Background Expanding opportunities to experience engaging STEM educational programs is an important pathway to increasing students’ interest and competencies in STEM and, ultimately, motivation to pursue STEM careers. After-school programs offer one means to achieve this aim, but barriers such as a lack of transportation or available teachers may limit participation for some students in this context. Transitioning after-school STEM programs to in-school can provide opportunities to increase reach by removing these and other barriers. However, it is likely that this change in the learning context, from after-school to in-school, impacts student experiences and, ultimately, program efficacy by altering how students and teachers interact; as teachers and students adjust their behaviors and expectations to a more traditional learning context. To examine this potential effect, self-determination theory was used to frame how the learning context influences the social and motivational outcomes of a STEM program for underserved youth. In-school ( N = 244; 39% girls, M age = 13, 63% Caucasian, 18% African American, 6% Multiracial) and after-school ( N = 70, 33% girls, M age = 12, 55% Caucasian, 16% Multiracial, 13% Latino/a) program students completed surveys that assessed teacher-student interactions, and student psychological needs and motivation. In a structural equation model, student perceptions of teachers were entered as predictors of motivation for the program directly and mediated by psychological need satisfaction. Learning context (0 = in-school, 1 = after-school) was entered as a ubiquitous predictor. Results Findings support the theorized model where perceptions of teachers positively predicted psychological need satisfaction ( R 2 = .20), and both variables positively predicted more self-determined motivation ( R 2 = .30–.35). Findings also demonstrate an effect of learning context where learning context negatively predicted the less self-determined motivations only ( R 2 = .06–.10) (i.e., in-school contexts are associated with less desirable motivational outcomes). Conclusion Findings reinforce the instrumental role of students’ positive perceptions of teachers in fostering a more desirable self-determined motivation for STEM program participation. Additionally, in-school programs must consider and integrate novel approaches that mitigate the negative impact of established in-school structures and processes (e.g., grades and mandatory participation) on student motivation for these programs and, potentially, interest in STEM careers.

NOTE: The first page of text has been automatically extracted and included below in lieu of an abstract Do Introverts Perform Better in Computer Programming Courses? Abstract Any educator who has taught computer programming courses knows that some students have a very difficult time learning the basic concepts of computer programming. There often is no middle ground with the grades in these courses. Once a student catches on to the basic concepts, he or she has an easy time with the rest of the course. However, some students of high intelligence and who receive high marks in non-programming courses seem to continually struggle through these courses. Recently while reading about the personality traits of introverts, we noticed that many qualities attributed to introverts also match the traits found in great computer programmers. For example, attention to detail, the ability to concentrate for long periods of time and good logical thinking skills are published qualities found in both introverts and successful software developers. To see if we could find any correlation with a student’s tendency towards introversion or extroversion, and potential success in our computer programming courses, we performed a study during the Fall 2008 and Spring 2009 semesters. We gave all students enrolled in each of the five programming courses we offered these semesters a short personality trait test and then compared their tendencies towards introversion or extroversion with the letter grade they received at the end of the course. We anticipated finding higher grades among those students classified as introverts and lower grades among those students classified as extroverts. Additionally, we anticipated finding a higher number of introverts enrolled in our upper division programming courses because these courses are elective. In this paper we will explore the traits found in introverts and programmers in more detail, discuss the personality test we used, and present our complete findings. Introduction As educators who primarily teach software development courses, we know that some students have a very difficult time learning the fundamentals of computer programming. There often is no middle ground with the grades in these introductory courses. Students who catch on to the basic concepts of computer programming have an easy time with the remainder of the course work. The students who don’t grasp the fundamentals struggle the entire term. Because of their failing grade and/or lack of knowledge, these students must retake the course or may even switch majors. Failure to earn a passing grade in a college course is often directly attributable to the effort put forth by the student. However, the authors of this study have each known many students of seemingly high intelligence and who normally earn high marks in non-programming courses, struggle with our computer programming courses. For example, one student who graduated as the high school valedictorian could not pass our introductory programming course on the first try. During a counseling session with one student who was failing our introductory programming course, the lead author of this study discussed the student’s personality traits with him. This conversation was prompted by the author having just finished reading “The Introvert Advantage

This Research-to-Practice Full Paper presents an analysis of survey results from conferences for women in computing. Women's representation in computing continues to decline, which concerns professionals who explore issues of equity and complicates a future where abundant job vacancies in technology-based jobs are predicted. The critical shortage of female graduates in computer and information sciences leads researchers to investigate both causes and solutions for the underrepresentation of women. One emerging solution lies in creating special conferences for women in computing, where role-modeling, networking, providing student speaking opportunities, and distribution of accurate career information take place. The Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing (GHC) launched in 1994 and became the first conference for women in computing to include the prescribed program. The Indiana Celebration of Women in Computing (InWIC) followed in 2014 and provided a similar format to that adopted by GHC. Based on the data from the 2014, 2015, and 2016 InWIC assessments, a regional conference that supports women in computing makes a positive difference in the lives of women in computing. Data published by the Anita Borg Institute (ABI) for the same 2014-2016 era also provide three encouraging assessments of GHC. This paper compares the two sets of 20142016 assessments of both INWIC and GHC, using conference goals as comparison criteria.

In 2004, organizers in Indiana held the first ACM (Association for Computing Machinery [2]) regional conference for women in computing. ACM-W (ACM's Council on Women in Computing [3]) refers to the conferences as Celebrations, and the Indiana Celebration - called InWIC (Indiana Celebration of Women in Computing) [8] - spawned almost 30 world-wide Celebrations in academic year 2018-2019. This paper presents data collected from attendees of InWIC 2014, InWIC 2015, and InWic 2016. Accompanying analyses of these data comprise the first published multi-year study of a single Celebration.

The increased use of distributed computing platforms has companies looking for software developers skilled in multi-tier application development. Universities need to discover ways to teach these skills while at the same time keeping costs for hardware, software, administration and floor space at a minimum. This paper reports how the VMware virtual machine software product can be used in a general-purpose computing laboratory to realize these goals. Reasons why a product like VMware can be useful, a general discussion of virtual machine technology, and its use in two semesters of an advanced programming course are described.

Brad Harriger has over 30 years of experience

College computing programs sometimes use hands-on outreach activities to introduce precollege students to their discipline. These programs should ensure that the activities employed will engage the interest of participants and spark a desire to learn more. Programming is an essential skill of most, if not all, computing programs, yet it is also a subject that tends to make students shy away from the discipline. By selecting tools that make the value of programming obvious, and the process of learning more straightforward, the chance of retaining student interest is increased. Given that the outreach sessions are typically less than one hour, communicating the value of programming to various application areas becomes a challenge. After employing a number of different programming tools in different 40-50 minute outreach sessions for K-12 students, experience has shown that using tools that demonstrate programming’s application to physical devices enables participants to immediately grasp the benefit of this skill set. The authors share how a specific programming tool for controlling behavior of a physical microcontroller system with input sensors and output devices has been used successfully in outreach programs. The tool allows the user to create flowcharts to depict program logic, has an integrated simulator to test the behavior of the program, and can be downloaded directly to the physical microcontroller to control the physical system.

The Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing is an annual, international meeting designed to provide support and inspiration to women to pursue and stay in computing careers. This week-long conference provides attendees with access to many technical and non-technical presentations, nightly fun activities, many mentoring opportunities, and a plethora of industry recruiters hoping to hire talented female students and professionals. Unfortunately, the cost and length of time of the event is prohibitive for many students. Fortunately, there are many smaller versions of the celebration events at the regional level. The Indiana Celebration of Women in Computing (InWIC) began in 2004 as a way of offering the Grace Hopper Conference experience without impeding on students’ desire to attend classes and reducing costs to make it affordable to larger groups of students. In the past, the venue for this event, which occurred every two years, was an inn at a state park, which provided a quiet and relaxing setting for networking, mentoring, learning, presenting, and having fun. Beginning with 2015, this regional conference will become an annual event in a more central location that is closer to an international airport to be more accessible to more students in the region as well as be more conveniently located for industry sponsors who recruit at the event. This paper and presentation will share the event’s general program as well as participant feedback collected at the 2014 InWIC meeting, which demonstrate that the event has been successful in reinforcing the decision of pursuing a computing career path by young female computing students.

Currently, obesity has become one of the major health concerns in the United States. A way to relieve this problem is creating fitness activities using the technology and tools available at hand. “Punching Pad” is a prototype that utilizes Scratch for Arduino software and the Arduino Board to make this possible. This device is not only considered a viable fitness activity, but also it could help to inspire children to build other gadgets that, in fact, would facilitate the acquisition of programming skills and basic electronics concepts. The authors use free downloadable software and widely available electronic components to develop this demo, which can be viewed as an alternative to commercial gaming consoles in a learning environment.

Declining interest in computing programs nationwide presents a threat to America's security and limits potential for innovation across all domains. One way to address this problem is to remove misconceptions held by the nation's youth about computing, including information about how it positively impacts many subjects and showing them that applying computing can be fun and rewarding. One program at a Midwestern university accomplished this goal through a week-long, residential, summer camp for high school students to educate them about career opportunities and possibilities for people with Information Technology skills. Participants completed a variety of hands-on activities daily, along with listening to work experiences of computing professionals. Feedback collected from the student participants showed that in addition t o raising awareness about computing opportunities, the program increased youth interest in IT, prompted many to enroll in computing/engineering courses, and improved their performance in school. This paper shares details about the program and participant feedback to make a case for offering similar programs to correct the knowledge people have about computing.

Research indicates that students often opt out of computing majors due to a lack of prior experience in computing and a lack of knowledge of field-based job opportunities. In addition, it has been found that students respond positively to new subjects when teachers and counselors are enthusiastic and knowledgeable about the area. The summer program described here is designed to improve high school students, teachers and guidance counselors understanding of the opportunities available in computing related fields, specifically information technology through a summer enrichment experience. The hypothesis of this work is that by exposing teachers and counselors to professional development in this field, their attitudes, beliefs and knowledge regarding information technology will be enhanced, thus impacting students' attitudes (both attending the program and beyond) with respect to information technology and their desire to pursue degrees in this area. Results indicate that the design of this summer program enhanced the knowledge and interest of high school students with respect to information technology. Teachers' knowledge was also positively influenced. Further refinements are necessary in the design of this program to improve the experiences of guidance counselors.

The Surprising Possibilities Imagined and Realized through Information Technology (SPIRIT) is a three year project designed to increase high school students’ interests in and their desire to pursue IT careers. This paper examines the results of the project during its second year of implementation. A primary target population for this investigation is female high school students; their male counterparts are included here as a comparison group. Through a summer program, high school teachers, counselors and students were provided with instruction that included professional presentations from the IT community and an overview of the Alice software. Overall, participating students experienced a significant increase from pre to post assessment in their attitudes with respect to IT. No significant change was found for teachers and counselors. While participation in this program had a positive impact on the attitudes of female students with respect to IT, no such change was statistically detected for the other subgroups.

Attracting and retaining women and minorities in science, technology, engineering and mathematic (STEM) fields is a common challenge faced by today's universities. In response, various projects that are underway across the nation seek to increase these groups' interests in and, hopefully, their eventual participation in STEM. A challenge to these efforts has been measuring, in the short term, the impact of educational programs on students' interests with respect to STEM fields. Many of the current attitude surveys are outdated or have limited validity. This paper describes the validation of an attitude survey which was designed to measure high school students' attitudes with respect to the field of information technology (IT). The attitude survey contains two researcher-defined factors: general interest in IT and perception of gender stereotypes in IT. The attitude survey successfully captured differences in students' attitudes across year of program implementation and ethnicity in a high school IT educational program.