CPATH-2: Modular CS1 from the Inside Out: Computational Thinking for all STEM Students

近年来，为了吸引学生学习计算机科学，出现了各种各样的课程。媒体，机器人，游戏和其他环境为许多学生带来了生活领域。然而，这些和其他创新的入门课程并不是为了满足科学，数学和工程学科学生的独特需求而设计的。虽然STEM学生需要越来越复杂的计算能力，但他们的正式计算培训（如果有的话）通常集中在狭窄的应用范围内，而排除了基本的和广泛可转移的计算思维（CT）概念和技能。该项目的假设是，所有STEM学生的计算思维课程将受益于从上下文“CS 1”课程获得的见解。Harvey Mudd College（HMC）最近设计，部署和评估了一个以STEM为主题的CS 1入门课程。这项工作旨在将这门课程由内而外，产生一套计算思维模块，可以灵活地组合成非CS STEM学生和CS预科专业的课程。而不是“另一个CS 1”，其结果将是跨越STEM服务计算思维课程的资源，并为具有广泛科学和工程兴趣的学生提供核心CT思想和技能的引人注目的介绍。设计和评估丰富而引人注目的课程模块，这些模块可以组装成不同领域（例如计算机科学，生物学或工程）和不同类型机构（例如文科学院和大型大学）的各种受众（高中，本科和研究生水平）的介绍性CT课程。这些模块将以问题为基础，使用STEM动机的实验室和作业来开发和练习主要概念。联合收割机这些模块开发和部署几个原型课程，包括介绍大学计算机科学课程，介绍大学生物计算课程，高中计算课程，和信息技术研究生课程.通过（1）指导其他学校的结构化部署流程传播模块和课程（2）有组织的讲习班、参观其他学校、出版物以及在一些教育会议和专题讨论会上发表演讲。知识价值：这项工作正在创建一个灵活的，可重新定位的CT课程，以CS核心主题为基础，但不限于此，并针对具有广泛科学和工程兴趣的学生。PI拥有为CS专业以外的学生开发新颖且引人入胜的CS 1课程的丰富经验：HMC的CS for Scientists课程已被证明成功地激发了STEM学科的学生，让他们了解如何在所选领域利用计算。将本课程的材料改编为广泛的机构是理解如何培养所有STEM学生计算能力的重要一步。更广泛的影响：这项工作将直接为五个非常不同的机构创建CT课程：两所大型公立大学，其中一所服务于大量少数民族人口，一所文科学院，一所公立高中和一所研究生院。所有五门课程都将从一套灵活和模块化的资源中汲取材料，这些资源将创建或告知CT课程，远远超出最初的一套学校。最重要的是，这五门CT课程将对CT在整个STEM学科中对学生的影响和相关性进行全面和跨领域的评估。该方法已经显示出显着的改善，在哈维穆德学院的年轻女性之间的计算越来越感兴趣;该项目的更广泛的评估将确定这些地方的成功转移到人口和机构的多样性。

Recent years have seen a diversity of curricula designed to attract students to computer science. Media, robots, games, and other contexts have brought the field to life for many students. Yet these and other innovative introductory courses are not designed to serve the distinct needs of students in the sciences, mathematics, and engineering disciplines. Although STEM students require increasingly sophisticated computational capabilities, their formal training in computation, if any, often focuses on a narrow range of applications to the exclusion of fundamental and widely transferable Computational Thinking (CT) concepts and skills. This project's hypothesis is that the computational thinking curricula for all STEM students will benefit from the insights gained from contextual "CS1" courses. Harvey Mudd College (HMC) has recently designed, deployed, and evaluated a breadth first introductory CS1 curriculum with a STEM-themed context. This work seeks to turn that course inside-out, spawning a suite of computational thinking modules that can be flexibly composed into curricula for non-CS STEM students and pre-CS-majors alike. Instead of "another CS1," the result will be resources that span STEM-serving computational-thinking courses and provide a compelling introduction to core CT ideas and skills for students with a broad range of science and engineering interests.The objectives are to:1. Design and assess rich and compelling course modules that can be assembled into introductory CT courses for a variety of audiences (high school, undergraduate, and graduate level) in different areas (e.g. computer science, biology, or engineering) and at different types of institutions (e.g. liberal-arts colleges and large universities). These modules will be problem-based, using STEM-motivated labs and assignments to develop and exercise major concepts.2. Combine these modules to develop and deploy several prototype courses including introductory college computer science courses, an introductory college computation for biology course, a high school computation course, and a course for information technology graduate students.3. Disseminate modules and courses through (1) a structured deployment process that guides other schools (not directly involved in this project) in choosing appropriate modules for their contexts and (2) structured workshops, visits to other schools, and publications and talks at a number of education conferences and symposia.Intellectual Merit: This work is creating a flexible, retargetable CT curriculum, grounded in but not limited by core CS topics, and aimed at students with a broad range of scientific and engineering interests. The PIs have extensive experience developing novel and engaging CS1 curricula for students outside the CS major: HMC's CS for Scientists course has proven successful at exciting students across STEM disciplines about how they can leverage computation in their chosen fields. Adapting this course's materials to a broad range of institutions is an important step in understanding how to develop the computational capabilities of all STEM students.Broader Impact: This work will directly create CT curricula for five very different institutions: two large public universities, one of which serves a large minority population, one liberal arts college, one public high school and one graduate school. All five curricula will draw material from a flexible and modular set of resources that will create or inform CT courses far beyond this initial set of schools. Most importantly, these five CT courses will enable a thorough and cross-cutting assessment of the impact and relevance of CT for students throughout STEM disciplines. The approach has already shown significant improvement in increasing interest in computation among young women at Harvey Mudd College; this project's much wider assessment will determine how much these local successes transfer across a diversity of populations and institutions.