FLAMES: A Socially Relevant Computing Summer Internship for High School Students

In this article, we examine a female-oriented, high school computing outreach program, FLAMES, consisting of an 8-week high school summer intern program run within a university computer science (CS) department. We focus on examining the effects of the program on students skills and affect towards computing. Much of the literature in CS outreach research examines summer camps, after-school programs, and other school-year events that often have a focus on only teaching students computing content. Our program is unique and socially relevant as students are trained to assist teachers with the development of Computational Thinking-Infused curricula for their classrooms. This paper presents the design of our program, an overview of the curriculum, and results including both student and teacher feedback. Results show that the program has benefited each of the parties involved, including its student participants, facilitators, and the teachers assisted by the participants. We share our lessons learned in order to help other CS departments develop similar broadening participation in computing programs.