Computer Science for Middle School Students???

This is my 6th year as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Systems and Computer Science at Howard University. We have a great relationship with Google, and we also house a public charter middle school on campus (The Howard University Middle School of Math and Science).

One of the new and exciting initiatives we have partnered with both Google and the middle school to create was a year-long computer science curriculum for 6th-8th grade students. This program is called the Partnership for Early Engagement in Computer Science (PEECS). PEECS is exciting not only because of the tremendous partnership we've formed, but also the curriculum we've developed.

I neglected to mention that the middle school (also known as MS2) is approximately 97% African-American and 3% Hispanic. In computer science (and STEM in general), these are two minority groups that are GROSSLY underrepresented. Part of the reason is lower performance in math and science courses at any earlier age, that extends through high school and their interests in these subjects. The other reason is lack of exposure to these disciplines. As a result, these students are not prepared to pursue the necessary high-school courses to prepare them for college studies in computer science.

Another major problem with African-American and Hispanic student interests in computer science is they don't feel like this is an area that they readily see themselves in. Think about it. How many African-American or Hispanic computer scientists do you know, or can name? Instead, the field is viewed as White and Asian male-dominated field.

PEECS is designed to change this. First, by working with Google, we are leveraging a program they developed called CAPE, which was designed to expose rising 9th graders to computer science through engaging activities throughout a 4-week summer. PEECS is bridging the engagement with curriculum. Not only are we teaching CS, but we are also doing it through hands-on activities and experiences that students can relate to and understand. One of the most important components of PEECS is that we created a culturally-relevant curriculum to teach students computer science.

Through this culturally-relevant curriculum, we hope to help students not only better understand computer science fundamentals (problem-solving, logic, programming, networking, Internet design, mobile application development, and robotics), but also show them how CS is already a part of their daily lives.

We officially kicked off the program last week with 120 6th-8th grade students in 6 classes. We have two CS faculty (myself and department chair Dr. Legand Burge), two undergraduate and two graduate CS students. We had a few technical difficulties, due to firewall issues, but have now resolved those, and are completing the assessments this week. Stay tuned for an exciting journey called PEECS!!