A Coding/Programming Academy for 6th-Grade Females to Increase Knowledge and Interest in Computer Science

This Innovative Practice Full Paper discusses a coding/programming academy that used games and robotic programming as engaging hands-on approaches to teach 6th grade (the first grade in secondary education in USA) females coding/programming concepts to increase their knowledge and interest in computer science. Careers in computer science continue to grow, but fewer women than men are even considering these careers. Increasing participation of women in coding/programming is necessary to meet the growing demand for computing professionals to develop a diverse workforce. Today, many organizations are implementing programming coding/programming academies/camps that attempt to engage students in computer science, at an early age, by exposing them to fun and interesting computer science skills in coding/programming. We have developed a coding/programming academy that uses educational robotics and hands-on game applications to demonstrate computing concepts to young females. To address pressing equity issues of the lack of females in computer science careers, the goal of this summer coding/programming academy was to educate and empower young females, at an early age, to discover computer science careers, which has been one of the first attempts to establish a coding/programming academy for females in our region. Our coding/programming academy differs from others in several ways. First, it was for 6th-grade females only, to take advantage of preferences of noncompetitive and social learning opportunities, in order to improve female participation. Second, we hired female instructors and invited female professionals from local industries to assist the academy by serving as mentors. Third, it introduced both robotic and game coding/programming to the females. Fourth, it adopted social learning, e.g., pair programming. A formal assessment of the 2018 academy found that the academy’s female participants experienced a significant increase in knowledge and interest in computer science. This paper describes the organization, coordination, content, and assessment of the coding/programming academy. It describes how the academy was organized and taught, which includes a brief description of the instructional materials, the concepts taught in each hands-on session, how the academy was assessed and the assessment results, and the first-year experience of conducting the coding/programming academy, and lessons learned. The intent of this paper is to provide all the information needed for others to host similar academies and further prompt the effort to increase female participation in computer science careers.