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To promote interest in computer science (CS) among minority high school students from low-income families, we offered a one-month Summer Academy followed by a semester-long online group project. A group of 31 minority students from Alabama’s Black Belt areas participated in the program. The purpose of this study was two-fold. First, we examined factors affecting students’ motivation for learning CS. Second, we explored the program’s impact on student's future interest in learning CS. We conducted an individual Zoom interview with all participants, and they were also invited to complete a pre-and post-survey. We also observed classroom teaching during the Summer Academy and facilitated online Zoom meetings in the fall semester on a monthly basis. The findings revealed that early exposure to CS and family encouragement motivated students to explore the field of CS. Students found MIT App Inventor learning, meeting with guest speakers, and group projects most valuable, which positively affected students’ motivation to continue to learn CS.
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Who Has an Interest in “Public Interest Technology”?: Critical Questions for Working with Local Governments & Impacted Communities
- Award ID(s):
- 2125858
- PAR ID:
- 10463956
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Companion Publication of the 2022 Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work and Social Computing (CSCW 2022)
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 282 to 286
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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- Free Publicly Accessible Full Text
-
Accepted Manuscript1.0
- Conference Paper:
- https://doi.org/10.1145/3500868.3560484
