Widening the Pipeline of At Risk Students into Computing

with Mars Rovers, Flash, Design-First Java, and Tutoring (Human and Artificial)

Glenn D. Blank Computer Science & Engineering Department

Lehigh University, Bethlehem, PA, USA

With support from the National Science Foundation (Grants Nos. EIA 0231768 and 0624553) and

the Pennsylvania Infrastructure Technology Alliance (PITA)

Need: widening the pipeline

The pipeline for women and minorities entering information technology is shrinking, at a time when projected demand for IT professionals is growing CS degrees for women: 36% in 1984 to 22% in 2004 Interest in CS among women fell 80 percent since 1988 Taulbee reports show declining trends for minorities

Computing Research News, May 2005

“We must take direct action to attract and retain more women to computing at all points in the pipeline (i.e., K-12, undergraduate, graduate, faculty and industry).” (Camp 1999)

Pieces of the pipeline in place S.T.A.R. Academies (now in 18th year at Lehigh)

Students That Are Ready for STEM Promotes academic achievement for at-risk students Saturdays (once a month) and summer (three weeks) College students provide tutoring and mentoring Corporate partners and parents 98% of S.T.A.R. students go to college

LV STEMNSF G(raduate) K-12 in the Lehigh Valley

Graduate Teaching Fellows bring research and role models to Lehigh Valley classrooms

8 teams: two in CS, two in Mech Eng, Bio, Chem, Math, Physics

Develop and disseminate novel resources, such as: Mars Yard from HMMS to all four ASD middle schools Macromedia Flash enriching required Microsoft Office courses Design-First with Java introduces UML design in high schools

Science and Math coordinators assure that new curricula meet standards and help with dissemination

Curricula at www.lehigh.edu/stem In- & pre-service training for teachers learning curricula Outreach students deploy at other schools in region

Launch-IT (NSF ITEST)

“Launching at risk Lehigh Valley students toward college & careers in Information Technology”

Combines strengths of S.T.A.R. & LV STEM Targets at risk students with high standards and tutoring Connects LV STEM pipeline from middle to high school 70-80 in academic year, 55 in summer program Over 70% from underrepresented minorities Over 55% are girls

Focus on Information Technology

IT-oriented field trips IT at local airport, REU E-Nose Lab, Mobile Robotics Lab, etc.

IT-oriented guest speakers from regional corporations Dilivium Graphic Arts, Alcatel-Lucent, Merck, Johnson & Johnson Initiating conversations concerning college and IT careers

One-on-one tutoring by college students PSAT/SAT prep Self-directed multimedia and intelligent tutoring systems

MultimediaintroducingObject-orienteddesign andJava

A tutoringsystem preparing students for SAT math

E-NOSE Lab

Mars Rovers Team 6th and 7th graders Science/math/IT ‘missions’ with remotely controlled robots

in a simulated Martian landscape Isaac Rieskts, “Mars Rovers in Middle Schools,” at

5:20pm

Rocketry experiments with physical and virtual rockets

Assembling a Mars RoverSummer 2007

Building math skills atwww.FirstInMath.com

Fuego Flash team 8th and 9th graders Flash™ animations and interactivity: web-based juke box

Programming logic with ActionScript Math inquiry-based activities: shapes and tessellations Daily journal entries via blogging

Design First with Java team 10th – 12th grades “Design First with Java”

curriculum Multimedia-enhanced Learn design concepts and

UML before coding Prepare for AP Java test PSAT/SAT prep Ethics in IT Resume writing and mock

interviews with industry professionals

Results Satisfied with working on computers: 3.5/4 Flash animation rubric: 3.7/4 Action Script rubric: 3.0/4 Java project rubric: 3.3/4 High participation of girls and minorities Several seniors admitted to higher quality colleges

than envisioned, in Computer Science Increasing email connection with fellows and tutors

between sessions Need to improve parental involvement Need to monitor of progress in school

Questions about LV STEM

or Launch-IT?

LV Computer Science Teachers Association in May

www.lehigh.edu/stem www.lehigh.edu/launchit

“My program works!”

Multimedia

Intelligent Tutoring Systems

Thank you!

Questions? LV Computer Science Teachers Association in May

www.lehigh.edu/launchit glennblank@gmail.com

“My program works!”