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Title: This is What Diversity Looks Like: Making CS Curriculum Culturally Relevant for Spanish-speaking Communities
Exploring Computer Science (ECS) [1] spawned from the need to provide access to Computer Science to everyone in the US. The success and commitment to equity and diversity of the ECS curriculum in Latina/o communities inspired an interdisciplinary group of educators from the University of Puerto Rico to tackle the lack of K-12 CSE on the island. This group recognized the need to implode the self-perception of Latinas (os) as being foreign to computing [2] by educating them about Computer Science. Teachers were identified as the catalyst change agents to transform Puerto Ricans students into contributors and creators of technology through computing. The intended audience for this panel consists of practitioners and creators of curriculum looking for creative strategies to engage students from diverse cultural backgrounds in computing using their native language.  more » « less
Award ID(s):
1738515 1738577
PAR ID:
10121397
Author(s) / Creator(s):
; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ;
Date Published:
Journal Name:
Proceedings of the 50th ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education
Page Range / eLocation ID:
647 to 648
Format(s):
Medium: X
Sponsoring Org:
National Science Foundation
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    Prior research has shown that students pursuing Exploring Computer Science (ECS) as their first elective course were more likely to pursue another computer science course in high school, as compared to students who took a traditional course as the first course. This study investigated whether the results are consistent when students are pursuing ECS to fulfill the Chicago Public Schools' graduation requirement. ECS is designed to foster deep engagement through equitable inquiry around computer science concepts. It is hypothesized that students who are fulfilling a graduation requirement will pursue additional computer science coursework at rates similar to students who were pursuing ECS as an elective course. 
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