A CS1 course designed to address interests of women

Abstract

Literature on women in computing points out that computer science is not being effective at attracting and retaining women. Introduction to Media Computation is a new CS1 aimed especially at non-majors which was designed explicitly to address the concerns of women in computer science, such as the lack of relevance and creativity. The course is contextualized around the theme of manipulating and creating media. Of the 121 students who took the course (2/3 female), only three students dropped (all male), and 89% completed the course with a grade C or better. This paper presents data from interviews with women in the Media Computation class, then contrasts with interviews in a more traditional CS1.

Contrasts in student engagement, meaning-making, dislikes, and challenges in a discovery-based program of game design learning

“…student) Importance signifies value and indicates that students find these activities relevant and meaningful. This finding supports the work of Guzdial and colleagues who report that introducing students to programming in a context of creating ''computational media'' products using a Constructionist intervention is an especially motivating way to teach computational thinking (Guzdial and Soloway 2003;Rich et al 2004;Forte and Guzdial 2005). Such interventions have been found to provide new pathways for disadvantaged students into computer science disciplines.…”

“…And, scholars in the area of computer science education or ''computing education'' continue to draw upon the early Constructionist research in their exploration of best instructional theories and strategies in teaching students to effectively learn programming and computer science principles. For instance, Guzdial and colleagues report that introducing students to programming through creation of ''computational media'' products in constructionist interventions is an especially motivating way to teach computational thinking to undergraduate novices and can provide new pathways for under-represented students and groups to develop technical expertise and career interests, leading to greater diversity in the computer science disciplines (Guzdial and Soloway 2003;Rich et al 2004;Forte and Guzdial 2005). Designbased research being conducted today, and the growing literature addressing computational thinking in the field of computing education are both relevant linkages for the current Globaloria work.…”

Improving secondary CS education

“…About 40-50% of the non-majors used to fail a traditional computer science course aimed at majors. With the Media Computation course 80-90% of the non-majors pass and some are even attracted into computer science [2]. The computing courses in Georgia high schools are offered in the Business Department so we are trying to train mostly business majors to teach computer science.…”

A model for improving secondary CS education

“…The course was developed specifically for nonmajors and to encourage diversity [3]. This course teaches computer science concepts in the context of manipulating and creating media: pictures, sound, movies, and text.…”