Food for Thought

Higher Education Computing Curriculum for the Black Community: A Review

“…For example, Rankin, Thomas, and Irish's discussion of equity in the classroom among the students (and even with the instructor relinquishing power to allow students to critique the pedagogical approach) is an interesting segue into a possible discussion of equitable learning environments and what that looks like for these students. The decision to "use self-reflection journals to capture students' perceptions of their learning experiences in their own words to empower their voices to be heard" plays a role in creating a way for students to define success in other ways and gives an example of how researchers can also define success in how the target population describes their experience [27]. As departmental work reviewed called on partnerships, the use of partnerships could also help in creating more inviting spaces and experiences.…”

“…According to James, students highlighted engagement and an increased sense of usefulness of the material thanks to the music context. Rankin, Thomas Irish noticed a notably higher retention rate using the "Its In the Mix" module versus previous semesters [27]. Specifically, in later work, the "Dessert Wars" challenge from the module proved to provide motivation for African American women [27].…”

“…Rankin, Thomas Irish noticed a notably higher retention rate using the "Its In the Mix" module versus previous semesters [27]. Specifically, in later work, the "Dessert Wars" challenge from the module proved to provide motivation for African American women [27]. Using students' existing knowledge and experiences (as suggested by Culturally Sustaining Pedagogy) helped these computing students to understand key concepts for success.…”

“…When it comes to achieving this, building a pedagogical bridge is a common theme, which directly connects to culturally sustaining practices. Rankin, Thomas, and Irish used food as a pedagogical tool in teaching Computational Algorithmic Thinking to Black women, relating recipes to algorithms, and centering food in the learning modules [26,27]. James uses Black music as a pedagogical bridge for students in a data structures course [25].…”