Introducing Computer Science in a Summer Science Program

Objectives

• to explore the advantages of summer programs in educating secondary students about computer science.
• to raise awareness of the capacity for introducing advanced topics from computer science at the introductory level.
• to share an original introductory computer science survey curriculum, aimed at students with little computing background. The four-week curriculum is split between programming fundamentals and advanced topics from computer science, drawn from networks, algorithms, and artificial intelligence.

Outline

I. Introduction
a) Study site (Pennsylvania Governor's School for the Sciences)
b) Typical student schedule

II. Curriculum
a) Goals
b) Topics
c) Assignments

III. Analysis
a) Results
b) Gender equity

Presenter Information

Over the last five summers, the presenter has developed and taught a computer science survey course at PGSS (Pennsylvania Governor's School for the Sciences), a highly selective state-funded residential program for upcoming high school seniors with an interest in science or mathematics. The curriculum has proven quite successful; for example, 15% of the 89 students in the 2001 class rated it among the best courses they have ever taken. The presenter's computer science background includes a Ph.D. in computer science from Carnegie Mellon University. He is currently a professor of computer science at St John's University, a liberal arts college in Minnesota.

Other links

Textbook
PGSS program site
2001 course Web site
2000 course Web site
1999 course Web site