Making the Abstract Concrete: A Proposal to Improve the Teaching of Advanced Computer Science Concepts in a Predominantly Hispanic Institute

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This university serves the predominantly Hispanic population of northern New Mexico. Many of the students attending the institution have not, for whatever reason, not had the opportunity to develop their skills of abstraction. It is difficult then for them to be successful and self-confident in the study of disciplines such as Computer Science. This project seeks to address the issue of how to teach the abstract concepts found in upper-division Computer Science courses to such a student population. The basic assumption of the project is that the abstractions of Computer Science can be better taught to such students through concrete demonstrations and hands-on experimentation. The department is currently performing experiments and demonstrations of the new hardware and software to be used in the laboratory settings. The goal is to enable more students to graduate with a deep understanding of Computer Science. Such students will make a better contribution in the workplace and are more likely to go on to graduate school. The lessons learned from this effort should be applicable to any institution with a similar student body.