CAREER: Constructing Modern and Inclusive Trajectories for Computer Science Learning

塔夫茨大学提出了一个职业奖项，该奖项将调查向初中生教授计算机科学的新方法。年轻人每天使用的许多计算技术都是使用计算机科学中的想法和技术构建的，这些想法和技术远远超出了标准的入门课程。发送短信、执行搜索查询、查看天气和玩在线游戏等日常活动都使用采用网络通信、并行、并发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，它们在典型的本科水平的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，当前扩大参与的方法并没有很好地挑战这种看法；许多程序员应用这些技术很糟糕，这可能会产生毁灭性的后果(例如，2003年的美国东北部大停电)。这项研究的目的既是为了反驳人们对计算机科学--S与日常生活的相关性--的看法，也是为了设计新的计算机科学教学方法，培训程序员应用这些技术。这个项目将调查向初中生教授计算机科学的新方法如何同时扩大对计算的参与，并培养能够正确地推理和实现并发的、分布式的、联网的系统的一代计算机科学家。我们的假设是，通过创造他们自己的并行、互联的物理和虚拟技术，学生们将更好地认识到计算在他们生活中的作用，同时学习高级计算问题解决和工程技能。基于定性和定量设计的研究方法将使我们能够更好地理解(1)哪些项目流派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)这些流派的工程系统以什么方式以不同的方式使相关的计算机科学主题得以学习；(3)学生对这些计算机科学思想的思考是如何随着时间的推移而发展的；以及(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中代表性不足的人群和社区招募青年，即女孩、非裔美国人和拉丁裔。青年和参与其中的成年人(例如教师)将成为工作所有阶段的合作伙伴，并将指导制定符合他们兴趣和偏好的工程项目、课程和工具的努力。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.