The evolution of a computational outreach program to secondary school students

  • Authors:
  • Zachary Dodds;Leslie Karp

  • Affiliations:
  • Harvey Mudd College, Claremont, CA;Harvey Mudd College, Claremont, CA

  • Venue:
  • Proceedings of the 37th SIGCSE technical symposium on Computer science education
  • Year:
  • 2006

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Abstract

This paper tracks the five-year growth and current trajectory of a computational outreach program at a small, liberal-arts college. The program has enhanced opportunities for talented high-school students to experience computation more deeply than their HS curriculum currently offers. This outreach evolved from a naive initial premise into a mutually beneficial interaction between an undergraduate computer science department and a local secondary school. The most important factor in the program's sustainability is a supportive liaison within the high school's administration. We hope the lessons we have learned will help other CS departments develop sustainable outreach programs.