Collaborative Research: BP: CS Unplugged: Encourage Computing without Computers

科罗拉多矿业学院与科罗拉多大学国家妇女信息技术中心合作，将在杰斐逊县公立学校区的五所中学实施和评估计算机科学（CS）不插电活动。CS不插电活动旨在让学生在不使用计算机的情况下进行计算思维活动。CS社区中的许多人假设，没有计算机和不插电活动的社会性使得CS不插电特别适合女性和代表性不足的少数民族学生，他们往往对计算概念缺乏经验和信心。但是不插电对学生有什么影响呢？项目小组将通过前后调查和学习评估，探讨一些问题，以评估“不插电”活动对学生的影响。例如，参与CS Unplugged活动是否真的对学生（特别是女性和代表性不足的少数民族）将计算机作为专业或职业的兴趣产生了积极的影响？可以以更容易理解的形式接触CS概念（即，没有电脑）增加学生的信心，他们能够学习所需的基础知识，继续在该领域？ 除了评估对学生的影响，项目团队还将探索如何在中学课堂上有效地融入CS Unplugged活动，以及如何鼓励中学教师在课堂教学中纳入CS Unplugged活动和CS概念。许多K-12学校的学生接触计算机概念的机会有限，因此，对计算机教育和职业所涉及的内容了解甚少。为了解决这种知识的缺乏，CS Unplugged贡献者的国际社区开发了一些活动来说明计算机科学家所期望的那种思维。 CS不插电活动涉及解决问题以实现目标，并通过动觉活动，游戏，魔术和比赛吸引学生。研究表明，中学是学生对计算的兴趣下降的地方;因此，该项目将扩展CS不插电活动与职业信息，然后评估不插电活动在科罗拉多最大的学区的影响，学生的多样性。

Colorado School of Mines, in collaboration with the National Center for Women & Information Technology at the University of Colorado, will implement and evaluate Computer Science (CS) Unplugged activities at five middle schools in the Jefferson County Public Schools district. CS Unplugged activities are designed to engage students in computational thinking activities without using computers. Many in the CS community hypothesize that the absence of a computer and the social of the Unplugged activities make CS Unplugged especially engaging for female and under-represented minority students who tend to have less experience and confidence with computing concepts. But what is the impact of Unplugged on students? Using pre- and post-surveys and learning assessments the project team will explore a number of questions to assess the impact of Unplugged activities on students. For example, does participation in CS Unplugged activities actually have a positive impact on students' interest (especially women and underrepresented minorities) in pursuing computing as a major or career? Can exposure to CS concepts in a more accessible format (i.e., with no computers) increase students' confidence that they are able to learn the fundamentals required to continue in the field? In addition to evaluating the impact on students, the project team will explore how to effectively incorporate CS Unplugged activities in a middle-school classroom, and how to encourage middle school teachers to include CS Unplugged activities and CS concepts in their classroom instruction.Many K-12 school students have had limited exposure to computing concepts, and therefore, have a very poor understanding of what computing education and careers involve. To address this lack of knowledge, an international community of CS Unplugged contributors has developed activities to illustrate the kind of thinking that is expected of a computer scientist. CS Unplugged activities involve problem solving to achieve a goal, and engage students via kinesthetic activities, games, magic tricks, and competitions. Studies have shown that middle school is where students' interest in computing deteriorates; thus, this project will extend CS Unplugged activities with career information and then assess the impact of the Unplugged activities in the largest school district in Colorado with significant student diversity.