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We aim to bring computer science (CS) to rural and American Indian students by blending American Indian storytelling practices with the educational computer programming environment called Alice. The lessons we develop cover CS concepts within the framework of the Content Standards of our state, and the Essential Understandings of American Indians. In this paper, we describe the Plateau Indian Beaded Bags lesson plan, its implementation, and the results of a lesson pilot. In the Plateau Indian Beaded Bags lesson, students learn about the beadwork of Columbia River Plateau-centered tribes. After viewing a picture of a beaded bag with a scene depicting a man on a horse in front of a woman with a tipi in the background, students are asked to construct a story based on this image. They then translate their story into code to create an animation of the story in Alice. Through this hands-on experience, students engage in algorithmic problem solving while using their imagination and creativity, increasing their exposure to, and interest in, CS.
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American Indian Storytelling with Alice
Research suggests that introducing students to computational concepts at a young age improves the likelihood that they will become interested in computer science later on in life (Super, 1953). As such, it is becoming increasingly important to develop lessons for K-12 students that include computational thinking (Barr, 2011). The storytelling project at Montana State University integrates computational thinking skills into the Indian Education for All (IEFA) curriculum for middle school students in Montana. 1. Identify an object not in Alice and needed for a lesson. 2. Develop rough draft and provide to the model developer. 3. Develop model in 3Ds max. 4. Add model to world, and add methods as needed. References Plateau Indian Beaded Bags 5. Gather feedback from students and instructors. Barr, V., & Stephenson, C. (2011). Bringing computational thinking to K-12: what is Involved and what is the role of the computer science education community? Acm Inroads, 2(1), 48-54. Cooper, J. (n.d.). Plateau beaded bag, ca. 1930 [Photograph found in Fred Mitchell, Montana Historical Society, Helena]. Retrieved from http://mhs.mt.gov/ Portals/11/education/ABeautifulTradition/tradition%20design%20color% 20brochure.pdf Super, D. E. (1953). A theory of vocational development. American Psychologist, 8(5), 185-190. We work to develop lesson plans, plan outreach events, and find relevant literature to satisfy the content standard requirements as well as the essential understandings associated with IEFA. Furthermore, we strive to integrate basic computer science concepts into these lessons to help pique student interest in programming and computational thinking. This is done using the Alice software, a drag-and-drop programming environment that allows students to use computational thinking in a beginner-friendly interface to create animations.
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- Award ID(s):
- 1657553
- PAR ID:
- 10058786
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- SIGCSE Poster Session
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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