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Scratching middle schoolers' creative itch

Published: 10 March 2010 Publication History

Abstract

Each July since 2003, the author has directed summer camps that introduce middle school boys and girls to the basic ideas of computer programming. Prior to 2009, the author used Alice 2.0 to introduce object-based computing. In 2009, the author decided to offer these camps using Scratch, primarily to engage repeat campers but also for variety. This paper provides a detailed overview of this outreach, and documents its success at providing middle school girls with a positive, engaging computing experience. It also discusses the merits of Alice and Scratch for such outreach efforts; and the use of these visually oriented programs by students with disabilities, including blind students.

References

[1]
J. Adams. Alice, Middle-Schoolers, & The Imaginary Worlds Camps. Proceedings of the 38th SIGCSE Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education (March 2007). pp. 307--311.
[2]
K. Cannon, K. Panciera, and N. Papanikolopoulos. Second annual robotics summer camp for underrepresented students. Proceedings of the 12th SIGCSE Conference on Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education (June 2007). pp. 14--18.
[3]
M. Craig and D. Horton. Gr8 designs for Gr8 girls: a middle-school program and its evaluation. Proceedings of the 40th SIGCSE Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education (March 2009). pp. 221--225.
[4]
J. Ford. Scratch Programming For Teens, Course Technology / Cengage Learning, 2008.
[5]
W. Lau, G. Ngai, S. Chan, and J. Cheung. Learning programming through fashion and design: a pilot summer course in wearable computing for middle school students. Proceedings of the 40th SIGCSE Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education (March 2009). pp. 504--508.
[6]
D. Malan and H. Leitner, Scratch for budding computer scientists. Proceedings of the 39th SIGCSE Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education (March 2007). pp. 223--227.
[7]
J. Maloney, K. Peppler, Y. Kafai, M. Resnick, and N. Rusk. Programming by choice: urban youth learning programming with scratch, Proceedings of the 39th SIGCSE Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education (March 2008). pp. 367--371.
[8]
L. Pollock, K. McCoy, S. Carberry, N. Handigopal, and X. You. Increasing High School Girls' Self Confidence and Awareness of CS through a Positive Summer Experience. Proceedings of the 35th SIGCSE Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education (March 2004). pp. 185--189.
[9]
L. Saliga, L. Nelson, and K. Liszka. What's the secret?: an encrypted treasure hunt. Journal of Computing Sciences in Colleges (24) 1, October 2008. pp. 55--61.
[10]
P. Sivilotti and S. Laugel. Scratching the surface of advanced topics in software engineering: a workshop module for middle school students. Proceedings of the 39th SIGCSE Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education (March 2008). pp. 291--295.
[11]
University of Washington CSE Department, "Why Choose CSE?" Online: http://www.cs.washington.edu/WhyCSE/. Accessed August 2009.

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  • (2023)A Summer Camp Experience to Engage Middle School Learners in AI through Conversational App DevelopmentProceedings of the 54th ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education V. 110.1145/3545945.3569864(813-819)Online publication date: 2-Mar-2023
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cover image ACM Conferences
SIGCSE '10: Proceedings of the 41st ACM technical symposium on Computer science education
March 2010
618 pages
ISBN:9781450300063
DOI:10.1145/1734263
Permission to make digital or hard copies of all or part of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. Copyrights for components of this work owned by others than ACM must be honored. Abstracting with credit is permitted. To copy otherwise, or republish, to post on servers or to redistribute to lists, requires prior specific permission and/or a fee. Request permissions from [email protected]

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Published: 10 March 2010

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Author Tags

  1. 2-d animation
  2. alice
  3. computer science
  4. games
  5. gender
  6. middle school
  7. music
  8. programming
  9. scratch
  10. summer camps
  11. videos

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Cited By

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  • (2023)A Summer Camp Experience to Engage Middle School Learners in AI through Conversational App DevelopmentProceedings of the 54th ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education V. 110.1145/3545945.3569864(813-819)Online publication date: 2-Mar-2023
  • (2023)Topic Relation Graph Construction to Identify Challenges in Introducing Programming in Indonesian K-12 Education2023 1st IEEE International Conference on Smart Technology (ICE-SMARTec)10.1109/ICE-SMARTECH59237.2023.10461964(184-189)Online publication date: 17-Jul-2023
  • (2023)Fostering Computational Thinking and Social-emotional Skills in Children with ADHD and/or ASD: a Scoping ReviewReview Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders10.1007/s40489-023-00369-311:4(843-862)Online publication date: 4-Apr-2023
  • (2022)Computational Thinking and Educational Robotics Integrated into Project-Based LearningSensors10.3390/s2210374622:10(3746)Online publication date: 14-May-2022
  • (2022)Mapping Computational Thinking Skills Through Digital Games Co-Creation Activity Amongst Malaysian Sub-urban ChildrenJournal of Educational Computing Research10.1177/0735633122112110661:2(355-389)Online publication date: 31-Oct-2022
  • (2022)"Can you help me?"Proceedings of the ACM/IEEE 44th International Conference on Software Engineering: Software Engineering Education and Training10.1145/3510456.3514154(50-61)Online publication date: 21-May-2022
  • (2022)Interest Development Theory in Computing Education: A Framework and Toolkit for Researchers and DesignersACM Transactions on Computing Education10.1145/348705422:4(1-27)Online publication date: 10-Dec-2022
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  • (2022)Grand Theories or Design Guidelines? Perspectives on the Role of Theory in Computing Education ResearchACM Transactions on Computing Education10.1145/348704923:1(1-20)Online publication date: 29-Dec-2022
  • (2022)Cognitive Load Theory in Computing Education Research: A ReviewACM Transactions on Computing Education10.1145/348384322:4(1-27)Online publication date: 15-Sep-2022
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