CAROL RAMSEYManager UTeach Computer Science, The UTeach Institute at The University of Texas at Austin

JUNE 2018

PROJECT BASED LEARNING (PBL) FOR EQUITY IN CS CLASSES

Agenda• Introductions• Traditional CS Education• Project-Based Learning (PBL) CS Education– Research– Framework– Resources

• Takeaways

INTRODUCTIONS

TRADITIONAL CS EDUCATION

Activity - Example AssignmentC Programming Assignment #2 - Arrays and files

Read student names and grades from a file and print one line for each student name and grade average to the screen. Use fopen() and fscanf() to read from the input file, studentgrades.txt. You can find this file on the class network drive. Use one array to store the names and a second array to store the grade averages. Use printf() to print each students’ name and grade average on a separate line. Print the class average at the end. For the first step of this project, you can use pseudocode.

Overall Approach• Group related standards.• For each group of standards:

– Lecture– Program (a right-sized, standard-specific, contained program)– Test

• Maybe include group work, in which one person does most of the work and at least one person doesn’t do anything.

• The “vessel to be filled” approach.

What Have I Done? Part I, industryC Programming Assignment #2 - Arrays and files

Read student names and grades from a file and print one line for each student name and grade average to the screen. Use fopen() and fscanf() to read from the input file, studentgrades.txt. You can find this file on the class network drive. Use one array to store the names and a second array to store the grade averages. Use printf() to print each students’ name and grade average on a separate line. Print the class average at the end.

• Defined the problem• Contained the problem• Estimated the work• Chose the solution• Very little exposure to

software life cycle

What Have I Done? Part II, grad schoolC Programming Assignment #2 - Arrays and files

Read student names and grades from a file and print one line for each student name and grade average to the screen. Use fopen() and fscanf() to read from the input file, studentgrades.txt. You can find this file on the class network drive. Use one array to store the names and a second array to store the grade averages. Use printf() to print each students’ name and grade average on a separate line. Print the class average at the end.

• Not based on student interest• Contrived and not authentic• Technically isolated• Socially isolated• Ethically neutral

What if?• Real code bases.• Real data.• More open ended problems.• Role-based teams.• Life-cycle-based problem solving.

PBL RESEARCH, FRAMEWORK AND RESOURCES

What is PBL?Students work on a project over an extended period

of time – from a week up to a semester – that engages them in solving a real-world problem or

answering a complex question. They demonstrate their knowledge and skills by developing a public

product or presentation for a real audience. – BIE (Buck Institute for Education)

Retrieved from http://www.bie.org/about/what_pbl

BIE’s PBL Checklist (1 of 2)

Retrieved from http://www.bie.org/?ACT=160&file_id=985&filename=Essential_Project_Design_Elements.pdf.

BIE’s PBL Checklist (2 of 2)

Retrieved from http://www.bie.org/?ACT=160&file_id=985&filename=Essential_Project_Design_Elements.pdf.

PBL Example from UTeach CSP

Collaboration

Student Choice,

AuthenticityKey Knowledge

Public Product

Critique and Revision

PBL Research • PBL is associated with higher student performance, motivation and interest [1, 4, 6].• Authentic, personally relevant, and open-ended projects increase student motivation

and interest, especially for girls, unrepresented minorities, and lower performers [3,7, 8].

• Students benefit from structured collaboration, in which team members agree onteam rules, each student is responsible for deliverables and communication isrequired to solve big problems [7, 9].

• Students become more interested and engaged when they have agency in their ownlearning and can make choices about the work to be completed [2, 5].

References available at http://bit.ly/CSPBLResearch.

UTeach AP CSP 2017 Results (1 of 2)

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Details available at https://medium.com/@uteachinstitute/uteach-computer-science-principles-and-underrepresented-students-f1c445df638d.

UTeach AP CSP 2017 Results (2 of 2)

Activity - PBL Scavenger Hunt• Get into groups of 4 and get group number assigned by instructor.• Have team members order themselves alphabetically by first name. Then assign

these roles, with first role going to person with the first name earliest in the alphabet: – Project Manager - Keeps team on task, divides the work, verifies work is done.– Developer - Documents the information on the presentation slide using this template:

http://bit.ly/CSPBLActivity. (be careful to use the slide for your specific group number). – QA - Proofs the presentation slide for quality content, adherence to requirements, spelling

and grammar. – Presenter - Presents the presentation slide to the class.

• Complete four out of six of the items.• When you are done, the Project Manager will notify the instructor. • When the class is done, the Presenters will present the info from each group to the

class.

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Q&A