I-Corps: Learning Intervention for Introductory Computer Science

Georgia Tech Research Corporation, Atlanta GA

Investigators

Abstract

The broader impact/commercial potential of this I-Corps project is to provide K-12 schools with a learning environment, curriculum, and teacher training to expand and improve computer science education and to encourage a diverse student population to pursue further studies in computing. Computer science has become a core 21st century skill critical to careers both within and beyond the tech industry, but K-12 education has yet to meet increasing demand from industry and from parents to teach computing, and school districts still struggle to adequately train teachers and to engage students in computer science. This project provides a simple and easy-to-use solution that integrates music with computer science to drive student engagement. Moreover, this approach contributes to a diverse computer science pipeline by engaging female and minority students through an emphasis on creativity and real-world applications. Today there is a market for schools to train teachers, and to buy materials and tools to teach computer science. This I-Corps project leverages an online learning environment, curriculum, and teacher training designed for any introductory computing course from late elementary through to the college level, along with a body of research assessing the effects of this learning intervention on student content knowledge and engagement in computing. The web-based learning platform includes a code editor, a multi-track audio player, an audio loop library, an interactive textbook, and mechanisms for students to share and collaborate, along with curricular, training, and grading tools for teachers. Mixed-methods research has shown significant student gains in both content knowledge and engagement across gender and demographic groups when learning with this approach, with particularly large gains in engagement for female students. Students ascribe their increased engagement in computing to the creative, expressive, and real-world approach of the intervention through its combination of popular music and music production techniques with computational thinking and programming in industry-relevant coding languages.