Computer Science for Middle Schoolers (CS4MS)

Diversity is essential for the future success of Computer Science (CS). Further, there is simply a lack of student exposure to CS in elementary and high school.Via the regular school curriculum, students are exposed to the hard sciences and mathematics, but seldom CS. As a result, students are likely to have little idea of what it means to be a Computer Scientist or if they have any interest in being one. With the recent adoption of CS K-8 academic standards in Indiana, this is changing, but most teachers have little, or no experience teaching these new topics. The focus of this immersive learning class was to expose the partner’s students, particularly underrepresented minorities and females, to CS and Computational Thinking (CT)–a need expressed by our partner. Our project team accumulated instructional resources, and developed activity templates and modules that will better incorporate CS and CT experiences, with a focus on meeting the Indiana CS academic standards.The school administrators and teachers can utilize the compiled resources, and implement the completed modules during normal school classes, during the summer, after school, or during extended breaks, based on their needs.

Fall 2019

Faculty Mentor: David Largent
Department: Computer Science
Community Partners: Northside Middle School, Burris Laboratory School, Muncie Central High School
Students: Sara Bailey, Luke Betts, Ben Bishop, Chris Bucker, Corbin Creedon, Gwyn Hultquist, Dakota Savage, Joe Schmidt, Madison Turley, Brian Walker, Sean Wolfe

Fall 2018

Faculty Mentor: David Largent
Department: Computer Science
Community Partners: Northside Middle School, Daleville Junior/Senior High School, and Burris Labratory School
Students: Ryan Ahler, Luke Betts, Austin Bolles, Michael Bratton, Will English, Josh Passey, Alexander Perry, Sarah Phipps, Adam Wessel, Morgan Williams

Fall 2017

Faculty Mentor: David Largent
Department: Computer Science
Community Partners: Northside Middle School
Students: Monica Appel, Meghan Duffy, Rachel Harvey, Anna Hawkins, Benjamin Lawson, Ryan Magley, Joshua Pegg, Ian Pemberton, Jordan Reidy, Timothy Skinner, Cody York

Fall 2019: In the Brownfields to Brightfields Project (BBP), 2nd-year urban planning students surveyed, inventoried and mapped 22 brownfields in East Central Indiana to assess their solar installation potentials. Students performed land use analysis and ownership studies, assessed potential solar generation capacity, and determined sites’ potential for economic development. Students created a detailed reproduction guideline for Indiana communities. These results will be shared through detailed web-based sitemaps, replication guide, webinar, and presentations to local officials and stakeholders, state and national conferences, and in print.

Fall 2018: This community based immersive learning course is built around a theme of promoting sustainable community through analyzing its solar energy potential for existing brownfields of Delaware County, Indiana, and is comprised of urban planning students who are interested in regional planning, brownfield redevelopment, application of computer-based planning techniques to regional scale, and sustainable community building. By definition, brownfield means a site or real property for which the expansion, redevelopment, or reuse may be complicated by the presence or potential presence of ahazardous substance, pollutant or contaminant (US Congress, 1980). Due to its hazardous nature, the concentration of such sites in urban areas or industrial towns makes economic development more challenging. However, beginning in the early 2000s, brownfields in rust belt Midwest regions slowly started to gain an attention from developers and communities as an opportunity, and now they are starting to attract significant funding and subsidies from private investors, non-profits and government agencies. Against this backdrop, in this immersive learning course, partnering with Sierra Club Hoosier Chapter, students analyzed and evaluated solar potentials for brownfields in Delaware County, Indiana. Through the immersive learning course, students evaluated the solar potential for the community and assess the potential for economic development for existing brownfields.

Fall 2019

Faculty Mentor: Sanglim Yoo
Department: Urban Planning
Community Partners: Sierra Club Hoosier Chapter
Students: Alexis Adams, Batul Ather, Richard Bratton, Elizabeth Crane, Daniel Grinspan, Kenzie Hughes, Alexander Janke, Janee Johnson, Esteban Leguizamo, Madison Lindsay, Jacob McQueen, Alex Pope, Erick Portillo, Jefferson Reece, Carter Solivan, Madison Spangler, Casey Stamm

Fall 2018

Faculty Mentor: Sanglim Yoo
Department: Urban Planning
Community Partners: Sierra Club Hoosier Chapter
Students: Odessa Birtman, Javan Johnson, Colton Marvel, Hannah Moran, Sarah Murray, Patricia Salgado, Erin Salgat, Michael Terronez, Jackson Trebor

Tag: Fall 2018