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Engaging K-12 Students in Computer Science with Creative Contexts and Multimedia

This panel from SIGCSE 2012 showcases innovative teaching strategies to inspire K-12 students in Computer Science. Led by Dr. Jeff Gray and Amber Wagner, the session explores engaging contexts like media computation, robotics, and animation through tools like Scratch and Alice. The Alabama Principles Course emphasizes creative problem-solving with collaborative team projects and applications relevant to students' lives. Key themes include leveraging smartphone usage, social networking, and exciting project ideas to enhance learning and diversify participation in computing.

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Engaging K-12 Students in Computer Science with Creative Contexts and Multimedia

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  1. SIGCSE 2012 Raleigh, NC - March 2, 2012 CS Principles Panel Jeff Gray, Ph.D. - Associate Professor Amber Wagner – Ph.D. student (former AP CS teacher)K-12 Colleague: Bill Cowles, Booker T. Washington HS University of Alabama Department of Computer Science gray@cs.ua.edu http://www.cs.ua.edu/~gray

  2. Observation: Teaching CS – 1980s style • Typical example was text-based, trivial, and uninspiring

  3. Motivation: New and Exciting Contexts • Media Computation • Programming in a more exciting context by manipulating multimedia artifacts • Robots • Lego NXT • 2D/3D Animation Environments • Alice, Scratch, AgentSheets

  4. Motivation: Newest Context • Teen smartphone penetration around 62%1 • Novel ways to engage through the “creative hook” and tinkering • “I wish I had an app for that” • Social networking and crowd sourcing a daily activity among teens • Increasing adoption of smartphones in science and medical applications 1http://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/168085/nielsen-smartphone-penetration-reaches-48.html

  5. Summary of Alabama Principles Course • Split between BYOB (Snap!) and App Inventor • Readings • Books: Hal’s Blown to Bits, Wolber et al. App Inventor book • Papers: Wing’s Computational Thinking, Kramer’s Is Abstraction the Key to Computing? • Grades: • Six individual assignments (two short essays) • Two team projects (presentation, implementation) • Three exams and 7 very short quizzes

  6. Sample Projects • Homework Examples • Hangman App • Essays: Reflective essay on student major and CS; research and analyze a computer simulation model • Team Projects • BYOB • Almost all were game variations (Example) • App Inventor • Rendezvous planner • Tornado damage assessment app for Civil Engineers • Textbook buying broker

  7. Collaboration with High School Peer • Bill Cowles, Booker T. Washington HS • Montgomery, AL • Almost exactly a 2 hour drive from Tuscaloosa • Shared syllabus, homework ideas, various lectures • Restriction on meeting times • Visit and talk to Bill’s class • Initial planning during CS4HS summer workshop in 2011 • Weekend AP training session • Bi-weekly email

  8. Things that we felt were a success • Creativity Soared • Team Projects Highly Collaborative • Diversity • 17 different majors across 29 students (first essay) • Broad interest from Freshman to Seniors • 13 of 29 students were women or males from underrepresented populations • Sustainability • Strong interest on campus to offer again in Fall ’12 • 11 High School teachers in Alabama want help in pursuing an early adopter Pilot for 2012-2013

  9. Things that did not work so well • Rushed to cover all CS Principles topics in a 3-hour course • Recruiting issues (temporary) • Big Data idea never finalized(but almost ready) • Four students dropped the course before midterm • Some team project ideas were unrealistic • 1 case of cheating

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