CAREER: Constructing Modern and Inclusive Trajectories for Computer Science Learning

塔夫茨大学（Tufts University）提出了一项职业奖，该奖项将研究向初高中学生教授计算机科学的新方法。年轻人每天使用的许多计算机技术都是用计算机科学的思想和技术建立起来的，这些思想和技术远远超出了标准的入门课程。发送文本消息、执行搜索查询、检查天气和玩在线游戏等日常活动都使用采用网络通信、并行性、并发性和分布式系统的系统。然而，这些技术并没有在现有的K-12计算机科学课程中教授，而且它们在典型的本科计算机科学教育中几乎没有涉及。这有两个后果：许多年轻人认为计算机科学与他们的日常生活无关，目前扩大参与的方法并没有很好地挑战这种看法；而且许多程序员对这些技术的应用很差，这可能会带来毁灭性的后果（例如，2003年美国东北部的停电事件）。这项研究旨在反驳人们对计算机科学的看法。与日常生活的相关性，并设计新的方法来教授计算机科学，训练程序员应用这些技术。该项目将研究如何以新的方式向初高中学生教授计算机科学，同时扩大对计算机的参与，并培养一代能够正确推理并实现并发、分布式和网络化系统的计算机科学家。其假设是，通过创建他们自己的并发、连接的物理和虚拟技术，学生们将更好地理解计算在他们生活中的作用，同时，学习先进的计算问题解决和工程技能。定性和定量的基于设计的研究方法将有助于更好地理解(1)哪些项目类型可以激发年轻人学习网络通信和并行、并发或分布式计算，(2)这些类型的工程系统以何种方式不同地使学习相关的计算机科学主题，(3)学生对这些计算机科学思想的思考如何随着时间的推移而发展，(4)新的可编程学习技术如何支持学生的参与和概念发展。该项目将与当地合作伙伴密切合作，包括社区中心和学校。它将专门从计算机科学领域代表性不足的人群和社区中招募年轻人，即女孩、非裔美国人和拉丁美洲人。青年和参与的成年人（如教师）将在工作的所有阶段成为合作伙伴，并将指导制定符合他们兴趣和偏好的工程项目、课程和工具。我们工作的所有软件、课程和其他产品都将是开源的，以便最大限度地传播它们。

Tufts University proposes a CAREER award that will investigate new ways of teaching computer science to middle- and high-school students. Many of the computing technologies that youth use every day are built using ideas and techniques from computer science that are well outside of the standard introductory curriculum. Everyday activities like sending text messages, performing search queries, checking the weather, and playing online games all use systems that employ networked communication, parallelism, concurrency, and distributed systems. Yet, these techniques are not taught in existing K-12 Computer Science curricula, and they are barely covered in typical undergraduate-level computer science education. This has two consequences: Many youth perceive computer science as not relevant to their daily lives, perceptions that are not well challenged by current approaches to broadening participation; and many programmers apply these techniques poorly, which can have devastating consequences (e.g., the Northeast U.S. Blackout of 2003). This research aims to both counter perceptions of computer science?s relevance to everyday life, and to design new approaches to teaching computer science that train programmers to apply these techniques. This project will investigate how new ways of teaching computer science to middle- and high-school students can simultaneously broaden participation in computing and develop a generation of computer scientists who are able to correctly reason about and implement concurrent, distributed, networked systems. The hypothesis is that by creating their own concurrent, connected physical and virtual technologies, students will come to better appreciate the role of computing in their lives, and, at the same time, learn advanced computational problem solving and engineering skills. The qualitative and quantitative design-based research methods will enable a better understanding of (1) what project genres can excite youth to learn about networked communication and parallel, concurrent, or distributed computing, (2) in what ways engineering systems in those genres differentially enable learning of relevant computer science topics, (3) how student thinking about these computer science ideas develops over time, and (4) how students' participation and conceptual development can be supported by new programmable technologies for learning. The project will be conducted in close collaboration with local partners, including community centers and schools. It will specifically recruit youth from populations and communities that are under-represented in computer science, that is, girls, African-Americans, and Latinos. Youth and participating adults (e.g., teachers) will be partners in all phases of the work, and will guide the efforts on crafting engineering projects, curriculum, and tools that respond to their interests and preferences. All of the software, curriculum, and other products of our work will be open sourced in order to maximize their dissemination.