GDSE/RES: Realtime, Applied Programming for Underrepresented Students' Early Literacy

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New York University and University of Oregon Eugene propose a three-year research project to build a successful software environment for realtime, applied programming for underrepresented students' early literacy (RAPUNSEL) in order to address the critical shortage of women in Computer Science (CS) careers and degree programs. The goal is to develop an engaging system with which to teach computer programming to middle school girls. The system is designed to become a scalable, approachable simulation game that appeals to girls' sense of communication, curiosity, and play while boosting confidence and developing programming expertise. Specifically, the project aims to study three areas related to gender and CS. First, how do the design of the programming software environment and the role of the peer group within such an environment affects girls' motivation and engagement to learn programming? Second, what is the depth to which middle school girls are able to learn programming concepts such as procedural thinking? Third, can we increase girls' overall confidence and self-efficacy levels in a software environment?RAPUNSEL addresses these issues through the design of a JAVA-based networked play environment in which girls can alter and create original characters, scenes, and scripts to build collaborative narratives online. Using 4 web-based modules, girls will learn programming progressively through manipulating the objects in the modules and receiving immediate feedback. RAPUNSEL allows girls to share their creations and gradually gain access to programming through guided hint systems in the form of character agents. No previous initiatives have focused specifically on the tiered use of a commonly used programming languages for middle school girls within an online software environment, and no other project has empowered girls to create their own programmatic objects for others to use.The team will build prototypes to fit into a larger framework for what they call "unfoldable environments" which motivate girls to unwrap the characters and worlds presented to them, manipulate them, and create new objects and environments. They will work with small groups of Oregon and New York girls as users, testers, informants, and design partners. Large-scale assessment will occur in the Eugene Oregon 4J school district.The research team includes experienced, award-winning scientists, artists, designers, and educators with a unique blend of academic and industry experience. Industry-related consultants on the project include Will Wright, the founder of Maxis Entertainment and creator of The Sims games, and Lindsay Gupton, Executive Studio Director of Know Wonder, maker of the Harry Potter, American Girl, and Magic Schoolbus games. Educators serving as consultants are middle school teachers in Eugene, Oregon as well as the 4J school district in Eugene.When completed, RAPUNSEL will be distributed online as a user-friendly environment and will also be available as open source for other researchers to use. It has potential to influence technology education at the middle school level, addressing the national need to invite more female students to develop technical and design skills.