Making the connection: programming with animated small world
Proceedings of the 5th annual SIGCSE/SIGCUE ITiCSEconference on Innovation and technology in computer science education
Software design and implementation in the introductory CS course: JavaScript and virtual pests
CCSC '00 Proceedings of the fifth annual CCSC northeastern conference on The journal of computing in small colleges
C5 '04 Proceedings of the Second International Conference on Creating, Connecting and Collaborating through Computing
Teaching programming and language concepts using LEGOs®
ITiCSE '05 Proceedings of the 10th annual SIGCSE conference on Innovation and technology in computer science education
Computational thinking via interactive journalism in middle school
Proceedings of the 41st ACM technical symposium on Computer science education
Effective and sustainable computing summer camps
Proceedings of the 43rd ACM technical symposium on Computer Science Education
Assessment of computer science learning in a scratch-based outreach program
Proceeding of the 44th ACM technical symposium on Computer science education
Proceedings of the 45th ACM technical symposium on Computer science education
CS principles goes to middle school: learning how to teach "Big Data"
Proceedings of the 45th ACM technical symposium on Computer science education
Spreading the word: introducing pre-service teachers to programming in the K12 classroom
Proceedings of the 45th ACM technical symposium on Computer science education
Robotics summer camps as a recruiting tool: a case study
Journal of Computing Sciences in Colleges
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A popular approach to introducing students to computer science is to involve middle-school students in engaging programming activities. One challenge in such a program is attracting students who are not already positively predisposed to computing. In order to attract a diverse audience, we developed a summer program based on culturally-relevant themes that appealed to our two target audiences, females and Latina/os. This paper describes our success in developing and implementing a computing curriculum and recruiting materials for a 2-week summer camp integrating two themes, animal conservation and Mayan culture. Scratch programming was used to engage students in creating animations about animals and Mayan culture, allowing them an interdisciplinary experience that combined programming, culture, biology, art, and storytelling. Our recruiting efforts resulted in an application pool that was 73% female and 67% Latina/o, with only 6.5% in neither group. We had 34 students complete the program. Pre- and post- surveys showed that the number of students citing computer science as their top choice for a career doubled and interest in computer science as a career more than tripled.