CS352: Computer Science Pedagogy - Service Learning Project (100 Points)

Assignment Goals

The goals of this assignment are:

To explore the breadth of applications of computing in an area of interest
To apply computing to the benefit of others through service learning
To reflect upon the ubiquitous role of computing in society through the broad lens of K-12 subject areas
To develop curriculum that celebrates a human-centric computing concept at the K-12 level through design thinking
To present a classroom lesson with a supervising teacher
To assess outcomes of classroom teaching
To reflect upon improvements to the developed materials, and present those findings in a classroom setting

The Assignment

In this project, you will propose a topic of your choosing and a group of at least 2 and up to 4 total members. The project must be approved by the instructor before it may commence, but the topic is entirely up to you.

This open-ended project aims to give you space to explore computing and its applications in a context that you’re passionate about. The full capability of computing to benefit others is realized when it is applied to domains of human need. We will focus on ideas that can be carried out in a K-12 classroom or in a K-12 extracurricular activity (such as a club event or hackathon). A theme of this project is to expand your view of computing and its capabilities in service to others. There are perhaps endless ways of doing this. Here are some examples:

Designing a lesson plan for K-12 students to get exposed to computing in an area related to your major (or other interest!).
Identifying an existing K-12 lesson in partnership with a local teacher, and revising it to employ a targeted pedagogy practice such as POGIL or Universal Design for Learning (UDL).

Group Formation and Proposal

To form a group, students should draft a text document including the names of all students in the group, a summary of the proposed project, and a breakdown of each student’s responsibilities on the team. Each student should send this identical document to me for approval via e-mail. I will respond via e-mail to the entire group notifying them that the project has been approved, and which members are on the team. If I add or remove members from the team, I will notify the entire group via e-mail. This shall constitute agreement of the project responsibilities by all members of the team.

Deployment

Your final product should be suitable for use by someone that is not in your group currently. Think carefully about what that person might need to know, or might need to have, to complete your project or teach it to their class! Take notes as you prototype your project, and you will have a good inventory that you can easily refer to at the end for this purpose.

K-12 Presentation

You will present your module in a K-12 classroom (or extracurricular) setting under the supervision of your instructor and/or a partner K-12 teacher. You will receive feedback and guidance from both your instructor and your partner teacher. Each individual in the group should write a reflection on this feedback and on what you observed in the classroom. How did it go? What went according to plan? Did you have to alter any of your plans on the fly? If you were to create a “version 2.0” of this project for someone next year, what would you suggest that they do differently, or what would you revise?

Bridging Disciplines through Design Thinking

In this project, you are encouraged to break out of your comfort zone to explore STEM and computing education in a broad context. For example, if you are a Computer Science major, you might consider a lesson in computing that uses a POGIL or Unplugged model, or how you might use these pedagogical approaches in a corporate or lifelong education environment, or in a science communication context. If you are an Education major, you might consider how computing education can enhance the teaching and learning of a concept in computer science, or how a computing idea can permeate a social studies or humanities lesson, or one in the arts.

Whether you are an Education student, a STEM/CS student, or another major, a common theme that connects the development and communication of computing curriculum is the human-in-the-loop. A major goal of computing is to create solutions that enhance the lives of those who use it, and a goal of learning computing is to become aware of not only the technical skills that surround creating those solutions, but in identifying the diverse needs of the people who will interact with those systems.

In your report and class presentation, you will present not only your lesson, its deployment, your assessment, and future recommendations, but you will also reflect upon how your own view of computing and education have changed as a result of collaborating with your classmates and supervising teachers. To guide this discussion, consider and include your responses to the following guided questions, through the lens of the lesson or activity you developed for this project:

Has design thinking changed the way you look at everyday things?
What are some examples of outcomes in design that would benefit from a more holistic stakeholder design experience, and how might you lead a class of learners (in any subject) in a discussion about human-centric design?
How might design thinking be incorporated into your own subject area?
How might you transform an “ordinary” classroom activity to use guided inquiry and discovery processes such as those found within design thinking?
What kinds of community partnerships would be helpful to facilitate authentic design thinking activities or service learning for your students?

First Draft

It is best if one’s first draft is not also the final draft, especially as your ideas evolve with your own understanding and from feedback from others. The first draft is an opportunity to write your ideas: concentrate on your message, rather than the structure of your narrative. How do you want your readers to change after having read your work? What contribution are you hoping to make? Don’t worry if it’s not entirely clear in this draft, or if the organization isn’t perfect. At this stage, you are developing your raw materials - the clay from which you’ll mold a cohesive thesis later.

Final Draft

It is highly recommended that you review your first draft with a Writing Fellow from the Writing and Speaking Center. Based on this feedback and the feedback from your instructor (and possibly from classmates), revise your report into a final draft.

Class Presentation

Finally, you will present a summary of your project to our class, and summarize your experience and reflections during the experience.

Unit and Lesson Activities

Your final report will include the complete unit and lesson activities you developed throughout the semester. Consider this your portfolio! I encourage you to publish this publicly. Your design should include a unit of at least 3 lessons that includes (and discusses explicitly) several of the 12 pedagogical principles of computing, along with formative and summative assessments that span Bloom’s taxonomy, and whose lesson activities differentiate instruction using scaffolding of multiple entry points according to UDL principles.

Field Experience Logistics: Visiting Partner Schools

Your K-12 presentation involves visiting an external school, and a professional visit takes preparation. This section is your logistics guide; treat it as a checklist to begin several weeks before your planned visit, because clearances take time to process.

Clearances

Pennsylvania requires clearances for adults working with minors in schools. Before any classroom visit:

Review the Ursinus Education Department’s Field Experiences and Clearances page, which describes the required clearances (PA Criminal Record Check, PA Child Abuse History Clearance, and FBI fingerprint-based background check, as applicable) and how to obtain each.
Consult the Education Department’s clearance requirements document (Ursinus login required) for current step-by-step instructions and timelines.
Confirm with your instructor which clearances your specific placement requires; your partner school or district may have additional paperwork of its own.
Keep copies (paper and digital) of every clearance you obtain: you will need to present them, and future field experiences and student teaching will ask for them again.

Do not schedule a classroom visit until your instructor has confirmed your clearances are in order.

Preparing for Your Visit

Coordinate in advance with your partner teacher: confirm the date, arrival time, parking, sign-in procedure, class period, room technology, and how many students to expect. Send your lesson materials to the teacher ahead of time and ask what classroom norms and routines you should follow.
Know your learners as well as you can before you arrive: grade level, prior computing exposure, and any accommodations the teacher can share in general terms - then apply the UDL practice from this course and design for variability you cannot see in advance.
Plan for the room you’ll actually have: have an unplugged fallback for any technology-dependent step, and print more handouts than you think you need.
Professional etiquette: dress professionally, arrive early, sign in at the main office, stay with your supervising teacher (you are a guest, and the teacher remains responsible for the class), use school-appropriate language, and do not photograph students or share identifying details about them - including in your reflection and public portfolio. Address disciplinary matters by deferring to the classroom teacher.
Afterwards: thank the teacher (a brief thank-you email is professional practice) and ask for their candid feedback while the visit is fresh - it becomes primary source material for your reflection.

Curriculum Alignment: The PA Instructional Workbook

As you finalize the lesson you will deliver, consult the PA Instructional Workbook, which supports planning instruction aligned to Pennsylvania’s standards frameworks. When to use it: after your UbD Stage 1 goals are drafted, to verify that your goals and evidence align with the standards your partner teacher is responsible for - alignment is often the first thing a supervising teacher checks. Usage idea: include a short alignment table in your final report mapping each lesson goal to the relevant standard; this both strengthens your portfolio and makes your materials far easier for another teacher to adopt.

Tying the Visit to Your Reflection

Your individual reflection (see “K-12 Presentation” above) should draw directly on the visit: what the logistics taught you (what would you tell next year’s students about preparing for a school visit?), what surprised you about the difference between your planned lesson and the delivered lesson, and how the observation and feedback from your partner teacher will shape your “version 2.0” recommendations. Students also completing the LINQ Partnership reflection may reference the same visit in both, through the two different lenses.

Submission

Submit a ZIP of documents containing your service learning project and writeup.

Contract Grading

To Receive an A

Each item required for a grade of B is included
The project is disseminated on a public forum such as a website, GitHub, article, paper submission, podcast, or other appropriate medium
The group consists of at least 1 and no more than 2 members
The project submitted was substantially consistent with the project proposed to and approved by the Professor
The report represents a second draft (or beyond) that was evolved substantially from guidance from the instructor or from the Writing Center.
An individual self-reflection is included in the final submission that substantially documents the experience, your observations, and the feeback you received.
The project and reflections were presented in summary form to the rest of the class.

To Receive a B

Each item required for a grade of C is included
The project report includes a substantial discussion of the project goals, rationale, and development approach
The project report includes a deliverable with an explanation appropriate for use and extension by others
A project proposal was submitted by the proposal deadline and approved by the Professor
The project was presented in a K-12 classroom or extracurricular setting.

To Receive a C

Each item required for a grade of D is included
The project report includes a substantial discussion of the final results
The first draft of the project report was submitted by the first draft deadline
The first draft substantially describes progress toward the project's conclusion

To Receive a D

Each member of the group makes meaningful contributions to the implementation of the project

Please refer to the Style Guide for code quality examples and guidelines.