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Background. Software Engineering (SE) is a new and emerging topic in secondary computer science classrooms. However, a review of the recent literature has identified an overall lack of reporting on the development of SE secondary curriculum. Previous studies also report low student engagement when teaching these concepts. Objectives. In this experience report, we discuss the development of a 9-week, project-based learning (PBL) SE curriculum for secondary students. During this curriculum, students create a socially relevant project in groups of two to three. We discuss displays of participant engagement with CS concepts through the PBL pedagogy and the SE curriculum. Method. We examine participant engagement through group artifact interviews about student experiences during a week-long, virtual summer camp that piloted activities from our curriculum. During this camp, students followed a modified SE life cycle created by the authors of the paper. Findings. Participants showed engagement with the curriculum through various aspects of PBL, such as autonomy, creativity, and personal interest in their project topic. Implications. The lessons learned from this experience report suggest that PBL pedagogy can increase student engagement when teaching CS concepts, and this pedagogy provides detail and structure for future secondary SE curriculum implementations to support educators in the classroom 

Computer Science (CS) Frontiers is a 4-module curriculum, 9 weeks each, designed to bring the frontiers of computing to high school girls for exploration and development. Our prior work has showcased the work in developing and piloting our first three modules, Distributed Computing, Artificial Intelligence (AI), and the Internet of Things (IoT). During the summer of 2022, we piloted the completed curricula, including the new Software Engineering module, with 56 high school camp attendees. This poster reports on the newly developed software engineering module, the experiences of 7 teachers and 11 students using the module, and our plans for improving this module prior to its release in formal high school classrooms. Initial survey and interview data indicate that teachers became comfortable with facilitating the open-endedness of the final projects and that students appreciated the connections to socially relevant topics and the ability of their projects to help with real-world problems such as flood prevention and wheelchair accessibility. The CS Frontiers curriculum has been added to course offerings in Tennessee and adoption through the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction is currently underway. Teachers from Tennessee, North Carolina, Massachusetts, and New York have piloted the materials. Together with researchers, we are working to package the course and curricula for widespread adoption as additional support to students as they try out computing courses in their high school pathways. Our aim is to increase the interest and career awareness of CS for high school girls so they may have an equitable footing to choose CS as a potential major or career. 

By age 15 girls start to lose interest in STEM, and less than 50% consider a STEM-related career. Providing hands-on internship opportunities has been one of the leading ways to help connect students with exploring computing careers; however, these opportunities are limited in high school. We propose a framework for a university-led high school internship initiative that focuses on service learning, co-design, and the propagation of engaging computing curricula for younger audiences. We piloted this model virtually in summer 2021, with high school students and teachers as interns mentored by university role models. Teams led the development and implementation of computing-infused curricula for a virtual summer coding camp. In this article, we share our framework and review the importance of service-learning for recruiting diverse participants and the use of co-design as a way to broker relationships between developers and community stakeholders. Additionally, we provide preliminary outcomes of our internship model on student and teacher participants gathered from qualitative data including end-of-summer presentations and post-program interviews. 

The AP Computer Science Principles (CSP) high school course introduces students to computer science and programming. What should motivated students study after successful completion of AP CSP? The AP CSA class teaches Java programming and it has traditionally not attracted students from underrepresented groups. We are working on an alternative, projects-based course that will teach cutting edge CS concepts, such as distributed computing, computer networking, cybersecurity, the internet of things and machine learning, in a hands-on, accessible manner. Such an approach enables students to work on problems that interest them making computing more relevant and the curriculum more engaging. We utilize NetsBlox, a collaborative, block-based programming environment that extends Snap! with a few carefully selected abstractions that open up the vast array of resources freely available on the internet for student programs. Moreover, the tool enables students to work together on the same project remotely similarly to how Google Docs operate. This demonstration will introduce the environment and highlight its utility in creating distributed applications such as a shared whiteboard app and projects that access public domain scientific data sources and visualize them in various ways using online services such as Google Maps or charting. More information is available at https://netsblox.org.