The impact of IMPACT: assessing students' perceptions after a day of computer exploration

Authors:
Mary Anne L. Egan;Timoth Lederman
Affiliations:
Siena College, Loudonville, NY, USA;Siena College, Loudonville, NY, USA
Venue:
Proceedings of the 16th annual joint conference on Innovation and technology in computer science education
Year:
2011

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Abstract

Declining enrollments in computer science are a cause of great concern. There has been a 30% decline in enrollments in US computer science bachelor programs over the previous decade and more than a 50% decline in the enrollment of women in computer science [20]. Some research suggests this is due to the negative perceptions high school students hold of computer science [6,16]. IMPACT is a unique way of attracting excellent students to the major by inviting students and their teachers to a day of exploration and competition hosted by our college. The aim of our research is to investigate how the students' attitudes change and to assess the impact of this daylong event. This paper will demonstrate that IMPACT increases awareness of computer science and changes the perceptions of the students who attend the event.