasCruces,[email protected]

Website:https://sites.google.com/site/ywicnm/

Young Women Growing Up Thinking Computationally (YO-GUTC) is the joint evolution of two successful broadeningparticipation in computing programs: the YoungWomen in

Computing (YWiC) program at New Mexico State University(NMSU) and the GUTS y Girls (GYG) program at Santa FeInstitute (SFI). YO-GUTC is a program targeting high schoolwomen, and composed of after-school meetings, summerworkshops, and community celebrations of young women incomputing in Las Cruces and Santa Fe, New Mexico. YO-GUTCposesresearchquestionsrelatedtounderrepresentationofHispanicwomenincomputing,andinvestigatesinterventionstoincreaseandsustaininterestandparticipation.

ThedemographicsofNewMexicoallowNMSUandSFItodevelopadeeperunderstandingoftheissuesspecifictoexpandingLatinaparticipationinCS.Theliterature,andourownwork,hasinvestigatedmethodologiesandbestpractices to inspire (initial) engagement of Latinastudents in computing. Unfortunately, the engagement,while necessary, does not address the larger issue ofsustained participation, unless linked to a continuingprocess of skills development and preparation; this is

critical if theengagementappearsearly in theacademicpipeline,due to the institutionalgapsincomputingcurricula.YO-GUTC’sthreeprimarystrategiesareto1)engage,prepareandretainyoungwomenincomputing,especiallyofHispanicbackground,throughexcitinglearning experiences (via projects in areas of community relevance) that address thepreparationgapincomputingbetweenyoungwomenandmen,2)fostergrowthofsocialcapital through support systems, and3) raisewomen’s aspirations in computingbeyondinitialengagementandtowardscomputingdegreesandcareers.Weseektoadvanceyoungwomen’scomputingskills toa levelbeyondthatof theirmalepeers,buildingconfidence,self-efficacy and respect. Weekly club meetings and community CS celebrations engageparticipantsinrichcomputationalprojects,exposethemtoHispanicwomenincomputingfields,andbuildcommunitysupportforparticipants’endeavorsincomputing.Duringtwo-week girls-only summer workshops, participants investigate topics of local and culturalrelevance,viewthemthroughthelensofcomputationalmodeling,andanalyzethemusingagent-basedtools.


CT-STEM Projecthttp://[email protected]

Embedded Computational Thinking: Casting a Wide Net (CNS-1138461)Computational Thinking in STEM: A Whole-School Model for Broadening Participation and Education in Computing (CNS-1441041)

Computation plays an increasingly important role in science and math. Yet, many high school students never encounter computation in their day-to-day coursework. Our projects develop computational activities embedded in existing high school STEM courses. We are also running an out-of-school program to engage girls in computational projects.

This work is supported by the NSF (grants 1138461 & 1441041). Any opinions, findings, conclusions, and recommendations are those of the investigators and do not necessarily reflect the views of the NSF.

Kai Orton, Michael Horn, Kemi Jona, Uri Wilensky, Vicky Kalogera, Laura Trouille Students: Elham Beheshti, David Weintrop, Ümit Aslan, Gabby Anton, Christina Pei

Our Program•  A taxonomy of computational thinking practice for STEM (Weintrop et al., 2015)•  30 classroom ready CT-STEM lesson plans•  Professional development workshops with over 50 teachers from the Chicago area•  7 CT-STEM assessments with 18,000 responses from students

•  Engaged thousands of students from diverse high schools•  Interviews with 19 STEM scientists and practitioners•  Addressing the computational thinking and modeling requirements of the NGSS


Project Title: Broadening Participation in Computing through a Community Approach to Learning Name: Dr. Nichole Pinkard and Dr. Ugochi Acholonu Institution: DePaul University Contact Information: [email protected], [email protected] Website: http://Chicagocityoflearning.org Our goal is to understand ways to support computing pathways for underrepresented youth in Chicago. We use the Chicago City of Learning (CCOL) social-technical infrastructure as our context of design and research. CCOL is a partnership with over 180 youth-serving institutions to bring low-cost, informal opportunities to youth across the city. These opportunities are bridge together through the digital badging system integrated into the CCOL website. Below we share our research goals, select findings, and design interventions. Goal#1:MappingtheOpportunitiesandAccessibilityofComputingOpportunitiesinChicago.

From May 2014 to August 2015 there were 228 informal coding opportunities available in Chicago (Figure 1). This represented 2% of all the informal learning opportunities listed in CCOL. In comparison, during the same time period, there were 7,002 Sports & Wellness opportunities, which represented 55% of all informal opportunities available in CCOL. To understand the accessibility of these programs to underrepresented youth, we focused our analyses on students in the Chicago Public School (CPS) district. The district serves about 400,000 students: 87% are students of color, 17% are English language learners, and 86% receive free and/or reduced lunch. Chicago’s informal opportunities are concentrated downtown. A typical one-way route to a downtown opportunity from the 10 zip codes with the highest concentration of CPS students would require one subway ride, one bus ride, and an average of .43 miles of walking. It would also take on average 46.5 minutes. We argue the location of computing opportunities is one barrier that prevents youth of color from participating in informal computing opportunities in Chicago.

Goal#2:DesigningEntryComputingOpportunitiestoreducebarriersandincreaseengagementamongunderrepresentedgroups.

The images above highlight the entry experiences designed to explore ways to reduce location-based barriers.

• Curated online challenges that linked youth to popular online coding environments such as Scratch, Alice, and Minecraft.

• Created a mobile digital hub that took trained mentors and equipment to community locations to teach computational making to diverse youth.

• Brought 800 students to DePaul University to work with professors, college students, and CS professionals during the Computer Science Week.

We are currently analyzing the impact of these interventions on reach, engagement, and furthering participation in code.

MobileVanDigitalHubDePaulHourofCodeOnlineChallenges

Figure1.InformalComputingOpportunitiesinChicago


Computing Education Research in the 21st CenturyComputer Science 10K



ComPASS works with secondary school teachers to broaden participation in Computer Science for both teachers and their students and to increase the number of available CS Principles courses offered to students in Southern California. Project Team: PI Diane Baxter ([email protected]); co-PIs Leland Beck ([email protected]) and Beth Simon

([email protected]); Evaluator: Monica Sweet ([email protected]). Institutions: UC San Diego and San Diego State University Website: www.ce21sandiego.org Specific Objectives:

→ To develop CS Principles through Alice, a high school course using an online text and planning guide in conjunction with an active learning pedagogy developed by Beth Simon.

→ To train in-service teachers in course content and pedagogy and support them as they implement and grow the course.

→ To increase pre-service teachers’ interest in CS teaching and provide them training in our CS Principles (CSP) course content and pedagogy before they earn their credentials.

Recent Activities: • Provided training to teachers and pre-service

teachers in CS, including high school CSP course content and pedagogy and content and pedagogy for a new middle school CS course to increase future CSP participation.

• Hosted/provided ongoing CSP support activities: weekly phone calls, web-based and in-person social networking and support activities, TeacherTECH enrichment sessions, CSTA-San Diego meetings.

• Provided support for K12 applications for CSP UC college-preparatory credit.

Achievements: • 2014-15: 21 ComPASS-prepared teachers taught

34 CSP classes in 18 schools to over 680 students. Pass rates averaged over 80%, with > 60% As/Bs.

• 2015-16: 23 teachers, 32 CSP classes, 21 schools, ~960 students.

• In one district, AP-CS-A enrollment has increased from 2 to 40 since ComPASS-introduced CSP.

• Increasing participation of female and minority teachers and students.

Teachers Report: • High levels of engagement in teaching CSP. • Working together more, including sharing and co-

developing resources and materials. • Improved district climate for CS education over the

past three years. Students Report: • High levels of satisfaction and engagement in CSP. • They would likely take another CS course (68%). • They would attend college (83%) and pursue a STEM

or CS-related career (70%). • Positive impacts in other courses. Challenge: • Inconsistent CSP course implementation, due to

issues with competing courses, student recruitment, variable administrative and counselor support.


CS 10K - Mobile CSP Using Mobile Learning to Teach CS Principles in Connecticut Schools NSF Project Number 1240841

Ralph Morelli, Trinity College ( [email protected])

Chinma Uche , CTCSTA ( [email protected])

Website: http://mobile-csp.org

Figure 1: An App Inventor raffle app Description Mobile CSP trains high school teachers to teach the emerging AP Computer Science Principles course. The Mobile CSP course uses the mobile computing language, App Inventor for Android (See Figure 1), to provide a rigorous, programming-based introduction to Computer Science. Mobile CSP is a project-based curriculum in which student projects focus on building socially useful mobile apps that are closely associated with their interests and grounded in their schools, their homes, and their communities. The Mobile CSP project has three main goals: Teacher Education, Student Learning, and Teaching Materials and Interventions. Teachers are supported by an itinerant teaching consultant. Schools are encouraged to share student data on performance and attitude with the project. Mobile CSP is contributing to a change in attitude toward CS in Connecticut and actively contributes to the Connecticut chapter of CSTA (CTCSTA). Curriculum A complete and openly-licensed curriculum, including lesson plans, lessons, interactive exercises, formative and summative assessment instruments, is available online. Scaling and lesson plans were developed by the TeachIT project at the College of St. Scholastica.

Figure 2. First Annual Mobile CSP Expo. Students from the 20132014 edition of the Mobile CSP

course demonstrate the apps they built for the course’s final performance task.

Figure 3: Members of the 2013, 2014, and 2015 teacher cohorts with Mobile CSP staff.

Teachers Trained Students Taught

2013-2014 10 - CT 300+

2014-2015 16 - CT 40 - Online

600+

2015-2016 12 - CT 41 - Online 47 - Other hybrid sites

800+


TeachIT - Scaling Mobile CSP Professional Development Online Jennifer Rosato ([email protected]) & Chery Takkunen Lucarelli ([email protected])

www.mobile-csp.org Mobile Computer Science Principles (CSP) is an AP CS Principles course focusing on mobile computing where students learn computer science by building socially useful apps. The College of St. Scholastica continues to collaborate on updating the Mobile CSP curriculum and to offer professional development to teachers via a summer online course and ongoing mentoring and support during the school year. The project, TeachIT-CSP, scales up the Mobile CSP professional development to reach 200+ teachers over three years. Teachers are divided into small groups and assigned an experienced Mobile CSP teacher as a mentor, each of whom is trained in building community and supporting teachers. Our hypothesis is that large-scale online professional development can effectively prepare instructors to teach an AP CSP course.

Project Goals: 1. Bring to scale the Mobile CSP curriculum for teachers and

students in an engaging and effective open online course format focusing on CS concepts.

2. Provide effective online professional development and ongoing support to help teachers incorporate best practices that improve student learning outcomes in CS and support underrepresented populations.

3. Develop an open and sharable repository of video exemplars that capture CS teachers demonstrating evidence-based practices.

Professional Development Model

● Mentors - each is assigned groups of about 10 participants, connecting regularly via email and online video conferencing in the summer and academic year.

● Hangouts On Air - address broader scope issues to reinforce project goals. Example: reading in the content area, included a professor with expertise in this area and a mentor giving practical examples from experience.

● Video Observations - participating teachers record a 10-minute segment in the classroom to share in groups - virtual classroom visits - to improve teaching practices and to share evidence-based pedagogy within the community.


Jeff Gray (PI)University of [email protected]

Mary Boehm (co-PI)Carol Crawford

A+ College Ready

A Model for Statewide Deployment of CS Principles

CS4Alabama Teacher LocationsCohort 1 – Blue; Cohort 2 – Yellow;

Cohort 3 - Red

Three-Year Project Goals • Provide year-long professional development (PD) and instructional support to 50 high school teachers • Introduce 3,200 high school students to the CS Principles (CSP) curriculum• Broaden participation in CSP through open access using the National Math and Science Initiative (NMSI) model• Disseminate curricular materials and assessment results for others to adopt our CSP PD model

Project Highlights• CS Principles now counts as one of four math credits required for high school graduation in Alabama• The Teacher Leader model enabled 8 experienced Year-1 teachers to serve as mentors to 41 other teachers• A hybrid year-round PD model that is a mix of face-face and on-line instruction with community interaction• Google CS4HS supported our MOOC with over 1,100 international registrants in BOTH 2014 and 2015

Year 3: 2015-16 Evaluation Results• 49 teachers implementing CS Principles in their schools• An average enrollment of 775 students each year• 48% female and/or URM students• 91% of students would consider recommending course to others• 73 pre-service Math Education students trained in college course

Key lessons learned• A sustained teacher community of practice is key to successful

year-round PD, curriculum development, and courseimplementation

• Two years of PD is important to provide formative changes tocontent knowledge for teachers new to CS

• Connections to guidance counselors crucial• Females and URMs reported the most increase in self-rated

abilities; both rated CS as 2nd most desirable college major• Alabama State Department of Education is a committed advocate

of our project

NSF CE21 (#1240944)

Kathy Haynie (Evaluator)Sheryl Packman

Haynie Research & Evaluation


The Utah Exploring Computer Science Initiative

AY 2013-2014 AY 2014-2015 AY 2015-2016

1 Summer Workshop 2 Summer Workshops 3 Summer Workshops 23 Teachers Trained 49 Teachers Trained 78 Teachers Trained 17 Schools in 9 Districts 53 Schools in 22 Districts 98 Schools in 25 Districts 1205 Students Enrolled 3461 Students Enrolled 5375 Students Enrolled

Exploring Computer Science In Utah: Fulfills statewide HS graduation requirement (Digital Studies) Half year curriculum: Units 1, 2, and 4 from original ECS curriculum Three versions of shortened Unit 5 (Computing and Data Analysis) being piloted in 2015-16 5-day, 10-day, and 15-day versions Monthly mentoring of first-time ECS teachers Example agendas available at: http://tinyurl.com/ECS-agenda

Achievements: The original goal of the project was to train 100 Utah educators to teach ECS by 2015. As of the 2015-16 school year, the project has exceeded that goal by 50 teachers!

The Utah Exploring Computer Science Initiative

NSF-CE21 #1240977

www.westminstercollege.edu/ECS

Helen Hu, Carl Lyman, Cecily Heiner

[email protected]

Attend 5-day PD (first summer)

Meet monthly in small groups with ECS mentor teacher (first semester teaching ECS)

Attend full day PD on Scratch (mid-semester)

Attend 5-day PD (second summer)

Learn to facilitate 5-day PD (optional)


NEW MEXICO

COMPUTER SCIENCE FOR ALL http://cs4all.org

PI: Melanie E. Moses, University of New Mexico ([email protected])

Former PI: Irene Lee ([email protected])

Co-‐PIs: Ed Angel, Dave Ackley, University of New Mexico Program Manager: Maureen Psaila-‐Dombrowski ([email protected])

Target audiences

Objectives

Results & Outcomes

Primary audience: High school STEM teachers from New Mexico who teach at public, state charter, and Bureau of Indian Education schools. Secondary audience: High school Juniors and Seniors. Prepare teachers in computer science (CS) content, practice and pedagogy through online professional development courses and face-‐to-‐face workshops. Establish agreements between universities and school districts to offer dual credit CS courses in high schools. Increase the number and diversity of students taking CS courses at NM high schools. Use computer modeling and simulation as a means to introduce CS while making explicit the relevance of CS in addressing a wide variety of real-‐world problems. 43 high school teachers have been certified to teach the NM-‐CSforAll course by completing the University of New Mexico (UNM) teacher professional development course. These teachers taught 491 students in NM high schools and on the UNM campus in 2013/14 and 2014/15. 72% of students were from underrepresented groups in STEM including 36% women, 25% Native American, 17% Hispanic/Latino, 2% African American, and 21% in two or more groups including an underrepresented group. 80% of students passed the course. Program evaluations showed that both high school teachers and students had significant increases in learning objectives after completing their courses, and it successfully engaged underrepresented students with 88% of students reporting “liking” or “really liking” the course. The long-‐term sustainability of the program has strong support from the UNM Provost who has allocated funding to teach the high school teacher professional development course and the dual credit course for high schools for the next 2 years. The program continues to grow with 128 students taking the UNM-‐funded class in Fall 2015, making CS4all by far the largest dual credit course offered at UNM. Two REU students developed new learning modules to be used in a partnership with the UNM NASA Swarmathon Challenge (http://NasaSwarmathon.com). Swarmathon students from minority serving colleges and universities across the US will use CS4All materials in educational outreach and a swarm robotics programming competition.

This work is supported in part by the National Science Foundation grant CNS-1240992 (NSF Computing Education for the 21st Century)


Jennifer Smith, CS Matters in MD Lead Teacher, facilitates a summer workshop session with our pilot teachers at UMBC.

Marie desJardins, PI for CS Matters in MD, introduces a guest speaker during a summer workshop session with our pilot teachers at UMBC.

in Maryland CS Matters is Maryland is a collaborative project between UMBC, UMCP, and school systems. The goal is to increase the expertise of Maryland high school CS teachers, the number of academically rigorous CS high school classes offered, and the number and diversity of students taking CS classes. Year Two Activities (January - December 2015):

1. Recruited and trained 25 pilot CS teachers via spring, summer, and fall face-to-face workshops and bi-weekly conference calls.

2. Collected and analyzed high school student CSP performance tasks to edit curriculum and to use authentic student data during professional development.

3. Collected weekly feedback from lead, master, and pilot teachers to further refine lessons and lesson resources.

4. Began a teacher exchange program which enabled teachers to assess performance tasks for each other.

5. Partnered with Access CS10K for our curricular modifications and teacher professional development.

6. Granted access to all of our curricular materials (lessons, lesson resources, and assessments) in response to requests from over 20 teachers internationally and nationally.

Year Three Activities (January - December 2016):

1. Building upon our COP, we will hold a one week summer workshop for our CSP trained teachers. The teachers will share best practices and prepare for next school year when the first AP CSP exam will be administered by College Board.

2. Train an additional 40 CS teachers from across MD and other states. Training will include spring, summer, and fall workshops and online COP activities.

3. Continue to support all of the CS teachers during the first year of the AP CSP course and exam. 4. Facilitate sessions at AERA (American Educational Research Association) and CSTA. 5. With additional ECEP funding, we will continue to improve CS Education in Maryland with state-

wide stakeholder meetings culminating with a CS Education Summit at UMBC in April 2016.

Project Website: http://csmatters.org/ Project Email: [email protected]


Project Title: Computing in Secondary Schools PIs: Nigamanth Sridhar, Debbie Jackson, Karla Hamlen, Santosh Misra, Beth Simon Institution: Cleveland State University and University of California, San Diego Contact Information: [email protected]; 216-392-2279 Website: http://www.csedohio.org Project Goals: 1. Recruit and train 30 high school teachers in computational thinking, with specific emphasis on

preparing them to teach CS Principles. 2. Prepare and deliver online professional development for CS Principles teachers. 3. Create an offer a CS post-baccalaureate teacher licensure pathway to increase the pipeline of CS

teachers. 4. Create and maintain a replicable network design model for CS teacher training and mentoring. 5. Establish CS mentoring programs for high school teachers with a focus on gender and minority

diversification. Activities in 2015: 1. In addition to the 5 teachers trained in 2014, we trained 18 new teachers to teach CS Principles during

2015-16 academic year. The teachers are all currently teaching the class in their schools. Of the total 23 schools we have worked with, twelve are in the northeast Ohio region and the remaining are spread all across the state. The curriculum for the course is adapted from the course developed at UC San Diego as part of the ComPASS project.

2. We have set up a dual enrollment option for students enrolled in the CS Principles course at partner high schools. Students receive college credit for CIS 151: Invitation to Computing at Cleveland State University; this is the CS0 class in the CS major at CSU. This option is established under the State of Ohio’s College Credit Plus program.

3. We have continued to work on creating a teaching licensure program, both at the undergraduate level under the CSUteach program, as well as a post-bac program. These programs will be ready, and will begin to accept students in Fall 2016.

4. We worked with the Cleveland Municipal School District in the design of the the new John Marshall School of Information Technology that opened this year. This is a four-year high school in which students will encounter curriculum that has computational thinking and computer science concepts woven across all of their courses, in addition to a dedicated CS course in each year of high school. We continue to work with the school as they develop curriculum.

CISS Project team with

teachers from 2015 cohort


Dennis Brylow1 Tom Gendreau2 Andy KuemmelMarta Magiera Joe Kmoch

The PUMP-CS Project is a collaborative effort between computer science faculty at Marquette Unviersity and University of Wisconsin – La Crosse, officials from the state Department of Public Instruction, secondary school teachers in the Wisconsin-Dairyland chapter of the Computer Science Teacher Association (CSTA), and school administrators from across our state.

Our goal is to increase the number of qualified computer science teachers offering K-12 courses across the upper Midwest.

2014-2015

● The two of three overlapping annual cohorts of teachers

are participating in Exploring Computer Science(http://exploringcs.org) professional development. ECShas been rolled out in 26 school districts acrossWisconsin, impacting 1300+ students in the first twoyears, including in seven of the largest high schools inMilwaukee Public Schools.

● New Teaching Computer Science methods course

offered, emphasizing advanced courses beyond ECS.● Partnered with Code.org to expand CS into K-5 grades.

● Partnered with Google CS4HS to support AP CSP.

2016

● Expand ECS cohorts to include large metro-area high schools,

as well as rural districts and smaller towns across the state.● Virtual Department Meeting online support for teachers.

● Offer revision of TCS methods course.

● Developing new and alternative pathways for teachers to earn

Wisconsin required CS license.● Deploying new Arduino-based variant on ECS module 6 for

schools that cannot afford expensive robotics kits.● Add service learning course for CS students to assist area

ECS teachers in the classroom, ala Delaware's CS10K project.

http:// pump cs.mu.edu/

1 PI Marquette University, NSF CNS 13393922 PI University Wisconsin – La Crosse, NSF CNS 1339179


www.uw.edu/accesscomputing/CS10K [email protected]

Principal Investigator Richard Ladner, University of Washington

Principal Investigator Andreas Stefik,University of Nevada, Las Vegas

Co-Principal Investigator Sheryl Burgstahler,University of Washington

AccessCS10K aims to increase the success of students with disabilities in Exploring Computer Science and Computer Science Principle courses.• Capacity Building for Teachers—hosting capacity building institutes to provide professional

development, an online community of practice for discussing strategies, and real-time support for individualized needs.

• Accessible Tools and Materials—refining tools and creating accessible curricula and web resources.

• Resources—sharing a searchable knowledge base, guidelines, proceedings, and videos.

Individual SupportAsk us questions about how to include students with disabilities in computing. Email [email protected] or call 509-328-9331.

AccessCS10K is funded by the National Science Foundation as part of the Computing Education for the 21st Century program of the Directorate for Computer & Information Science and Engineering (Grant #CNS-1440843 and #CNS-1440878)

An Accessible Hour of Code Hourofcode.com/qrm

Over 25,000 participants!

AccessCS10K partners with more than 30 CE21 projects, Computer Science Teachers Association, Project Lead the Way, Bootstrap, Code.org, Khan Academy, and others to create professional development materials about teaching students with disabilities, to develop accessible K-12 computing curricula and tools and disseminate information about including students with disabilities in K-12 computing courses.


INFUSING COOPERATIVE LEARNING INTO CS PRINCIPLESPIs: Owen Astrachan (Duke University), Jeff Gray (University of Alabama), Fran Trees (Rutgers University)Evaluators: Kathleen Haynie and Siobhan Cooney (Haynie Research and Evaluation)Contacts: [email protected], [email protected], [email protected] under NSF Grants: 1441045, 144084, 1440905

Project OverviewThe curriculum framework for CS Principles (CSP) was designed to appeal to a broader and more diverse group of students and to be more engaging than the current AP Computer Science A course. However, curriculum by itself is not enough to ensure student engagement - the most interesting and innovative curriculum can still be taught in a disengaged manner, leading to lost opportunities for broadening interest in computing across a diverse student population. The learning science literature on Cooperative Learning (CL) has been shown to increase class participation and student learning, while also promoting diversity in a manner that supports the differentiated instruction needed to engage students who have mixed abilities. The first year of this project seeks to understand how the best practices of CL can be applied across the CSP curriculum framework.

Goals

Provide PD opportunities for 180 CSP teachers that will improve classroom engagement using cooperative learning structures through face-to-face workshops.

Create a publicly available collection of resources of best practices of applying CL structures within the CSP context.

Evaluate the impact of CL structures on students’ computational self-efficacy and learningachievement.

Year 1 Summary Results• In July 2015, during a week prior to the CSTA conference in Grapevine, TX, 52 high school teachers

from across the nation participated in a 4-day training on Cooperative Learning applied to CSP.• A community of practice was initiated among teachers using Google Groups to facilitate year-long

discussion.• Cohort 1 teachers will complete the school year by collaborating on Google Hangouts and creating

lesson CSP lesson plans that have Cooperative Learning as a focus.


Project Title: STEM C -‐ CS 10K: Computer Science: Creating a Village for Educators (CS-‐CaVE) Project Team: PI: Karen Flammer ([email protected]), co-‐PIs: Susan Yonezawa ([email protected]), and Beth Simon ([email protected]), Evaluator: Monica Sweet ([email protected]) , Research Director: Nan Renner ([email protected]) Institution: University of California, San Diego Website: CS-‐CaVE.org CS-‐CaVE Major Goals This project explores how to create sustainable reform in CS education by closely studying district-‐based models to mobilize needed resources; respond to needs and constraints within educational systems; and rapidly adapt CS educational content for Computer Science Principles (CSP) and AP CSP. CS-‐CaVE provides Master Teachers within each of the three participating school districts professional development and ongoing support as they train cadres of district teachers to teach CSP/AP CSP. The CS-‐CaVE project team evaluates teacher and student participation and outcomes in each district. They also examine system-‐wide implementation processes through district interviews and observations to better understand what helps and what hinders implementation and scaling of CS education at the school and district level. CS-‐CaVE partners include the San Diego Supercomputer Center at UC San Diego (SDSC), UC San Diego’s Center for Research on Educational Equity, Assessment and Teaching Excellence (CREATE), the UC San Diego Computer Science and Engineering (CSE) Department, the San Diego Unified School District (SDUSD), the Sweetwater Union High School District (SUHSD), and the Vista Unified School District (VUSD). CS-‐CaVE Year One Significant Results In the first of funding (2015 – 2016), there was substantial growth of CSP and CS classes across the three districts. A total of 35 teachers are teaching CS courses, partly as a result of CS-‐CaVE. The district breakdown is as follows:

• Sweetwater: 8 teachers teaching 12 CSP classes in 5 high schools; 5 teachers teaching 5 classes in middle schools.

• San Diego Unified: 13 teachers teaching 13 CSP classes in 12 high school; 4 teachers teaching 10 classes in 4 middle schools.

• Vista Unified: 2 teachers teaching 2 CSP classes in 2 high schools; 3 teachers teaching 3 classes in 3 middle schools. CS-‐Cave Teacher and Student Attend National Summit on Computer Science Education

i

Edward Felten, Deputy U.S. Chief Technology Office with the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (left) with Sweetwater High School Student Karla Gonzales and Teacher Arthur Lopez

Art Lopez, a CS-‐CaVE supported teacher at San Diego’s Sweetwater Union High School and Sweetwater High School senior Karla Gonzalez, who plans to major in computer science in college, were invited to participate in a national summit on computer science education, sponsored by the College Board and NSF, as part of Computer Science Education Week. Lopez, who has taught at Sweetwater High School for nearly 30 years, had no computer science background before he began working with UCSD under support from NSF. Lopez is now a CS master teacher and a curriculum writer for the College Board.


Bringing Rigorous Computer Science to the Largest School System in the U.S. June Mark (EDC) [email protected], Paul Goldenberg (EDC) [email protected],

Brian Harvey (UC Berkeley) [email protected], Evan Korth (CSNYC), Don Miller (NYC DoE)

bjc.edc.org

This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. (1441075). Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.

TheBeautyandJoyofComputing

Bringing Rigorous Computer Science to the Largest School System in the U.S.

bjc.edc.org Goals: Our partnership advances NSF’s aim to attract students from underrepresented groups into computing, build their competence, and keep their interest. The test-bed for meeting this goal is the New York City Public High Schools. We are very excited about this opportunity to have a major BJC impact on an entire city!

Activities: NYCDoE will recruit and select 100 high school teachers to attend PD workshops, ultimately serving a wide range of students of diverse ethnic groups and levels of prior academic success. EDC is adapting UCB’s Beauty and Joy of Computing (BJC) to fit the structure and needs of high school classrooms, with a complete new curriculum package for students, a teacher's guide, and assessments, preserving the BJC spirit of technical rigor, connection with real applications, and student-initiated projects. We are developing PD materials and facilitator guides, and training NYC teachers to be able to provide PD even after the project is over, sustaining computer science education in the NYC schools. The new curriculum is in its first year of use, with formative research to guide revision.

Description: BJC is proudly Programming-heavy. The Snap! programming language combines the ease of use of visual programming with expressive power previously found only in the most sophisticated text-based languages. This allows a diverse audience of beginners who may initially not think they're interested in programming to access sophisticated ideas and develop creative projects. We go beyond the CS Principles requirements, featuring the advanced techniques of recursion and higher order functions. BJC’s second heavy emphasis is on Global Impact, with a strong classroom discussion component.

Featured in a White House Fact Sheet that spotlights new commitments to advance computer science education, this project responds to the College Board's Computer Science Principles Framework and is timed to prepare students for a new Advanced Placement computer science exam that will launch in Spring 2017.


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Project Title: CS10K: Leveraging the National UTeach Network to Strengthen and Expand Computer Science Principles Education (NSF #1543014)

Name: PI Dr. Calvin Lin, Co-PI Dr. Michael Marder

Institution: The University of Texas at Austin

Contact: Alicia Beth, Project Director, UTeach Computer Science, [email protected], 512-232-0687

Website: uteachcs.org This project aims to strengthen and expand Computer Science Principles education by leveraging 1) CS Principles course curriculum developed by Project Engage (NSF #1138506) at UT Austin; 2) the successful UTeach model for secondary STEM teacher preparation; 3) the unique expertise of the UTeach Institute, the organization charged with ensuring fidelity of the national UTeach expansion to universities nationwide and the sustainability of related STEM education innovations; and 4) the national network of 44 UTeach programs operating in 21 states and the District of Columbia. Specifically, the UTeach Institute is collaborating with Project Engage at The University of Texas at Austin to develop a project-based high school AP CSP course and train up to 600 teachers to implement the course by fall 2018. Additionally, we are working with the national network of 44 university-based UTeach programs to strengthen the preparation of all STEM teachers through integration of computer science content and to recruit and prepare computer science teachers specifically through development of innovative undergraduate pathways to licensure and enhanced preparation support. Approximately 500 new STEM teachers are prepared annually by these programs. We expect to increase the number of new teachers certified to teach computer science by UTeach programs by a factor of 10 to 50 annually. Project Goals

1. Development and implementation of high quality in-person and online professional development programs to train a diverse corps of teachers nationwide to offer Thriving in Our Digital World: AP, a new AP Computer Science Principles course developed by the UTeach Institute in collaboration with Project Engage at the University of Texas at Austin.

2. Recruitment, training, and course implementation support to approximately 600 teachers nationwide between summer 2016 and summer 2018 to expand access to a high quality CS course and the AP CSP exam to approximately 10,000 high school students.

3. Development and integration of computer science content and activities into the national UTeach secondary STEM teacher preparation curriculum.

4. Establishing and strengthening undergraduate pathways for computer science teacher licensure at UTeach secondary STEM teacher preparation programs nationwide.

Project Outcomes to Date

• Finalized first version of the Thriving in Our Digital World: AP course and teacher professional development materials. Submitted for College Board endorsement January 2016.

• Created project and course information and promotional materials. Launched uteachcs.org in December 2015.

• Established interlocal agreements with three partner K-12 school districts in Texas and established teacher training dates for summer 2016.

64 Project Description Booklet February 2016,

CS10K Community American Institutes for Research (AIR) Melissa Rasberry (PI), [email protected] cs10kcommunity.org

Stay connected… Contact: Melissa Rasberry (PI), [email protected]

Follow us on Twitter: @cs10k #cs10k

Become a member: cs10kcommunity.org

AIR is proud to partner with NSF to facilitate and support the CS10K Community, a virtual community of practice for the CSP and ECS teachers from the 35+ NSF-funded CS10K projects, as well as teachers in different settings and at different levels who are interested in teaching computer science. With support from the AIR team, community members can: • receive answers to their burning questions through

facilitated discussion threads, • learn new strategies and content during webinars, and • gain access to the resources that they need.

Over the past year, the CS10K Community…

• Webinar on February 10 at 4:30pm PT / 7:30pm ET on CS in Making and Robotics

• Webinar on February 16 at 4:30pm PT / 7:30pm ET on broadening ECS participation

• Monthly #cs10k Twitter chats on every Fourth Monday from 5-6pm PT / 8-9pm ET, including on February 22

Please contact us if you are interested in serving as a webinar guest or a community facilitator!

Welcomed 1000+ new members

Conducted 25+ webinars and Twitter chats

Released new ECS assessments, developed

by our partners at SRI Education

Tapped into the leadership of 40+

teachers and experts in the field

Sponsored a theme for Connected Educator Month and hosted our first CS Ed

Week photo challenge


Mathematics and Science Partnerships



Keith Sheppard, PI – Arthur Camins, Co-‐PI, Project Director Award 3: 0922662

ABSTRACT-‐ PISA2 is a five-‐year, $11.5 million National Science Foundation funded Mathematics and Science Partnership project to increase student learning and motivation, teacher preparation, and

school district capacity to deliver high quality, research-‐based STEM programs. Over three hundred Grades 3-‐8 teachers participate in either a five-‐course graduate sequence or summer professional development institutes, classroom support visits and school-‐year workshops to strengthen their physical and earth science and engineering disciplinary and pedagogical content knowledge. PISA2 is aligned with the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), emphasizing “high leverage” science and engineering practices and the

engineering design process (EDP). PISA2 strives for teachers to improve their understanding of how students learn STEM subjects and their ability to facilitate student learning of creativity, problem solving and teamwork. RESEARCH AND IMPACT-‐ Preliminary evidence suggests that: Teachers have-‐

• Increased their content understanding; • Adopted new teaching practices; • Introduced engineering design activities; • Incorporated modeling and evidence-‐based reasoning

into science instruction. University disciplinary faculty have-‐

• Increased their level of collaboration and trust with Stevens/CIESE STEM education staff;

• Incorporated deeper learning strategies in their non-‐PISA2 undergraduate teaching.


Project Mobilize Robert Gould, Principal Investigator

UCLA, Dept. of Statistics [email protected] www.mobilizingcs.org

Mobilize was created to enhance math and science education in secondary schools by integrating data science into existing curricula. Working in partnership with the Los Angeles Unified School District, Mobilize has created a technology suite to support participatory sensing and has developed and implemented curricula materials for algebra I, Exploring Computer Science, biology, and the year-‐long course Introduction to Data Science (IDS), which validates the Algebra II requirement. Mobilize students collect data using their own smart phones and mobile devices, and develop statistical and computational thinking skills by working with data.

IDS students work with rich, multi-‐variate collected data from participatory sensing, large open-‐source datasets, and data that they themselves simulate. Students learn to write code to analyze data using the statistical programming language R, and learn to interpret and communicate their analyses.

This past year we've expanded the IDS pilot program to include 32 teachers and over 1000 students. This expansion has been supported by a summer professional development institute and bi-‐monthly follow-‐up workshops led by a new team of teacher-‐leaders from the first year pilot.

Areas of potential collaboration

Alternative Pathways to College: Algebra II is a notorious gatekeeper for entry to higher education. It is not clear that all of the algebra II content is necessary for all college students, while it is clear that all college students need increasingly sophisticated knowledge of statistics and computation. Mobilize has helped create an alternative pathway around algebra II for some California students, but we are very interested in how to continue this movement politically and nationally in such a way that such pathways are not considered secondary to traditional pathways. One approach might be to establish data science as a recognized secondary science discipline, on par with biology or physics or chemistry.

Data Science K-‐16: while educators have made strides introducing computation and statistics into the K-‐12 curriculum, there is not yet a coherent vision for how data scientists should be prepared.

To test-‐drive the Mobilize technology suite, please visit https://sandbox.mobilizingcs.org. To experience the data visualization tools using pre-‐existing participatory sensing data, please visit https://lausd.mobilizingcs.org/#demo/


Project Title: Cincinnati Engineering Enhanced Math and Science (CEEMS) Partnership

Name: Dr. Anant Kukreti, PI; Ms. Julie Steimle, Project Director

Institution: University of Cincinnati (UC)

Contact Information: [email protected] or [email protected]

Website: http://ceas.uc.edu/special_programs/ceems/CEEMS_Home.html

Goals

• Increase 7-12 student knowledge of engineering design process and STEM careers and increase interest in college study in engineering or other STEM careers.

• Increase 7-12 student knowledge of math and science content when taught using engineering as a context for learning.

• Develop math and science teacher knowledge of challenge-based learning, engineering, and the engineering design process as instructional strategies through explicit training and classroom implementation support.

• Create a sustainable track for engineering undergraduates to simultaneously obtain secondary teacher licensure and provide teacher experiences for engineering students with younger college students in 7-12 schools.

• Promote broader application and impact of challenge-based learning and engineering design-based learning across region by exposing pre-service teachers to the pedagogies and developing sustainable propagation strategies to in-service teachers not directly participating in the grant.

Primarily, CEEMS works with math and science teachers from 14 partner districts to integrate engineering and challenge based learning into the math and science content. For two years, teacher participants complete 20 graduate credit hours of coursework, engage in professional development, and receive individualized coaching to develop and implement engineering design challenges aligned to the specific academic standards they teach. Thus far, 66 teacher participants have created and implemented 229 engineering units in their classrooms. Pre and post assessment data indicates that 92% of units result in statistically significant student gains in content knowledge and teachers demonstrate significant shifts in instructional practices after just one year in the program.

Degree pathways have been institutionalized at UC and propagation strategies have broadened impact. Completion of CEEMS graduate coursework will now earn teachers a graduate certificate in K-12 Engineering Education from the College of Engineering & Applied Science. With 15 additional credit hours, teachers can earn a master’s degree in Curriculum & Instruction. Engineering undergraduates can enroll in an ACCEND (Accelerated Degrees in Engineering) program that enables them to simultaneously earn a master’s degree in Curriculum & Instruction plus high school teaching licensure. Furthermore, CEEMS teachers present their units at a regional STEM Conference which draws 300+ attendees annually and present two additional professional development workshops per year.


Bronwyn Bevan, University of Washington

[email protected] researchandpractice.org

RP+ RESEARCH + PRACTICE COLLABORATORY

The Research+Practice Collaboratory is developing and testing new ways to connect educational research and practice. The central idea underpinning the Collaboratory is that research must be more clearly grounded in the concerns of practice in order to produce more usable and sustainable results that can enhance equity in STEM education. The Collaboratory’s theory of action works across three dimensions:

The Collaboratory consists of 4 collaborating laboratories: University of Colorado Boulder (Bill Penuel), University of Washington (Phil Bell), Education Development Center (Pam Buffington) and Exploratorium (Bronwyn Bevan*). Each lab pursues its own line of work in the context of math, science, and engineering, across formal and informal settings, and together we develop insights into effective ways to bridge research and practice. Inverness Research is our formative evaluator and SRI International is our external evaluator. New Directions: Targeted, Tiered, and Phased Communications Over the last year, the Collaboratory has been experimenting with a new communications and dissemination strategy intended to significantly accelerate and enhance our dissemination efforts by tailoring both the medium and the message to specific targeted audiences; this includes:

+ Creation of a communications team (4 people at each Lab, 1.75 FTE total) to develop a tiered, phased, and targeted communications plan to oversee circulation of Collaboratory products, messages, and events. + Creation of a digital resource ecosystem that integrates social media tools with five separate, sustainable project websites to ensure that products, messages, and events are embedded in targeted professional conversations and communities. + Activation of tiered partnerships with leaders of Professional Associations and Networks to (1) serve as a long-term strategic partner, (2) collaborate on temporal events such as R+P webinars and workshops, and/or (3) disseminate a range of R+P resources to their respective organizational constituencies.

Using web and social media to share STEM improvement resources that integrate perspectives from both research and practice.

Access and Awareness

Critical Engagement

Research-Practice Partnerships

Creating contexts for dialogue, across r+p com-munities, to collaboratively reframe problems and innovate new approaches.

Developing detailed accounts of long-term, mutualistic relationships, and their outcomes, focused on problems of practice.

If you are already involved or interested in Integrating research + practice, please let us know!


Principal Investigators:Joni Falk [email protected] Brian Drayton [email protected]

Institution:2067MassachusettsAve.Cambridge,MA02140

MSPnet is funded by the National Science Foundation, award #DRL 1240555

MSPnet.org: An Online Professional Learning Networkwww.mspnet.org

MSPnet, first funded in 2004 is an online resource center created for National Science Foundation’s Math Science Partnership program (http://mspnet.org). This online collegial network continues to develop and evolve in order to support the STEM+C community as well as other researchers, higher education STEM faculty, and K-12 educators invested in the improvement of STEM education. As part of this work, we designed and facilitated an online Video Showcase Event wherein over 100 NSF funded projects from multiple NSF Programs created and shared short videos describing their work and engaged in discourse with researchers, practitioners and the public. Over 1,800 comments were exchanged during the event. To date, there have been over 26,400 video views. This event can be accessed at: http://resourcecenters2015.videohall.com

While MSPnet is over a decade old, but it is still evolving and looks forward to continued involvement with the STEM+C program. Since launch (server-side statistics) there have been over 11 million page-views accessed by over 2.2 million unique users from over 200 countries around the world. The weekly newsletter currently reaches over 8,800 people per week, and serves as an effective dissemination vehicle for those doing innovative work in STEM education. Lessons learned from this project on designing and facilitating online communities have been disseminated in conference presentations as well as in a book Creating and Sustaining Professional Learning Communities, edited by – and contributed to - by the MSPnet PIs (Falk & Drayton, 2009).

We are looking for an active group of collaborators to help us tailor a hub for the STEM+C projects.Interested? Please send an email to [email protected]


Creative Robotics: An inclusive program for fostering diverse STEM talent in middle school

Illah Nourbakhsh, Jennifer Cross, Emily Hamner (Carnegie Mellon University), Debra Bernstein, Karen Mutch-Jones (TERC), Harold Blanco (Marshall University), Richard Duncan (Mingo County Schools),

Lourdes Karas (West Liberty University), Michelle Welter (Allegheny Valley School District) [email protected] http://artsandbots.posthaven.com

The Creative Robotics project:• Provides professional development to middle school teachers (grades

6-8) to support the integration of Arts & Bots into non-technologyclasses (e.g., history, English, health, art), and trains teachers torecognize exceptional talent in computational thinking andengineering design. So far, 17 teachers and 575 students haveparticipated in the project.

• Trains pre-service teachers to integrate technology into their futureclassrooms. So far, 79 pre-service teachers have participated.

Arts & Bots combines robotics components withcraft materials and a custom visual programming

environment to support the integration of creativesculptural robots in non-technology classes.

Outcomes: • The project produced operational definitions of Computational Thinking

and Engineering Design (with respect to robotics), creating a toolkit forteachers to use in identifying exceptional talent. As a result, teachers’perceptions of students have changed. For example, teachers recognizethat students showing talent are not always top academic performers.

• Students show pre-post gains in systems knowledge.• Students display increased understanding of engineering careers.• The majority of teachers found integrating Arts & Bots to be supportive

of core disciplinary content.

We welcome collaborators who share our interests in developing methodology for measuring technological fluency, computational thinking, engineering design, and teacher implementation of robotics curricula.

Creative Robotics is a Math and Science Partnership (MSP) project aimed at training non-technical teachers to recognize and cultivate engineering design and computational thinking talents.

Goals and Objectives:• Empowerment We believe technology tools that attract multiple talents will help students self-identify as

individuals with the creative problem-solving capabilities needed to become future creators and innovatorsin STEM disciplines.

• Inclusiveness We believe creative technology programs in core required classes will eliminate student self-selection out of technology and engineering activities, and this in turn casts a wider net for identifying andempowering all students with latent potential.


Quality Understanding and Engagement for Students and Teachers on Computational Thinking (QUEST CT, Award #1543258) Dr. Youwen Ouyang

Dept. of Computer Science & Information Systems [email protected]

(760)750-8047

Dr. Katherine Hayden School of Education [email protected]

(760)750-8545California State University San Marcos (CSUSM)

333 S. Twin Oaks Valley Road San Marcos, CA 92096

QUEST CT is a two-year Exploratory Integration project under Track 1: Integration of Computing in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) Education. The goals of QUEST CT are:

1) Increase teachers’ knowledge and ability to integrate Computational Thinking (CT) to create engaging science lessons and activities;

2) Increase students’ understanding and knowledge of CT concepts through contextually rich STEM-based formal and informal learning activities; and

3) Broaden the participation of diverse student communities by providing multiple opportunities for engagement with STEM+C experiences.

The project partners with four school districts serving different levels of diverse student populations. A cohort of 18 fifth and sixth grade teachers will participate in professional development that includes summer academies, Coached Lesson Study (CLS) rotations, and Professional Learning Communities (PLC). Each year, more than 500 students from partner school districts will be impacted through both formal classroom activities and informal events such as summer camps, after school clubs and family nights. Ongoing mentoring and support from the project leadership will allow close monitoring of project progress. Graduate and undergraduate computer science students will provide technical support for teachers as they implement Computational Thinking learning experiences.

The project uses a combination of two educational research approaches: exploratory research and design and development research. The fundamental education problem addressed is to design and implement an intervention that replaces the disjointed efforts to integrate Computational Thinking into STEM within K-12.


STEM + C Integration of Computing in STEM Education



Integrating Computer Science and Algebra in Middle and High School

Bootstrap teaches students to program their own videogames using pure algebra. Our explicit connection to algebra is unique among early programming courses, while most programming tools implicitly contradict math concepts. We use pedagogic techniques common to math classes, which makes it easier for math teachers to learn and teach Bootstrap in their classes.

Does it work? We published preliminary results in SIGCSE 2015 showing that students who took Bootstrap had significant performance gains on questions from statewide algebra exams. Additional data (gathered this year but not yet published) confirms the findings, even when Bootstrap is taught by teachers without degrees in CS.

Leveraging Math Classes to Promote Equitable Access to Computing

By embedding computing into core math classes, Bootstrap reaches every student. Our introductory curriculum is a 20-hour module, not a full course. Many of those hours cover standard math material, so teachers can ease into computing, building on their expertise in teaching math. Many math teachers report surprise at how accessible they find Bootstrap.

Of course, Bootstrap can be used as part of CS, IT, Math Electives, and other classes!

Beyond Algebra to a Full CS Curriculum

For teachers who want more than a module, we have two classes that build on Bootstrap:1 (our algebra curriculum). The just-released Bootstrap:2 curriculum introduces data structures and event-based programming. A CS Principles curriculum is in pilot testing, with a broader release planned in the coming year. Both students and teachers can grow into computing through these extended Bootstrap curricula, as part of a coherent sequence that builds on itself by design.

We provide detailed lesson plans, student workbooks, online software tools, teacher-training workshops, and ongoing support for teachers who use our materials. All materials and software are free.

A Year in Review

In 2015, we trained 400 teachers, reached 10,000 students, released Bootstrap:2, piloted a CS Principles offering, completed a positive external evaluation, and upgraded our software with a faster compiler, support for touch devices and dramatically improved screen-‐reader support for visually-‐impaired students. We also fostered partnerships with additional school districts around the country, and became a founding member of CSPdWeek.

To learn more, email us at [email protected]

Bootstrap is a collaboration between Emmanuel Schanzer, Kathi Fisler (WPI), and Shriram Krishnamurthi (Brown University) and their staff. NSF grants CNS-‐1042210 and DRL-‐1535276, as well as various corporate and foundation gifts and grants, support this work.


FACTS: Foundations of Achievement through Computational Thinking Skills (NSF Grant # 1440821)

Dr. Lisa Ventry Milenkovic, PI Broward County Public Schools, Ft. Lauderdale, FL

[email protected] - 754-321-2119 - @browardstem / @sleuthacademy http://academics.browardschools.com/nsf-facts

Project Team:

• Broward County Public Schools (BCPS), Ft. Lauderdale, FL • Code.org K-5 Curriculum • University of Chicago, Outlier Research & Evaluation, CEMSE

(Dr. Jeanne Century and Dr. Dae Kim) • Stanford University (Dr. Stephen Cooper) • University of Miami (Dr. M. Brian Blake) • Cadre of 12 K-5 teachers from BCPS

Goals/Objectives of Planning Project: • To provide evidence to support the benefits of introducing computing as part of the core curriculum in the

elementary school day. • To plan for providing foundational data regarding the effects of implementing a

rigorous computing curriculum on achievement in literacy, mathematics and science in the elementary grades.

• To provide curricular materials and the results of the research on achievement measures for broad dissemination and application.

• To increase exposure and participation of females and underrepresented minorities through the selection of the curricular interventions and their application through the core curriculum within the regular school day.

• To determine if introducing students to the use of computing as a tool for problem solving early in the students’ education, results in increased selection of technology as a career, helping to close the supply and demand gap in computer science college programs and careers.

Description of Project: Computer science and computational thinking are often not directly addressed in the elementary grades. FACTS hypothesizes that computational thinking skills taught with a rigorous computing curriculum will increase students’ engagement in school, especially girls and underrepresented minorities, and increase their academic achievement. FACTS will introduce a structured computing curriculum integrated into the core curriculum in diverse elementary schools and measure the effect of the interventions on achievement in literacy, mathematics and science. There is an ongoing focus on teacher preparation and multi-tiered support for curriculum implementation with fidelity.

#BrowardCodes – Collaboration Opportunities: BCPS became the first school district to partner with Code.org to increase student access to computer science courses, curriculum and resources (http://www.browardschools.com/BCPS-Spotlights/broward-codes). As the nation’s sixth largest district with 230 schools, BCPS has over 265,000 students. Partnership with Code.org resulted in computer science courses increasing from 9 high schools offering AP Computer Science in 2013 to 180 schools (and growing) offering computer science curriculum in grades K-12, currently impacting more than 35,000 students. #BrowardCodes’ goal is sustainability beyond Code.org partnership and providing computer science to impact all 265,000 students.


Project Title: Integration of Computing with Electronic Textiles to Improve Teaching and Learning of Electronics in Secondary Science (Project STITCH) Principal Investigator: Colby Tofel-Grehl Co-Investigators: Louis S. Nadelson & Vicki H. Allan Institution: Utah State University Contact Information: mailing address- 2805 Old Main Hill, Logan, UT 84322-2805 email- [email protected] Phone-(435) 797-1342

Project Synopsis: STEM Teaching Integrating Textiles and Computing Holistically (STITCH) is a curriculum and professional development research endeavor designed to examine the effects of integrating science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) core content with computer science (both hardware and software applications) in grades 6-11. Using electronic textiles (e-textiles) as a medium, project STITCH seeks to train 200 science teachers in computer programming as a tool for engaging in authentic science projects. As a medium, e-textiles projects align very well with longstanding calls for more project-based science and engineering learning activities in schools (National Research Council, 2012). Teachers will participate in a four day professional development workshop during which they will be taught both about e-textiles and computer programing as a means to integrate the two into projects aligned with the science content they are required to teach. In addition to providing teachers with professional development in the form of the workshop through project STITCH, we will also provide teachers ongoing PD support to facilitate their success in using and teaching these computing projects. Thus far, project work has focused on designing the professional development experience and paired curriculum for teachers, as well as prototyping three novel e-textile projects: a temperature-sensing lunchbox, a force detecting backpack, and an analog sensor t-shirt. This summer, we will pilot the curriculum and professional development workshop to fifty teachers, with a second cohort of 150 teachers starting training the year after. Using a quasi-experimental design, we will compare learning outcomes for students taught using integrated science content e-textiles projects with computer programing and those taught using standard classroom science curricula. Our research team is interested in finding collaborators interested in the integration of core K-12 education and maker space technology. Workshop Development Photos


Learning Trajectories for Integrating K-5 Computer Science and Mathematics DRL-1542828 Andy Isaacs ([email protected]), T. Andrew Binkowski, Diana Franklin, Katie Rich, Carla Strickland, Cheryl Moran Center for Elementary Mathematics and Science Education, University of Chicago Maya Israel ([email protected]), George Reese, Cinda Heeren College of Education, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Todd Lash ([email protected]), Jessica Pitcher, Minsoo Park, Wendy Maa Champaign Unit 4 School District Our project, which began on 1/1/16, aims to create learning trajectories (LTs) for integrating computer science and mathematics at Grades K-5. Each trajectory will span multiple grades and will include a goal, objectives, performance expectations, sample tasks and assessments, and hypothetical learning paths. The LTs, including the sample tasks and assessments, will be designed to fit with Everyday Mathematics 4 (EM4), the elementary curriculum from the University of Chicago School Mathematics Project. Since EM4 is newly revised to closely align with the Common Core State Standards for Mathematics (CCSS-M), the tasks and assessments will also be usable with other instructional materials aligned with CCSS-M. The LTs will be developed and tested in collaboration with 18 teachers and 4 teacher-leaders. This project will synthesize existing theoretical and practical work in elementary school CS and advance upon that work by applying learning-trajectory approaches that have been productive in other fields. The project’s LTs will be foundational for the design and development of instructional materials and assessments for CS in grades K-5. Since most K-5 teachers are generalists, they are even more dependent on such materials than teachers at higher levels. If CS is to be taught in these grades, teachers will need materials such as those this project will enable. As testable hypotheses about children’s development of CS concepts, skills, and attitudes, the project’s LTs will also be foundational for research into how K-5 children learn CS. A more principled approach to CS research will yield findings that are more useful to teachers, developers of instructional materials, and policy makers. Finally, the project’s LT-based model for the integration of subject matter may be generalizable to the integration of CS with other subjects (e.g., science) and of other subjects with each other (e.g., science and mathematics). Given the perennial struggle for time in the elementary school day, the integration of subject matter could yield significant benefits.


Elementary STEM Curriculum (NSF Grant # 1542842)

Dr. Lisa Ventry Milenkovic, PI and Dr. Teri Acquavita, co-PI Broward County Public Schools, Ft. Lauderdale, FL

Dr. Jeanne Century, PI Outlier Research, University of Chicago

[email protected] - 754-321-2119 - @browardstem / @sleuthacademy http://elementarystem.mspnet.org/index.cfm/home

Project Full Title: InvestigatingConceptualFoundationsforaTransdisciplinaryModelIntegratingComputerScienceintotheElementarySTEMCurriculum

Project Team: • Broward County Public Schools (BCPS), Ft. Lauderdale, FL • University of Chicago, Outlier Research & Evaluation, CEMSE - Dr. Jeanne Century and Dr. Dae Kim • Advisory Board: Code.org, Stanford University (Dr. Stephen Cooper), University of Miami (Dr. Geoffrey

Sutcliffe), Florida Atlantic University (Dr. Nancy Romance) • Evaluator (Dr. Lisa Kaczmarczyk) • CS Coordinators and a Cadre of 12 K-5 teachers from BCPS

Description of Project: Computinghasbecomeanintegralpartofthepracticeinthefieldsofmodernscience,technologyengineering,andmathematics(STEM).Asaresult, theSTEM+ComputingPartnership(STEM+C)program seeks to integrate the use of computational approaches inK-12 STEM teaching and learning andunderstandhow this integration can improve STEM learning, engagement, andpersistence. ComputationalThinking(CT)isarelativelyneweducationalfocusandaclearneedforlearnersasa21stcenturyskill.Thisprojectwill address this challenging new area for young learners, an area greatly in need of research andlearningmaterials.BrowardCountySchools' literacyandSTEMteamwilldevelopProblemBasedLearning(PBL) integrating Computer Science (CS) and science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM)modules, andprofessional developmentmaterials around thesemodules. AUniversity of Chicago researchteam will conduct strong research studies to evaluate the effectiveness of these materials and whatcontributestothateffectiveness.ThecollaborationwiththewellknownnonprofitCode.orgleadstostrongpotential forwidedisseminationofmaterials, as theCode.org site is usedvery frequentlyby teachers andafter-school/informaleducatorstoobtaininstructionalmaterials.


Building systems from Scratch: Research on the Development of Computational and Systems Thinking in Middle School Students through Explorations of Complex Earth Systems

TERC: Dr. Gillian Puttick (PI) and Dr. Eli Tucker-Raymond (coPI), Dr. Mike Cassidy (researcher), Abe Drayton (curriculum developer) Northeastern University: Profs. Casper Harteveld and Gillian Smith (coPIs), Dr. Jackie Barnes* and Dr. Amy Hoover (postdoctoral researchers). *Presenter ([email protected]) Project description:

The Building Systems from Scratch project, begun in September 2015, will develop, implement, and study an innovative intervention that integrates systems and computational thinking into middle school learning about climate science by interweaving game design and climate science learning. Taught by science teachers with assistance from building technology specialists, students will explore a systems and socio-ecological approach to learning about intersections between computation and climate change dynamics. Project goals are to: • Research a promising model for the integration of computing into climate science learning through

game design by iteratively developing and testing - A curriculum for the integration of computer science into 8th grade learning about climate

science via student design of systems-based games - A blended PD program with face-to-face and online components that will support instruction in

an integrated program of computation in science • Engage 1,840 8th grade students and 15 8th grade science teachers in a student-centered, technology-

rich, systems thinking environment • Broaden participation in science-based computation through development and testing in districts that

differ substantially in proportions of students from groups underrepresented in science including African American, Latino, immigrant newcomer, and low-income communities

• Disseminate the Building Systems model widely to practitioners through the development of teacher leader materials for self-sustaining in-district PD.

The program will include: a) a standards-aligned curriculum focused on systems thinking practices, b) a teacher professional development workshop with supporting materials, c) a teacher leader guide for sustainable implementation of the program, and d) a website to support program materials, activities, and communication. The project will address specific needs of middle school students and teachers with regard to relevant disciplinary content, science practices, and CSTA standards.

The project will use multiple cycles of design based research (DBR) to design, develop, test and refine the curriculum, and will test the effectiveness of the model in the final year of the project through a quasi-experimental study. The DBR framework will allow us to systematically transform empirically promising practices into a shareable model that will be suitably theorized and validated so that future adoptions can make intelligent and effective use of it. We expect to learn: a) how young people deploy systems thinking to learn about computation and climate change dynamics when they design computer games, and b) how teachers deepen their integration of computing with science instruction.

To date, we have been engaged in project start-up activities such as establishing a common vision and vocabulary, mapping the connection between design conjectures and intended outcomes, mediated by as-yet-to-be-designed materials, tools, task and participant structures.


Scaling K-12 Computer Science In Large Urban Districts: A Leadership Conference TheCenterforElementaryMathematicsandScienceEducation(CEMSE)attheUniversityofChicago(UChicago),inpartnershipwiththeCouncilofGreatCitySchools(CGCS),willhostaone-dayconferencefordistrict-levelcomputerscienceeducationleadersunderthetrack1,projecttype3(field-buildingconferenceandworkshop)componentoftheSTEM+ComputingPartnershipssolicitationissuedbytheNationalScienceFoundationinJanuary,2015.Thiscon-ferencewillcatalyzeandorganizedistrict-levelprofessionalstoimprovethedesignandimple-mentationoftheircomputerscienceeducationefforts.

TheScalingK-12ComputerScienceInLargeUrbanDistricts:ALeadershipConferencewillbeheldonOctober18,2016attheHotelIntercontinentalinMiami,FL.Attendancewillbebyinvi-tationtotwo-personteams(theChiefAcademicOfficerandSTEMeducationlead)fromthe67CGCSdistricts,whichincludeallthelargeurbanschooldistrictsintheUnitedStatesandarecol-lectivelyresponsiblefortheeducationof7.1millionstudentsintheUnitedStates.

Attheconference,participantswill(1)understandtheimportanceofcomputerscienceeduca-tionintheurbancontext;(2)engagewithtoolsdesignedtohelpdistrictleaderstohelpcraftandimplementcomputerscienceeducationprograms;(3)sharecurrentdistrictcomputersci-enceeducationstrategiestofostercollaborationandimprovement;and(4)createconnectionsbetweenparticipantsthatenableadditionallearningandcollaborationaftertheconference.


AP Computer Science Principles Courses In Rhode Island AND Computing‐Based Science Investigations

Victor Fay‐Wolfe, Jay Fogleman, Robert Pockalny, Donna Casanova, Howard Dooley, Jessica Barrett The University of Rhode Island RITES Projects

Email: [email protected] Websites: http://www.ritesproject.net AND http://rites.cs.uri.edu Enable a diverse population of

Grade 8‐12 students to improve their computer science learning.

Enable a diverse population of Grade 8‐12 students to improve their science learning with computing.

Create a cadre of teachers to teach computing.

Contribute to the evidence base of successful practices.

Description. This report is for two related NSF projects for developing 8‐12 grade computing education: a Math/Science Partnership computing extension (MSP‐C), and a STEM+C project on computing‐based science investigations. Together they are enabling the University of Rhode Island to lead the state of Rhode Island’s effort to get computing into the state’s K‐12 education. The MSP‐C project has developed a AP Computer Science Principles course. The project provides all materials (video lectures, wikibook, cloud‐based labs and exercises, conceptual assessments, practical assessments, and projects), and all teacher professional development. The new STEM+C project is developing a 8th or 9th grade computational thinking course to provide skills to be used in science classes (data management and analysis through programming), along with developing modules in earth, life, and physical sciences that utilize these computational thinking skills. Outcomes (in this past year). Developed AP CSP course materials Conducted professional development for 10 teachers Ran AP CSP Workshop for teachers Piloted AP CSP in AY 2015‐2106 in 5 schools. Collecting data.

Goals.

What Collaboration With RITES Offers. We welcome collaboration with others developing AP CSP courses and/or science modules that involve computing. We can share our curriculum, wikibook, and lessons learned. Collaboration That RITES Seeks. We welcome collaboration with others willing to share their AP CSP curriculum, curriculum for a 8th or 9th grade Computational Thinking/programming course, science modules with computing, text books (ideally free wikibook style texts), and lessons learned. Acknowledgment. This work is supported in part by grants 1542982 and 0831974 from the US National Science Foundation.


Integrating Computational Thinking into the Core Curriculum

Need• Teach kids computational thinking• Reach ALL students• Deepen learning of other STEM subject areas• Engage with modern scientific practices in

learning STEM subject areas

Benefit

• Computational thinking is a social justice issue.

• Integrating computational thinking into core curricular classes can provide access to all students.

Approach• Teach kids by integrating computational thinking into core

classes: mathematics, social studies, language arts, and especially science.

• Provide modifiable computer models (in this case, of earth science/chemistry systems) that can be animated.

• Students switch between different representations: computer code and animated picture.

• Students are in control of the technology.

• The kids learn by structured argumentation and debate about (a) what will happen when they run or change the models and (b) what should be included in the models.

• Build on teachers’ existing subject matter concerns and expertise.

Computational thinking:1) is a kind of problem-solving.2) is NOT thinking like a computer.3) is thinking like a computer scientist.

TeamDeborah Tatar, PI, Virginia Tech, Computer ScienceFelicia Etzkorn, co-PI, Virginia Tech, ChemistryVictor Sampson, co-PI, UT Austin, Science EducationStephanie Rivale, co-PI, UT Austin, Science Education

Alec Wagner, Virginia Tech, ChemistryKemper Lipscomb, UT Austin, Science EducationLindsay Walker, UT Austin, Science EducationAakash Gautam, Virginia Tech, Computer Science

Thanks to National Science Foundation grants 1132227 and 1543022.

Deborah TatarProfessor of Computer ScienceFellow, Institute for Creativity, Arts, and [email protected]

chemc.cs.vt.edu


Research on Practice Using STEM Inquiry Embedded with Computational Thinking in Elementary School

Andrew Elby & Ayush Gupta, University of Maryland; Aman Yadav, Michigan State University Contact: [email protected]

Goals

• Explore the seeds of computational thinking that grade 2-5 students bring to bear, and how those seeds develop with scaffolding.

• Explore how students combine causal and computational thinking when describing and explaining natural phenomena, and evaluate if their thinking improves over time.

• Explore and evaluate the effects of multi-year professional development on teachers’ conceptions of computational thinking and on their teaching practices.

Description

Starting this summer, working with high-needs elementary schools, we will provide extended professional development to teachers aimed at developing their sense of what scientific and computational thinking are. We will study both the teachers and their students, probing for changes in their conceptions and enactments of computational and scientific thinking.

Features of the project

• Computational thinking without computers. We focus on developing the computational-thinking concepts, skills, and habits of mind that can prepare student to learn coding.

• Integration of computational thinking into the science curriculum. Too often, elementary school level computational thinking activities are viewed as an “add on” or “enrichment” and therefore do not reach all students in a sustained way. We will work with teachers to integrate computational thinking into the science they teach anyway, largely by connecting concepts from computational thinking to elements of causal explanation-building, as illustrated below.

Water molecule moving around

in body of water

Molecule at surface of

water?

Molecule moving fast

enough?

Water molecule moving around in air (vapor)

YES evaporation YES

YES

NO

NO

This flow chart represents how computational-thinking concepts such as conditionals and loops can help to represent a causal explanation of one aspect of evaporation—a water molecule “escaping” into the air from a body of liquid water.


NSF Award DRL-1543062

SRI is designing computer science curricular activities and related assessments to help middle school students learn concepts that are part of both mathematics and computer science; specifically, variables, expressions, loops and abstraction (VELA).

SRI’s designed activities leverage interactive technology-based dynamic mathematics representations that research has shown help diverse learners better understand similar concepts in mathematics. Teachers and school district leaders are involved with the design and implementation of the materials. Curriculum and assessments are currently being designed and will be tested in a large urban school district with a diverse student population.

Curriculum DevelopmentUsing design-based research to develop unplugged and technology-enabled curricular activities for students to engage with dynamic mathematics representations in introductory computing and programming.

These are aimed especially at students with poor prior mathematics preparation.

Principal Investigator: Shuchi Grover, SRI Education: [email protected] Co-Principal Investigators: Nicholas Jackiw, SRI Education: [email protected];

Patrik Lundh, SRI Education: [email protected]

https://www.sri.com/work/projects/middle-school-computer-science

Collaborators are welcome. The project team welcomes collaborators who are interested in piloting our assessments for middle school programming. We’d also welcome being connected to teachers and middle schools that are teaching introductory computer science and programming. Email [email protected].

PI Shuchi Grover will be presenting at :• �SIGCSE�in�Memphis,�TN�(March�2016):�(1)�Factors�Influencing�Computer�Science�Learning�in�

Middle School; (2) What Is A Computer?” What do Secondary School Students Think?• AERA in Washington DC (April 2016): Process Over Product For Studying Computational Thinking

Practices In Introductory Programming• Learning Analytics and Knowledge (LAK) Conference in Edinburgh (April 2016): Multimodal Analytics to

Study Collaborative Problem Solving in Pair Programming

Research on Theory of Action Conduct mixed-method case studies of diverse students and research on�teacher�practices�to�refine�materials and the theory of action for curriculum implementation.

Research on student learning outcomes will use the designed assessments and a “preparation for future learning” transfer assessment set in a mathematics context.

Assessment Design Design assessments of students’ conceptual understanding of VELA, using an Evidence-Centered Design assessment framework.

Assessments will be piloted in various middle school classrooms for validation and refinement.


Thinking Outside the Box: Integrating Dynamic Mathematics to Advance Computational Thinking for Diverse Student Populations


Assessing Computational Thinking in Making Activities (ACTMA) https://actmaproject.wordpress.com/

PI: Roxana Hadad, Northeastern Illinois University

[email protected] (312) 563-7218

Co-PI: Dr. Yue Yin, University of Illinois at Chicago

[email protected] (312) 355-1042

ACTMA’s aim is to create an embedded, adaptive, and culturally unbiased formative assessment of computational thinking (CT) in STEM that can be used in informal learning spaces such as makerspaces, but can also be brought into formal physics classroom experiences. ACTMA addresses the current lack of a formative assessment that can evaluate student acquisition of CT skills as well as guide the design of learning activities. To develop formative assessments for makerspace mentors and physics teachers to use with high school students, the project team will conduct in-depth observations of students who attend the Chicago Public Library’s YOUmedia makerspace. We expect to generate the following products:

1. making activities that that vary in content and complexity and promote STEM CT; 2. STEM CT formative assessments that can be used to assess and guide students in making

activities; 3. a guideline for the future development and implementation of an assessment of STEM

CT skills

The computational making activities will vary both in content and complexity, which will allow the project team to demonstrate transfer and identify learning progression. In the first year, our team will develop making activities and observe 6-12 students conducting the activities with the guidance of mentors. Based on the observations, we will identify critical points in the makerspace activities where students can demonstrate CT skills and mentors can elicit and assess CT. Accordingly, we will develop formative assessments to be embedded at critical points. We will collect feedback from students, mentors, and teachers to improve the making activities and assessments. In the second year, we will then implement the improved activities and assessment with another two groups of 10-15 students and further revise the activities and assessments. Finally, we will develop a guide for the future development and implementation of CT assessments so that they can be used in other informal and formal educational settings.

We would love to collaborate with other researchers and educators who have experience with making environments and assessment of CT.


Broadening Participation of Elementary School Teachers and Students in Computer Science through STEM Integration and Statewide Collaboration -

STEM+C This newly funded project is a partnership of the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) and Education Development Center, Inc. (EDC). Goals are to:

1. design, develop, and test 18 STEM Integration Modules (STEM I-Mods) and supporting resources, approximately three modules each for grades 1–6, to facilitate implementation of the computational thinking (CT) strand of Massachusetts’ newly developed Digital Literacy/Computer Science (DL/CS) standards in grades 1–6;

2. build the capacity of Massachusetts elementary school teachers to integrate CT

into their math and science lessons; and

3. encourage the statewide implementation of Massachusetts digital literacy and computer science (DL/CS) standards by integrating this work into ESE’s educational infrastructure for standards/curriculum development and scale-up.

Supported by curriculum developers and subject-matter experts (SMEs) in CS, science and mathematics, elementary school teachers, will draft I-Mods to be piloted in Massachusetts classrooms. One hundred teachers will participate in capacity-building professional development; an online DL/CS professional learning community led by DESE will support development, piloting, and implementation. I-Mods will become an integral part of the Massachusetts Curriculum Frameworks for DL/CS and disseminated by DESE as a primary resource supporting implementation of state standards. The project seek answers to the following research questions:

1. What are promising elementary school math and science topics for integrating with CT?

2. What are the challenges to teachers of using I-Mods with fidelity to both CT and math/science content?

3. What resources are needed at the state level to support teachers’ efforts to address the new DL/CS standards through use of the I-Mods?

4. What is the impact of I-Mods on: Elementary school students’ CT? Teachers’ understanding of and sense of readiness to teach CT?

For more information contact: Joyce Malyn-Smith [email protected] 617-618-2386


Assessing the Impact of Computer Modeling and Programing in Secondary Algebra Arnulfo Pérez The Ohio State University Department of Teaching and Learning 283C Arps Hall 1945 North High Street Columbus, OH 43210-1234 Phone: 614-688-1753 Email: [email protected] This initiative combines the pedagogical content knowledge of researchers in STEM education and the computational prowess of computer scientists to infuse programming and computer modeling into an algebra unit on linear functions. The project draws on the expertise of co-PIs Kathy Malone (Science Education) and Christopher Stewart (Computer Science). Through a collaboration with algebra high school teachers, the study examines the impact of modeling and computer programming opportunities on students’ understanding of linear functions and their engagement in practices associated with success in STEM and computer science. The study leverages computational thinking for 21st-century learning by integrating modeling and computer programming into a project-based exploration of linear functions using engineering applications. During a summer institute, participating teachers will collaborate in developing an engineering project-based learning unit on linear functions that introduces students to computer modeling and programming. The professional development experiences follow a participatory approach that engages teachers as partners in research and expands their understanding of pedagogical approaches. These experiences position educators to transform their teaching of linear functions by incorporating computer modeling and programming into their algebra curriculum. As teachers implement the unit in their classrooms, researchers will gather data on classroom discourse, student perceptions, and learning outcomes to assess the effect of the PBL unit. In particular, the team is interested in possible shifts in how learners represent functions graphically and algebraically, engage in computational thinking, persist in problem-solving, and tackle open-ended tasks. Through its focus on algebra—the most widely taken high school mathematics course—this study pilots an approach that has the potential to put computer science squarely in the path of virtually every high school student. The study initiates a series of linked research and curriculum projects that will ultimately produce a high school mathematics curriculum that better prepares diverse learners for success in the STEM+C careers of tomorrow. Combining strategic curricular design, transformative teacher training, and close attention to student experiences and learning outcomes in traditional classroom settings, the study paves the way for further integration of computer science into secondary mathematics to broaden the pipeline of students prepared for STEM+C careers.


Project Title: Computational Thinking in the Ecosystems (CT-E), A-Program-to-Play Approach to Infusing Computational Thinking into Environmental Science Learning Name: Stephen Uzzo Institution: New York Hall of Science Contact Information: [email protected], 47-01 111th Street, Flushing Meadows Corona Park, NY 11368 USA, Phone +1.718.595.9177 Website: www.nysci.org CT-E is a collaboration among the New York Hall of Science, Columbia University’s Center for International Earth Science Information Network and Design I/O. It addresses the need for improved data, modeling and computational literacy in young people through a portable, computer-based collectable-card-game-like experience that requires computational thinking to advance in the game. This approach will contribute to knowledge of how the popular collectable card game format improves computational thinking through a practical approach to programing complex models, and develops skills in young people in modeling and acting within complex systems; deepening learning in young people about how to work toward sustainable solutions, solve complex engineering problems and be better prepared to address the challenges of a complex, global society. The simulation in CT-E will represent six dynamic, interconnected ecosystems in which students control the behaviors of creatures in habitats and respond to changes in the health of their habitat and the ecosystems of which they are a part. Behaviors of creatures in the simulation are controlled through virtual collectable cards, each representing a computational process (such as sequences, loops, variables, conditionals and events). Habitats chosen by the player have their own characteristic flora, fauna, and climate. Players are challenged to explore how these models work, and test hypotheses about how the environment will respond to their creature’s interventions. NYSCI’s learning science team will conduct participatory design based research to determine how successful this approach will be in both structured and unstructured learning settings and whether it can overcome barriers to learning complex environmental science, introduce learners to the ways scientists elucidate and investigate these complex science ideas, and build evidence for the use of this strategy for closing the gap between science learning and science practice through computational thinking. We are currently in the kickoff phase of the project.


PROJECT TITLE: Integrated STEM and Computing Learning in Formal and Informal Settings for Kindergarten to Grade 2 CONTACT NAME: Monica Cardella (PI); Sean Brophy, Elizabeth Gajdzik, Morgan Hynes, Muhsin Menekse, Tamara Moore, Şenay Purzer, Terri Sanger INSTITUTION: Purdue University CONTACT INFORMATION: [email protected]; 765-‐496-‐1206 WEBSITE: http://www.inspire-‐purdue.org/project/integrated-‐stem-‐and-‐computing-‐learning-‐formal-‐and-‐informal-‐settings-‐k-‐2 PROJECT SUMMARY As people engage in real-‐life situations, they draw from their full knowledge base and skillset. Integrating science, engineering, mathematics, computational thinking, and literacy in educational experiences for pre-‐college students can better prepare students for real-‐world situations while also allowing teachers to add engineering and computing to the school day without diminishing their focus on mathematics and literacy. At the same time, we know children only spend about 18% of their waking hours in formal school environments -‐-‐ thus we can promote learning by capitalizing on time spent in out-‐of-‐school settings and making connections across school and out-‐of-‐school settings.

In this project, we are integrating computational thinking into the PictureSTEM curriculum (a research-‐based integrated STEM curriculum that makes extensive, authentic connections across science, technology, engineering, and mathematics while also connecting language arts.). In order to do this, we are developing extension activities to further support computing learning, science center exhibits for learning in informal settings, and resources for parents to help K-‐2nd grade students learn engineering design and computational thinking skills while also developing proficiency in mathematics, science, and literacy.

At the same time, we are developing assessment frameworks, tools, and approaches, while conducting research on the student learning that takes place in the school and science center settings. The project’s three overarching research questions are:

(1) What does student learning look like in an integrated STEM+C school-‐based environment?

(2) What does student learning look like in an integrated STEM+C informal learning environment?

(3) In what ways (if at all) do students make connections across the school and science center (and potentially other) settings?

OPPORTUNITIES FOR COLLABORATION This project began October 1, 2015. We have existing resources and research related to integrated STEM (e.g., curricula, teacher workshop materials, and research on student learning), but we are just beginning to think through how computational thinking can be integrated. We are interested in learning how others are defining and operationalizing computing and computational thinking, how others are working to ensure that diverse learners are engaged in STEM & Computing experiences, and how others are assessing computing/computational thinking learning – especially in K-‐2.


Project Title: The Evaluation of a Model Spatial Thinking Curriculum for Building Computational Skills in Elementary Grades K-5

• Name: Steven Moore (PI) and Gary Scott (Project Director)

• Institution: University of Redlands

• Contact Information:

Email: [email protected]; [email protected]

Telephone: 909-748-8687

• Website: http://spatialstudies.redlands.edu/spatial-stemc/

Project Description

The Spatial STEM+C project addresses a significant challenge in preparing elementary-aged children to enter the STEM workforce in coming decades: developing visuospatial and computational skills that underlie success in gatekeeping high school and college STEM courses. Visuospatial skills have been documented to vary by gender and may be influenced by socioeconomic factors. By developing instructional and assessment strategies that are effective across socioeconomic categories and work particularly well for subcategories of students who have been found to lag behind in visuospatial abilities at key grade levels, Spatial STEM+C will apply educational justice theory to help children achieve equal access to quality instruction, resources, and other educational opportunities.

Project Goals and Objectives

The goal of the Spatial STEM+C project is to iteratively develop and evaluate supplemental instructional activities that build early computational skills in elementary-aged children. The project will accomplish this goal by improving the children’s innate capacities for spatial thinking. Iterative development of the curriculum over a two-year period will be complemented with a comparison group study of spatial and computational thinking development and achievement. Formative evaluation conclusions from the curriculum development process and research findings from the comparison group study will be used to refine the activities into a format that can be integrated into formal instruction at a partnering school district, disseminated and evaluated nationally, and built into in-service and pre-service teacher education programs at the University of Redlands in California.

Project Activities

Initiated on 1 November 2015, the Spatial STEM+C project is in its formative stages. In cooperation with Inland Leaders Charter School in Yucaipa, California, the project has begun working with teams of K-5 teachers (2 teachers per grade level) to develop the spatial thinking curriculum that will be pilot tested later this spring. Spatial thinking and mathematical performance assessments are being developed as well.

Collaborator Needed

The project directors seek a collaborator who have expertise in assessment of computational thinking skills at the K-5 level.


Project Title: SciGirls Code: A National Connected Learning Model to Integrate Computing in STEM Learning with Middle School Girls Name(s): PI Joan Freese, Co-PI Rita Karl, Co-PI Karen Peterson, Co-PI Cassie Scharber Institution: Twin Cities Public Television Contact Information: [email protected] Website: scigirlsconnect.org

Even though technology is pervasive in modern life, women continue to be underrepresented in computer science (CS) study and professions. Decades of research suggest the issues that contribute to CS pipeline deficits are complex, social and environmental in nature, and begin early. A factor consistently mentioned in the literature is that girls often do not feel they belong in CS classes, because male peers have more experience with the concepts being taught from exposure to coding outside of school. Furthermore, research

suggests that CS courses can isolate girls by their very design with: 1) curriculum that is irrelevant; 2) pedagogies that discourage collaboration; 3) lack of opportunities to take risks and make mistakes; and 4) heavy reliance on lecturing instead of hands-on, project-based learning. SciGirls Code is a two-year pilot program that will address these issues head-on. The project will use principles of connected learning, a learner-focused approach that harnesses the advances and innovations of our connected age to serve learning, with 16 committed STEM education outreach partners to provide 160 middle school girls and their 32 leaders with computational thinking and coding skills. The program will develop and implement a nine-month curriculum that combines: existing educational resources centered on three tracks—e-textiles, robotics, and mobile geospatial technologies; role model training for female technology professionals; professional development for STEM educators; and a research component that investigates the ways in which computational learning experiences impact the development of computational thinking as well as interest and attitudes toward computer science. Project goals are to: 1) spark and strengthen girls’ interest, skills, and confidence as technology creators before high school, when attitudes and academic choices can influence postsecondary CS studies and careers; 2) support girls’ efforts by training educators and role models in best practices for engaging girls in gender equitable STEM education; and 3) contribute to the field by researching the connected learning model for out-of-school learning of CS. SciGirls Code research questions are: 1) How do computational learning experiences impact the development of computational thinking? [learning]; 2) How does engaging in computational learning experiences impact interest in and attitudes towards computer science? [interest]; and 3) How does engaging in computational participation practices impact learners’ perspectives of self and world? [participation] Partners include the National Girls Collaborative Project and the Learning Technologies Media Lab at the University of Minnesota, which will lead the project research. The Education Development Center will evaluate the project’s activity implementation. Findings will inform scale-up within the broader network of girl-serving STEM programs nationwide.


Comp Hydro: Integrating Data Computation and Visualization to Build Model-based Water Literacy

John C. Moore1, Alan Berkowitzw2, Beth Covitt3, Kristin Gunckel4, and Robert Panoff5

1Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523; 2Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies, Millbrook, NY 12545; 3University of Montana, Missoula, MT 59812; 4University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721; and 5Shodor Inc. & the National Computational Science Institute, Durham, NC 27701 The vision of Comp Hydro is to foster water and computational science literacy by integrating authentic, place- and data-based learning as high school students build and use physical, mathematical and conceptual models. Objectives include; 1) develop and refine instructional units for surface and groundwater, each comprising two 1-week modules, 2) engage teachers as partners and agents of dissemination, 3) study teacher and student learning, 4) explore supports and constraints on teaching, and 5) build a platform for project R&D and dissemination. Teams of 6 teachers will work with educators and scientists at each of four diverse sites (24 teachers total from Arizona, Colorado, Maryland, and Montana) in a design-based research effort spanning two school years. The teams will tailor modules to local environmental and school contexts, pilot test these in high school Earth and environmental science classes, and will be partners in the research into student and teacher learning. Approximately 2,400 students will be involved and benefit. Comp Hydro addresses one of the most daunting challenges posed by the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) developed by the National Research Council – to integrate teaching and learning of key ideas and practices of place-based environmental science with computational and quantitative science in authentic, innovative and effective ways. Comp Hydro utilizes a design-based research approach, grounded in learning progressions as a theoretical and methodological frame, for both its research and instructional materials. The project will integrate computational and data sense making understandings and practices into the Water Systems Learning Progression. It will produce a trajectory of learning and associated assessment instruments describing how students become more sophisticated with respect to integrated NGSS scientific practices including analyzing, interpreting and representing data; developing and using models; using computational thinking; and constructing scientific explanations and predictions about hydrologic systems. The project also will develop and refine a set of design principles, and an associated computer platform (see citsci.org and Shodor.org) for broader dissemination and for supporting teachers in integrating the use of big and small data sets into meaningful environmental science learning experiences with high school students. The materials will be posted on the project website, as well as the computational science education reference desk of the National Science Digital Library (receives 4 million page views/month), and described in articles for practitioners (e.g., National Science Teacher Association magazines, etc.).


Project Title: Computational PBL in Science Education Name: Institute for Science and Math Education Institution: University of Washington Contact Information: Philip Bell, [email protected] Website: http://sciencemathpartnerships.org/projects/active-projects/stemc/ The Institute for Science and Math Education is partnering with TAF Academy, a culturally and linguistically diverse middle and high school that prepares students for college and careers in STEM, to create a curriculum development model that supports young people as they learn and develop identities in STEM fields. Computational PBL in Science Education develops and studies a series of project-based STEM curriculum units that involve specific computational learning dimensions for use in middle and high school contexts. The project team is creating an instructional design framework and curriculum development strategy, including a curriculum authoring system, associated design and implementation practices, and a STEM mentoring model to support students as they complete the resulting units. The team includes middle and high school teachers, computing professionals, STEM professionals, learning scientists, and educational technologists. This work is focused on developing a curriculum model to support and better understand the computational STEM learning pathways of youth who are underrepresented in STEM fields and/or come from non-dominant cultural communities. The project aims to develop educational models and knowledge that promote STEM learning across culturally diverse communities and increase the degree of freedom youth have to pursue STEM education and occupational pathways. These curriculum development tools, practices, and networking strategies are being developed within a specific STEM school context that serves a culturally and linguistically diverse population, but will be shared across a network of teachers from a variety of other contexts and through broad-scale communication channels in order to further refine the model for wider use. Accomplishments since September 2015 funding:

• We have been collaboratively developing a list of existing tools related to computational inquiry, science learning (particularly around TAF Academy’s need for earth and space science topics), working with large datasets, and visualization and simulation tools.

• We have mapped the Next Generation Science Standards to complex systems and computational thinking as we align the curriculum to the NGSS.

• We have developed a schedule and timeline for project work, including the mentoring program, curriculum development, and ongoing research.

Upcoming Milestones, Winter and Spring 2016:

February: Conduct NGSS 101 PD session with TAF Academy faculty March: Convene curriculum development experts at the NSTA Conference March: Hold session on NGSS computational inquiry with TAF Academy faculty May: Hold student focus group about curriculum units


Expanding the Reach of AP CSP Curricula CNS1547051 Andy Isaacs ([email protected]), Katie Rich, Carla Strickland, Michael Lach, Sarah Wille Center for Elementary Mathematics and Science Education (CEMSE), University of Chicago This 15month project, which began on 7/1/15, aims to help two groups that are developing curricula for the new Advanced Placement Computer Science Principles (AP CSP) course prepare their materials for broad use. The two curricula are Mobile CSP and Thriving in Our Digital World. Mobile CSP is being developed by a group at Trinity College, which is led by Ralph Morelli and Chinma Uche, and, since fall 2014, by a group at the College of St. Scholastica, which is led by Jennifer Rosato and Chery Takkunen. Thriving in Our Digital World (TODW) is being developed by the University of Texas at Austin’s Project Engage!, which is led by Calvin Lin. The project’s work focuses on six areas that are critical for successful scaling of the curricula. These are (i) usability, (ii) marketability, (iii) sustainability, (iv) robustness, (v) standards labeling, and (vi) clarity about critical features. Researchers and curriculum developers at CEMSE are collaborating with the AP CSP curriculum developers to analyze their programs’ strengths and weaknesses in these six areas and to develop templates, ancillaries, correlations, overviews, teacher’s editions, and other assets that will make the curricula maximally useful and appealing to teachers across the nation. The project’s interdisciplinary and crosslevel team represents a new model for the development of instructional materials, one that brings together content specialists and practitioners at Mobile CSP and TODW with experts in curriculum engineering at CEMSE. An existence proof for such a model will validate new approaches to the development of curricula at all levels. The project’s work may also inform revisions to the College Board’s AP CSP framework. That framework’s combination of computational thinking practices, big ideas, essential questions, enduring understandings, learning objectives, and essential knowledge statements may be more complex than would be optimal. The project’s detailed examinations and revisions of the curricula may suggest how the framework can be simplified and improved. http://cemse.uchicago.edu/ https://cs.uteach.utexas.edu/ http://mobilecsp.org/


STEM + C Computing Education Knowledge and Capacity Building



Project Title: CS10K: Priori,zing & Expanding Access to Computer Science Instruc,on in High-needs High Schools Name: Joseph P. Wilson, PhD (Senior Managing Director, STEM Ini3a3ve) Ins3tu3on: Teach For America Contact Informa3on: (e) [email protected], (t) @josephpwilson Website: hOp://www.csaQa.com; (t) @Sa_stem

Project Overview: Low-income students and students of color in the United States do not receive the high-quality, rigorous computer science (CS) instruc,on needed for success in college and beyond. This project addresses this disparity by suppor,ng the implementa,on of the Exploring Computer Science (ECS) course in urban and rural public high schools in 10 Teach For America (TFA) regions over the next three years, beginning with New York City, South Carolina, Kansas City, and the Rio Grande Valley. TFA shiaed its CS10K project model to a 3-year con,nuum to: minimize logis,cal concerns of centralized PD of ECS teachers as more regions become involved; focus on priori,za,on of CS instruc,on; and support TFA regions who desire to focus on both teacher recruitment and reten,on.

Project Outcomes: TFA will recruit and prepare 83 teachers, designated as ECS Fellows, along a three-year con,nuum. In their first year as ECS Fellows, teachers will advocate for CS instruc,on in their schools. As second & third year Fellows, they will teach the ECS curriculum, and in their third year and beyond, they will have the opportunity to become ECS Professional Development Facilitators (see Figure 1 below). TFA aims to build advocates for CS educa9on in high-needs schools, help school administrators priori9ze CS instruc9on, and increase access to CS for students of color, low-income students, female students, and students with intersec9ons of these iden99es.

Poten&al Collaborators: We seek collaborators who can offer high quality professional development opportuni9es for teachers in low-income communi9es. We can offer support to recruit and inform teachers within our network about your projects.

Our Organiza&on: TFA holds 25 years of experience in teacher recruitment and development, educa9onal advocacy, and rela9onship building in high-needs schools across 52 regions na9onally. TFA schools serve students historically underrepresented in compu9ng by socioeconomic status (>80% eligible for free/reduced price lunch) and racial/ethnic backgrounds (>80% iden9fy as African American or La9no/a). TFA has a network of nearly 50,000 current/former educators and has an organiza9onal vision that focuses on improving educa9onal opportuni9es for all children, par9cularly low-income children and children of color.

Figure 2: TFA has a diverse STEM teacher cohort.

Figure 1: ECS Fellows go through a 3-year con9nuum of experiences.

ECS 5-Day Professional Development

Year 1: • AUend ECS Fellow informa9on sessions • Become an advocate for CS educa9on • Ensure ECS will be taught the following

year

Year 2: • Teach ECS • AUend quarterly ECS professional

development • Assist in the recruitment of future ECS

Fellows

Year 3: • Teach ECS • AUend quarterly ECS professional

development • Assist in the recruitment of future ECS

Fellows

ECS 5-Day Professional Development


Sarah Wille Principal Investigator [email protected]

Jeanne CenturyCo-Principal Investigator [email protected]

Miriam PikeCo-Principal Investigator

[email protected]

Amy Cassata Senior Researcher

[email protected]

Bringing AP Computer Science Principles to Students with Learning Differences

• Expand participation in the AP CS Principles course among students with learning differences.

• Generate knowledge in the CS education community about what is needed to include students with learning differences in CS.

• Develop specific guidance for CS curriculum developers and teachers about what is needed to make AP CSP accessible for students who learn differently.

ThE hiDDEn UnDErrEprESEnTED GroUp:

StudyGoals

Education researchers at Outlier Research & Evaluation at CEMSE | University of Chicago

Learning specialists, teachers, and students at the Wolcott School, an independent preparatory HS in Chicago for students with learning differences

Collaborators & advisors, experts in HS CS, AP CSP, curriculum development, & students with disabilities

Interdisciplinary Project Team

Working with lessons from AP CSP curricula Beauty and Joy of Computing for New York City and Code.org’s CS Principles, the team will:

OverviewofStudy

Between 5-20% of school age students in the US have a learning difference (Cortiella & Horowitz 2014).

StudentS with learning differenceS refers to students who have been identified as having a learning disability (e.g. specific learning disorder with impairment in reading like dyslexia, written expression, math, auditory processing, visual processing, executive functioning, and/or Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder).

FurtherDetails

Contact

identify the challengeS students with learning differences face as they engage with AP CSP instruction and content;

develop poSSiBle SolutionS to address those challenges through lesson adaptations (adjustments to sections of lessons to benefit all classroom learners) and recommended accommodations (adjustments to support individual learner needs);

teSt adaptationS and accommodationS and gather student and teacher feedback; and

Broadly diSSeminate findingS so that AP CSP curriculum developers and teachers can support the needs of students with learning differences.

This work is supported by NSF STEM+C award #1542963

outlier.uchicago.edu

wolcottshool.org


Project Description Booklet 2016 CISE/HER PI and Community Meeting for CS in STEM

Project Title: Toward Using Virtual Identities in Computer Science Learning for Broadening Participation Name: D. Fox Harrell Institution: Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Contact Information: [email protected] Website: http://groups.csail.mit.edu/icelab/ Goals: A central goal of this project is offering workshops using our gaming/avatar technologies to provide opportunities for diverse middle and high school students to: • learn computer science in fun, exciting,

relevant ways and • develop self-images as computer scientists.

As a research goal, these workshops provide us a research opportunity to discover best practices for using avatars to enhance student performance, engagement, and STEM identities for diverse public school learners of computer science. We utilize qualitative, quantitative, and AI/machine learning techniques for data analysis. Our approach involves seeing currently underrepresented students’ social identities as core to their identities as computer scientists, not as deficits. The workshops start by eliciting student-identified themes, questions, challenges, and goals as important and rich resources to draw upon. Toward this end, we have been further developing our custom platform called MazeStar that allows students to explore their own ideas by customizing the system while learning about human-computer interaction, web design, privacy, coding, debugging, and more (we utilize aspects of the nationally recognized Exploring Computer Science (ECS) curriculum). It is important to us bring students’ diverse cultures into the fabric of computing. A core component of MazeStar is our game for learning programming called Mazzy (see Figure 1) in which play requires learning building blocks of coding.

Figure 1: The computer science learning game Mazzy, in our MazeStar environment.

Ultimately, we believe that students from currently underrepresented groups in STEM are a potential wellspring of innovative, productive contributors to the nation’s STEM fields. Indeed, research has shown that promoting STEM among learners from underrepresented groups can do more than produce a greater number of engineers – it can produce a greater diversity of ideas.

Photo credit: Bryce Vickmark Principal Investigator: D. Fox Harrell, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor at MIT in both the Comparative Media Studies Program and the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory. He founded and directs the Imagination, Computation, and Expression Laboratory (ICE Lab).


Project Title: STEM + C Track 2 CS10K: Expanding Computer Science Curriculum, Diversity, and Teacher Preparedness in Montana High Schools Lead PI: Yolanda Reimer (University of Montana) Co-Is: Lisa Blank (University of Montana); Qing Yang (Montana State University); Jeff Braun (Montana Tech); Tim Olson (Salish Kootenai College) Contact Information: Yolanda Reimer ([email protected]) Website: N/A Montana ranks among the lowest states in the country for adopting nationally recognized CS standards, a problem especially acute in grades 9-11. Our work, conceived and conducted by computing and educational professionals from three major state universities and a tribal college, aims to reverse this statistic. Project goals include expanding CS curriculum in the high schools, improving diversity in the field, and preparing high school teachers to offer and sustain the new courses. Research is framed by an education plan, and data collected via five measures that will inform the alignment of research questions and results against project goals. The expanded curriculum we propose includes the Joy and Beauty of Computing course, recently created and piloted by one of the collaborating institutions of this proposal (MSU), the new AP principles course currently being developed by NSF and the College Board, and a third course to be determined in partnership with local high schools. Dual credit opportunities will be available for students; activities proven to improve diversity (mentoring, pair programming, role models) will be integrated; high school teachers will participate via team-teaching, curriculum development, and professional development (PD) workshops. The above description from our 2015 CS 10K Track 2 submission resulted in the acquisition of a planning grant. We are currently researching questions identified by the grant review panel, and plan to resubmit an updated proposal for the 2016 cycle. A summary of the open issues we are currently resolving include: • Curricular. Clearly situate our planned curriculum offerings within the context of ECS and CS Principles.

• Professional Development. Develop a plan for PD that scales to the entire state and that more realistically covers intended content.

• Evaluation plan. Ensure that the collected data enables the PIs to answer the central research question of whether or not our proposed curriculum broadens participation in CS majors and career pathways.

• Management Plan. Develop a tight management team among various statewide institutions.

• Diversity. More clearly explain the issues Native American students face and how we will develop strategies that engage and retain this particular population.


Training Arkansas Computing Teachers (TACT) Dale R. Thompson ([email protected]) and Bryan Hill ([email protected])

Dept. of Computer Science and Computer Engineering and College of Engineering, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, Arkansas

http://tact.uark.edu The University of Arkansas (UA) proposes a multifaceted program—called TACT (Training Arkansas Computing Teachers)—to train high school teachers to become certified to teach Computer Science (CS). Arkansas has recently become the first state in the nation to require that all public high schools offer CS courses. This has left schools scrambling to comply as prior to June 2015, only 6.4% of the schools offered CS courses, and the state had no process in place to certify CS teachers. While online CS courses will help most Arkansas high schools comply with this new legislation during the 2015-2016 academic year, the literature suggests significant benefits to face-to-face instruction. To meet the immediate and ongoing demand for well-trained and CS certified high school teachers, and to better prepare Arkansas’ high school students for computer-related professions, the UA College of Engineering (COE) and Department of Computer Science and Computer Engineering (CSCE) propose a multifaceted program that will develop both in-service and pre-service high school teachers to be certified to teach Computer Science (CS) Principles. The in-service component will rapidly address the immediate demand and the pre-service component will prepare an ongoing pipeline of CS teachers. The project will use a dual track approach. Pre-service professional development will be developed through the UAteach. In-service teachers will be prepared through UA’s Advanced Placement Summer Institute (APSI). In both cases the curricula will be based on the Thriving in Our Digital World CS Principles course developed at the University of Texas, Austin. The effort will be evaluated, assessing both teacher and students outcomes, and comparing student outcomes against their peers who worked online. These findings will contribute to the CS education literature, helping to clarify how effective solely online CS instruction in high school populations relative to face-to-face instruction. In addition, TACT experiences refining the components of this multifaceted teacher preparation program will help inform additional scaling efforts specifically based on Thriving in Our Digital World, and it will help inform policymakers more generally considering statewide mandates on CS education.


What Features of the Exploring Computer Science Course Equitably Inspire Students to Pursue Further Computer Science Coursework?

PI: Steven McGee, Ph.D. The Learning Partnership [email protected] co-PI: Ron Greenberg, Ph.D. Loyola University co-PI: Brenda Wilkerson Chicago Public Schools BRIEF DESCRIPTION

Exploring Computer Science (ECS) is a curriculum and professional development program designed to support the broadening of participation of women and minorities in the field of computer science. While prior studies have examined the impact of the professional development on implementation of ECS, to date no study has examined the extent to which ECS is achieving its basic outcome goal of inspiring students to pursue further computer science coursework. We will investigate two primary questions to provide evidence on the extent to which the ECS program is achieving its basic outcome goal. The research will also contribute to an understanding of how the components of ECS work together to contribute to that basic outcome goal. These two research questions are: 1. Does the quality of ECS implementation influence the probability that female and minority

students will pursue and succeed in further computer science coursework in high school? 2. How do the components of ECS work together to contribute towards the probability that

female and minority students will pursue and succeed in further computer science coursework in high school?

INTELLECTUAL MERIT This project will extend current research on the relationship between teaching practices, student perceptions of teaching practice, student aspirations, and actual course selection. It will provide an empirical investigation of the underlying logic model of ECS. Extensive case study research will be used to customize the Charlotte Danielson Framework for Teaching to incorporate exemplars of ECS teaching practices. Analyses of the relationship between teaching practices and students' perceptions of those experiences will provide empirical evidence for how the different components of ECS operate on different aspects of students' competencies and aspirations. BROADER IMPACTS ! The broader impacts of this research center around the benefits that will be disseminated to other CE21 projects. The collection of exemplar video and resulting ECS-specific modifications to the Danielson Framework can be used by other projects for both evaluation and coaching. The study will include close to 9000 total students who will primarily be African American and Hispanic. The results of this research will speak directly to initiatives that focus on broadening participation.


C-‐START: Colorado -‐ STrategic Approach to Rally Teachers

Tracy Camp, [email protected] Cyndi Rader, [email protected]

Christy Moroye, Chris>[email protected]

Mo>va>on: •  The compu*ng job sector is growing, which means opportuni*es to develop skills in computer science need to be accessible for all K-‐12 students.

•  Women and minori*es are underrepresented in students who take the AP CS Exam. •  Only ~15% of students who take the AP CS A exam in Colorado are women (compared to ~20% na*onally) and only ~7% are Hispanic/La*no (despite ~33% of Colorado high school students are Hispanic/La*no).

•  Colorado is *ed with 10 other states for last place in measuring the adop*on of na*onally recognized computer science educa*on standards.

Program Objec>ves: •  Build local capability for teaching computer science courses. •  Create a strong and ac*ve community among K-‐12 teachers/administrators and university faculty.

•  Establish a *ered mentoring program for high school teachers. •  Broaden par*cipa*on of underrepresented groups in compu*ng. •  Increase computa*onal thinking skills of high school teachers. •  Create infrastructure to develop future teachers of compu*ng courses.

hDp://tech.mines.edu/cstart/

Approach: To improve computer science educa*on in Colorado by training teachers in CS content, providing classroom support, and establishing a strong network of CS teachers.

Funding provided by the Na*onal Science Founda*on grant #CNS-‐1543231

Recruit, Train and Support Teachers

Lack of quality CS K-‐12 educa*on, especially for

underrepresented students

Teacher/Student Results: Increased confidence, knowledge, interest and understanding in CS Secondary School Results: Increased CS Course offerings, enrollment in CS Courses, and students taking the AP CS A Exam

project description booklet

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