Collaborative Research: BPC-DP: Improving Minority Student Participation in the Computing Career Pipeline with Culturally Situated Design Tools

伦斯勒理工学院提出了一个项目，扩大文化情境设计工具 (CSDT) 的使用，以吸引代表性不足的少数群体参与计算。 CSDT 是基于网络的小程序，基于民族数学：嵌入文化设计中的数学知识，例如玉米辫发型、美洲原住民珠饰和拉丁打击节奏。它们允许学生使用这些基本的数学原理来模拟原始的文化设计，创建自己发明的新设计，并进行特定的数学探究。它们已在拥有大量非裔美国人、拉丁裔和美洲原住民学生的 K-12 学校中使用，初步评估表明，数学成绩和对技术职业的态度在统计上都有显着提高。这项拟议的工作有两个方面。首先，它将为 CSDT 开发一个新的用户界面，学生可以通过输入伪代码来创建设计，从而将学习内容的重点从数学转移到计算机编程。其次，它将利用 BPC 赞助的 STARS 联盟学生领导团 (SLC) 中的 CSDT，允许本科生 SLC 成员为 7-12 年级和校外教育的外展项目学生提供新的培训和资源。 SLC 学生还将有机会开发自己创作的 CSDT，遵循设计协议，确保通过教育和文化社区当地成员的参与过程尊重地使用文化材料。项目评估将审查 CSDT 对 SLC 学生及其外展群体的影响。

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute proposes a project to extend the use of Culturally Situated Design Tools (CSDTs) to engage underrepresented minorities in computing. CSDTs are web-based applets are based on ethnomathematics: the mathematical knowledge embedded in cultural designs such as cornrow hairstyles, Native American beadwork, and Latino percussion rhythms. They allow students to use these underlying mathematical principles to simulate the original cultural designs, create new designs of their own invention, and engage in specific math inquiries. They have been used in K-12 schools with large numbers of African-American, Latino, and Native American students, and preliminary evaluations indicate statistically significant increase in both math achievement and attitudes toward technology-based careers. This proposed work is two-fold. First, it will develop a new user interface for CSDTs in which students create designs by entering pseudocode, thus shifting the learning content emphasis from mathematics to computer programming. Second, it will utilize the CSDTs in the Student Leadership Corps (SLC) of the BPC-sponsored STARS alliance, allowing undergraduate SLC members to provide new training and resources to students with outreach projects in grade 7-12 and out-of-school education. SLC students will also have the opportunity to develop CSDTs of their own creation, following a design protocol that ensures respectful use of cultural materials by a participatory process involving local members of educational and cultural communities. The project evaluation will examine the impact of CSDTs on both SLC students and their outreach constituency.