CS Unplugged: Encourage Computing without Computers

1. CS Unplugged: Encourage Computing without Computers Cyndi Rader, crader@mines.edu Tracy Camp, tcamp@mines.edu Wendy DuBow, wendy@ncwit.org Tim Bell, tim.bell@canterbury.ac.nz http://toilers.mines.edu/CS-Unplugged/ Kinesthetic Activities to Learn: • Initial studies are promising, but does it work?? • Will middle school students display: • increased interest in computing careers • confidence that they can learn CS concepts • understanding of the CS concepts in the activities • knowledge that a variety of computing careers exist • Will middle school teachers: • use CS Unplugged in their classrooms, • understand the concepts being taught, and • feel confident teaching CS Unplugged activities Data Compression Cryptography Finite State Automata CS Concepts Sorting Searching Binary Numbers Spring 2013 Summer 2013 2013-2014 Summer 2014 2014-2015 Summer 2015 Fall 2015 Proposed Timeline Deployment 30 teachers 5 schools Pre/Post Surveys Content Assessments Summative Evaluation Expansion Solicit teachers statewide Alpha Pilot IRB approval Small pilots Link to school subjects Link to careers Beta Pilot 10 teachers 2 schools Pre/Post Surveys Content Assessments Formative Evaluation Teacher Workshop Teacher Workshop Teacher Workshop Funding provided by theNational Science Foundation under grant #CNS-1240964