Project Profile

Artistic computing learning environments have the ability to stimulate K-12 learners' interest in STEM fields and support inclusivity in computing. This project, named Creative Computing Cookbook, investigates the co-design and implementation of instructor- and learner-facing resources to support equitable art and computing learning experiences. Recipes in the Creative Computing Cookbook guide learners in developing mastery of concepts and practices derived from the Computer Science Teachers Association K-12 Computer Science Standards as they construct their own artistic computing artifacts and performances. The students will learn to use algorithmic components such as control structures, nested loops, and compound conditionals, while also developing problem generalization skills that allow them to reuse existing code, emulating how professional programmers work. The project?s partners include two arts education organizations, Community Word Project (CWP) and STEM From Dance (SFD), which serve over 4000 students in the New York City area from groups that are historically underrepresented in technology. The project?s co-design with art educators and students will create authentic opportunities to engage in computing and artistic practices grounded in cultural and disciplinary knowledge.

The project will add to the body of work studying how code remixing can support learning computational skills and practices, and how that remixing can be scaffolded. Specific scaffolding strategies will be tested, like worked examples (wherein learners are provided with an expert?s problem-solving model via a problem statement and a procedure for solving the problem), Parsons problems (wherein learners arrange blocks of mixed-up program code into the correct order), and case-based reasoning (a constructivist theory of problem solving that will be used to inform how activities should be designed to help students process, index, reference, and apply prior cases to accomplish their current artistic goal). Data to be collected will be qualitative and includes meeting notes, design artifacts, curricular resources, and recordings of pilots, observation notes, student artifacts, interviews with students and instructors, cognitive walk-through recordings, critiques, student reflections on artifacts, and teacher artifacts. Analysis will entail qualitative coding and the construction of case studies. The project will contribute broadly to the understanding of how to support interdisciplinary learning while preserving youth agency and embedding equity practices, and specifically to the understanding of how to scaffold creative computing endeavors. The cookbook and other supporting materials will be made freely available to other similar organizations, increasing their capacity to enact and support creative coding activities that can encourage underrepresented learners to develop computational skills and affinities. This project is funded by the Innovative Technology Experiences for Students and Teachers (ITEST) program, which supports projects that build understandings of practices, program elements, contexts and processes contributing to increasing students' knowledge and interest in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) and information and communication technology (ICT) careers. This project is also funded through the CS for All: Research and RPPs program.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.