Integrating Social Justice Topics into CS1: (Abstract Only)

Meaningful and engaging assignments are important to retention in CS. An interesting problem context may be able to make routine practice of programming basics more interesting for students. Problem contexts also provide the opportunity to bring in content related to social justice topics, which are important for providing students a well-rounded education. With funding from the NSF (#1339404), we have developed eight homework assignments that integrate social justice topics as the problem context for CS1 assignments. Workshop attendees will work in small groups to revise or adapt existing assignments, translate existing assignments into the language of their course, or develop a new assignment. Attendees will be encouraged to submit their work to Nifty Assignments for 2019 and NCWIT's peer-reviewed curriculum repository, Engage CS Edu (engage-csedu.org). All assignments will be posted on CSTeachingTips.org to be shared with the community.