CPATH-1: Sacramento Regional CPATH Project II

Los Rios Community College District, Sacramento CA

Investigators

Abstract

Through this three-year undertaking, the Sacramento Regional CPATH Team is producing knowledge about key computational thinking (CT) skills and competencies, developing strategies for measuring such skills, and innovating instructional strategies that are effective in developing these skills in students and preparing them for computing courses. Important aspects of this project is the identification of key CT skills and competencies critical at each point along the K through 14 education continuum; assessment tools for accurately measuring acquisition of CT skills; and the small-scale pilot of infusion strategies to test the promise of the model. Intellectual Merit For over a decade, concern has continued to rise over the relative lack of enrollment and completion in STEM programs, particularly at the University level. All segments of education have tried in various ways to address the leaks in the STEM pipeline, but without significant success. This project is implementing a strategy that uses CT skills as both a solution for these long-standing problems and as a measure of the project's success, emphasizing the higher education success and output to industry. There are compelling challenges to address, including a cultural change rate that requires unprecedented agility on the part of education as it prepares for its input audience (students). At the earliest stages, education will need to adjust its curriculum, classroom pedagogy and pace to advance its students through this first section of the pipeline. With better prepared incoming students, the community college can do a more thorough job of moving STEM students into the course material and practical experiences which will help assure their sustained interest in the field. The interest of universities who receive inputs from community colleges is that students are prepared for the challenges of the next level of study, and are focused enough to complete their chosen program. Business and industry rightly expect candidates for their open positions who are work ready, and possess the CT skills (and others) that will make them a good investment. Another portion of the pipeline that has been somewhat neglected is the end, where these long-term investments drop off the STEM grid. Businesses, educational institutions, and government agencies work hard to create intellectual capital in their employees, only to see them disappear with many potential years of productive work life still ahead of them. This commodity is quite expensive to replace, and may require years to accomplish. Businesses and other employers who have been part of the Sacramento Regional CPATH Team meetings agree that they have serious challenges with losing out on these investments just when they need them most. A goal of this project is to assist employers, through interaction within the project team, to address their retention needs through innovative approaches to optimizing these investments. Broader Impacts This project effectively engages CPATH partners in a collaborative development process that will endure long into the future as the technology landscape continues to change. The output of this collaboration will not only be a plan for infusion of CT skill to address the needs of an accelerating technological economy, but also to secure relationships which will support adaptation of this plan to address emerging needs. The project team is cooperating to be agile, effective and efficient in maintaining the integrity of the K through 14 pipeline for CT-skilled workers. This project has the potential to benefit a wide range of stakeholders to include the K-12, community college, and university systems within the greater Sacramento region as well as other portions of northern California (through dissemination strategies); information technology employers, and the residents of the region in general as broad transformation will lead to increased talent and economic competitiveness. It is significant that this project includes activities at the K-12, community college, and university levels, maximizing the reach of the project to include a large and highly diverse student population. The instructional models and new ways of thinking about computing that are expected to result from this project will lead to increased enrollment in computing programs in Los Rios and Sacramento State. This will help to increase the diversity of the computing workforce in the region.