A framework for enhancing the social good in computing education

Goldweber, Michael; Barr, John; Clear, Tony; Davoli, Renzo; Mann, Samuel; Patitsas, Elizabeth; Portnoff, Scott R.

doi:10.1145/2426636.2426639

Cited by 22 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 63 publications

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“…By using formal syntax to write complex programs aimed at managing and analyzing data, the project-based course teaches and reinforces many of the same concepts and skills covered in programming courses (Joint Task Force on Computing Curricula, Association for Computing Machinery & IEEE Computer Society, 2013;Nolan & Temple Lang, 2010). Our approach of using individual research projects to motivate students is one that has also been undertaken in computer science courses (Goldweber et al, 2012;Jenkins, 2001) and has been shown to be particularly motivating to female students (Rader et al, 2011). Furthermore, previous research on the project-based model in the United States comparing choice of enrollment in the project-based course to a traditional introductory programming course revealed that higher rates of females and underrepresented students chose to enroll in the project-based statistics course.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Taking Project-Based Statistics Abroad: Learning Experiences and Outcomes of a Project-Based Statistics Course in West Africa

Awuah

Gallagher

Dierker³

2020

SERJ

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To evaluate the impact of a multidisciplinary, project-based course in introductory statistics, this exploratory study examined learning experiences, feelings of confidence, and interest in future experiences with data for undergraduate students in Ghana, West Africa. Students completed a one-semester, introductory statistics course utilizing the Passion-driven Statistics curriculum. Results showed more than half of the students put more effort into the course and found the material more challenging compared to other courses, while nearly three-quarters reported interest in one or more follow-up courses. Importantly, students also reported increased confidence in a variety of applied statistical skills. These findings demonstrate the positive impact of a multidisciplinary, project-based curriculum on undergraduate students in Ghana, West Africa and demonstrate the potential for its global portability. First published December 2020 at Statistics Education Research Journal: Archives

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Taking Project-Based Statistics Abroad: Learning Experiences and Outcomes of a Project-Based Statistics Course in West Africa

Awuah

Gallagher

Dierker³

2020

SERJ

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“…Through the use of formal syntax to write complex programs aimed at managing and analyzing data, the project-based course introduces students to several of the same concepts and skills covered in traditional programming courses (Nolan and Temple Lang 2010;ACM, 2013). Importantly, our approach of using contextualized projects and research to motivate students is one that has also been undertaken in computer science courses (Jenkins 2001;Goldweber et al, 2012) and has been shown to be particularly motivating to female students (Rader et al, 2011). More research is needed to consider the future coursework and career choices of these students and how their experiences in the project-based data analysis course might offer another possible pathway into technical occupations.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Engaging Underrepresented High School students in Data Driven Storytelling: An Examination of Learning Experiences and Outcomes for a Cohort of Rising Seniors Enrolled in the Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Program (GEAR UP)

Dierker¹,

Ward²,

Alexander³

et al. 2017

JETS

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Background: Upward trends in data-oriented careers threaten to further increase the underrepresentation of both females and individuals from racial minority groups in programs focused on data analysis and applied statistics. To begin to develop the necessary skills for a data-oriented career, project-based learning seems the most promising given its focus on real-world activities that are aimed at engaging student interest and enthusiasm. Method: Using pre and post survey data, the present study examines student background characteristics, learning experiences and course outcomes for a cohort of 33 rising high school seniors involved in a two-week, accelerated version of a project-based data analysis and applied statistics curriculum. Results: On average, students rated the experience as rewarding and the vast majority (78.1%) felt that they had accomplished more than they had expected. Based on responses to both the pre and post course surveys, roughly half of the students reported increases in confidence in applied skills (i.e. developing a research question, managing data, choosing the correct statistical test, effectively presenting research results, and conducting a statistical analysis of data), while more than 80% reported increased confidence in writing code to run statistical analyses. Fully 84.4% of students reported interest in one or more follow-up courses with interest in computer programming being endorsed by the largest number of students (53.1%). Conclusions: These findings support previous research showing that real-world, project-based experiences afford the best hope for achieving the kind of analytic and statistical literacy necessary for meaningful engagement in research, problem solving and professional development.

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“…Throughout my CS teaching career I've emphasized applications and social context, and taken pride in sharing my teaching materials with others. I have published multiple papers sharing experiences and research on my teaching of introductory programming (CS1) [35,63], digital logic [62,[65][66][67], and algorithms & data structures [64,69].…”

Section: Elizabeth I Am Currently An Assistant Professor Atmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Indeed, the literature on CS education for sustainability predominantly focuses on how to apply computing concepts to climate modelling and sustainable logistics [30,35,72]. This tendency has also been an issue for the LIMITS community [42].…”

Section: Elizabethmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Yet sustainability and the climate crisis are seldom talked about in computing classrooms. Many of us are working to incorporate sustainability into CS education, such as through supporting teachers [18,50] and students in integrating sustainability [35,37,77,78,84]. These efforts are complicated by the contested definitions of sustainability, such as the environmental, social, and economic framings of sustainability [19,53].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Materiality Matters in Computing Education: A Duoethnography of Two Digital Logic Educators

Mayhew

Patitsas

2021

LIMITS Workshop on Computing Within Limits

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Computer science needs to be sustainable, and CS educators have an important role to play in changing the discipline. Recent efforts have emerged to teach CS in ways that apply computing to mitigate climate change, but this alone is insufficient: we must also change what it means to do computing. We use duoethnography to interrogate our practices as CS educators to support the goal of integrating sustainability into CS. Despite being invested in these goals, we each realized that we had been nevertheless reinforcing the cultural norms that underpin the environmental and social damage caused by computing. We found five themes in the qualitative analysis of our reflections: (1) A lack of materiality in CS classes makes it difficult for computer scientists to scrutinize the environmental costs of hardware, (2) The discourse on "greenness" in computing neglects the role of embodied emissions, (3) The lack of context in CS education teaches students to perceive the status quo as "natural", (4) Those who have bought into the dominant ideology of CS can be resistant to innovating CS education, and (5) Materiality helps with teaching computing. We illustrate how changing CS to become more sustainable requires deeper thought than "add sustainability and stir" to the curriculum, and insights toward addressing the root ideology of CS education.

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A framework for enhancing the social good in computing education

Cited by 22 publications

References 63 publications

Taking Project-Based Statistics Abroad: Learning Experiences and Outcomes of a Project-Based Statistics Course in West Africa

Taking Project-Based Statistics Abroad: Learning Experiences and Outcomes of a Project-Based Statistics Course in West Africa

Engaging Underrepresented High School students in Data Driven Storytelling: An Examination of Learning Experiences and Outcomes for a Cohort of Rising Seniors Enrolled in the Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Program (GEAR UP)

Materiality Matters in Computing Education: A Duoethnography of Two Digital Logic Educators

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