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Social computing is the study of how technology shapes human social interactions. This topic has become increasingly relevant to secondary school students (ages 11--18) as more of young people's everyday social experiences take place online, particularly with the continuing effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, social computing topics are rarely touched upon in existing middle and high school curricula. We seek to introduce concepts from social computing to secondary school students so they can understand how computing has wide-ranging social implications that touch upon their everyday lives, as well as think critically about both the positive and negative sides of different social technology designs. In this report, we present a series of six lessons combining presentations and hands-on activities covering topics within social computing and detail our experience teaching these lessons to approximately 1,405 students across 13 middle and high schools in our local school district. We developed lessons covering how social computing relates to the topics of Data Management, Encrypted Messaging, Human-Computer Interaction Careers, Machine Learning and Bias, Misinformation, and Online Behavior. We found that 81.13% of students expressed greater interest in the content of our lessons compared to their interest in STEM overall. We also found from pre- and post-lesson comprehension questions that 63.65% learned new concepts from the main activity. We release all lesson materials on a website for public use. From our experience, we observed that students were engaged in these topics and found enjoyment in finding connections between computing and their own lives.
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Instructional Planning Modifications to Meet Social Distancing Requirements: Secondary and Post-Secondary Options
Secondary and post-secondary science and engineering educators share common class arrangements with both a laboratory and lecture component, coordinating both components so they build upon each other to create meaningful learning experiences. The COVID-19 pandemic forced educators to convert lectures and exams to online delivery. Doing so came with trade-off decisions about sacrificing laboratory experience goals of hands-on practice, problem-solving, and learning concepts at a deeper, tactile level. Due to rapidly changing conditions, educators faced course redesign to accommodate social distancing and virtual learning requirements. In this study, a team of undergraduate college students including one secondary science preservice teacher planned a set of lessons for STEM outreach to a K–12 audience. The team faced challenges in planning meaningful learning experiences in the face of COVID-19 uncertainty. Options for secondary and post-secondary educators to consider are provided in this article.
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- Award ID(s):
- 1821566
- PAR ID:
- 10314215
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Education Sciences
- Volume:
- 11
- Issue:
- 5
- ISSN:
- 2227-7102
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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- Free Publicly Accessible Full Text
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Accepted Manuscript1.0
- Journal Article:
- https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci11050217
