Lifelong
Links
Connecting girls and minorities
to computer science
BY ALEX RYCHWALSKI
In a computer lab at the
niversity of
aryland, College Park, more
than
m iddle school students donning
culus virtual- reality headsets test
out various games, killing robots and
having a blast with their classmates.

By the end of this two- week camp
session, they will have made their own
virtual- reality games.

The students, girls and boys
from groups underrepresented in
computer science, are part of the
Computer Science Connect program
CompSciConnect) hosted by the
aryland Center for Women in
Computing at the university.

The primary goal of the program is to
introduce computer science to students
who wouldn’ t otherwise have that
opportunity by showing them how
computer science aff ects the world,
says
an Plane, the program’ s founder
and director.

ne thing we see with women and
minorities is they want computing that
14 October 2018
washingtonFAMILY.com fi xes the world, not computing for the
sake of computing,” P lane says.

nly
p ercent of computer science
degrees are completed by women
nationally, according to the
.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, but the
disparity is even greater for racial
minorities. African- American women
comprise only
p ercent of the
computing workforce, while Latinas
make up
ust
p ercent. Plane pares
down the discrepancy in diversity to
three factors: t he knowledge among
underrepresented groups that they
are indeed underrepresented; s ocietal
pressures steering children away from
the fi eld and a misperception of what
computer science really is.

“It Never Gets a Chance”
CompSciConnect is a three- year
program that meets for two weeks
during the summer and monthly
during the school year, but for students
not in the program, the opportunity is
one that is hard to come by due to their
current curriculum.

I don’t think I would’ve gott en
into computer science
without CompSciConnect] ,” says Anushka
Ganoo, a
aryland student in her third
year with the program. “I n our schools,
we aren’ t introduced to it as a subj ect in
middle school.”
Last
ovember, Gov. Larry
ogan introduced the ACCESS initiative,
allocating
m illion to fund teacher
training and professional development
in computer science.

espite this step in
the right direction, the program fails to
address the biggest obstacle preventing
girls like Anushka from gett ing into
computing: C omputer science courses
are not required in public schools.

Plane says many girls are turned away
from computer science because of the
lack of exposure to the subject. A lot
of women don’ t go into
computer science because they don’t experience
it. It never gets a chance.

“B ecause it’ s not required in schools,
like biology is, there is a gap in
exposure. If you look at the biological



sciences, there is gender parity because
of where biology falls in the timeline of
school and everyone is ex posed to it.”
ue to the lack of standardiz ed
computer science education, Plane
says the greatest indicator for a
student entering the field is knowing
someone who’ s already in it. For
groups that lack representation, they
often don’ t view computer science as
an option.

“It’s Not Like School”
CompSciConnect is separated into
three groups based on the students’
ex perience with computer science
ellow, Red and Terp groups.

ellow, the introductory group, is mostly
comprised of students entering six th
grade. The program introduces them to
computing while teaching them things
such as coding in Python and creating
their own phone apps. In previous
years, students worked heavily with
robots, but the program has since
been adapted to resonate better with
students. Because most kids have
a phone and are proficient at using
apps, creating their own app as early
as fifth grade has a greater impact on
their interest in the discipline than
programming robots.

Second- year students in the Red
group tap into their creative sides
by learning how to build their own
websites using
TM L and
avascript. They build anything from fashion
blogs to shopping websites, although
Plane adds they aren’ t allowed to sell
anything on their sites. In the final year
of the program, the Terp group uses
a program called
nity to build its
own virtual- reality games. The more
laid- back and interactive classroom
environment is part of what keeps
students coming back year after year.

“I t’ s not like school,” s ays Sanika
evare, another
aryland resident who
is part of the Terp group. “T hey make it
more fun.”
uring the school year, students
collaborate on proj ects to present at a
winter showcase and then again during
aryland
ay in the spring to recruit
prospective students to the program.

The curriculum is constantly evolving,
so nex t year’ s students likely won’ t
be learning the same things as this
year’ s. Another interactive aspect of
the program is the computer science-
related field trips during the sessions.

In the past, students have toured the
International Spy
useum, the Aviation
useum, the
ational Cryptologic
useum, the FBI and
ASA, as well
as other labs on campus. The trips are
a way for Plane to show students real-
world applications of computer science.

And Then, Robots
After testing out several virtual- reality
games and gathering information to
build their own game, the Terp group
gathers in the hallway and makes
friendship bracelets to pass the time
before heading outside for the final
part of the day’ s session. The class
heads
ust up the street to the
eutral Buoyancy Lab, where researchers use a
foot deep pool of water to simulate
a zer o- gravity environment and test
how robots would hold up in space.

Students gather around the top of the
pool and fire off several questions about
the function of nearby robotics and the
use of computing in the lab.

There they meet Ranger, a series of
robotics designed to study satellite
servicing that was initially intended to
be sent on a shuttle mission in the early
2000s before finding its home in the
buoyancy lab, following the
S pace
Shuttle Columbia accident. It never
made it to space.

baona/E+/Getty Images
onetheless, operating Ranger, the tour
guide emphasizes , would be impossible
without computing.

It’ s a good way to end the day for
the tour and perfectly defines what
CompSciConnect is about. Computer
science isn’t just sitting behind a desk
and coding, Plane says, it’ s about
impacting the world.

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