Brief Description

This 2009 spring semester, lecturer Harold Mitchell of the University of Houston Computer Science (UH CS) Department and Sherika Dumes of Hightower High School (HHS) in Fort Bend Independent School District (FBISD) are working together to teach Alice to two of Ms. Dumes’ Advanced Placement (AP) Computer Science classes – 1st and 8th periods. This program is simply called Computer Programming with Alice. In short, this collaborative effort hopes to achieve two primary goals: 1) To prepare HHS students for academic studies in computer science and for careers in fields of computing 2) To provide a nurturing environment that will develop in the student, the discipline required to be successful in the field of computing. A secondary goal is to attract to UH, highly motivated students from HHS.

Complete Content

History

This past fall (fall 2008), HHS’s AP CS teacher, Sherika Dumes, was browsing on Web for an experience with a university that would motivate and enthuse her computer science students. She came across a story on the UH CS department Website concerning a summer enrichment program between the UH CS department and Jack Yates High School – this program took place in the summer of 2008. After reading the story, she thought a program like this could be beneficial to her students. Ms. Dumes shared her interests with Mr. Mitchell. This led to a meeting with the UH CS department chair – Dr. Garbey – to discuss the possibilities of a collaborative effort between the two institutions for the spring 2009 semester. Shortly after, an agreement was reached and a plan was set. The plan entailed Mr. Mitchell and Ms. Dumes collaborating to teach 2nd semester AP CS students Alice programming. In addition, Mr. Mitchell would visit the HHS campus twice a week, every other week; and Mr. Mitchell would come to the students via Webcast/Video conference twice a week, every other week. The weeks leading up to the spring semester would involve diligent efforts on the part of both Mr. Mitchell and Ms. Dumes outlining the curriculum for the students and testing the Webcast/Video conference technology.

Implementation: The Plan in Motion

Through the hard work of individuals from both institutions, most notably Laura Miller (UH CS Technology Group) and Corlette Hill (FBISD), the program was able to start successfully. So far, the students are enjoying programming in Alice. Further, many are enjoying the video conference technology as well (for video conference meetings the UH CS department uses Adobe Acrobat Connect Pro Meeting). It should be noted that the students continue to learn Java (this is the programming language required for the AP curriculum). However, Mr. Mitchell and Ms. Dumes have found ways to integrate the two languages to help reinforce in the students, understanding of fundamental programming concepts. Interestingly, from initial observations, it appears students are able to better grasp classes and objects after programming in Alice. This is due in part to Alice allowing students to visualize and manipulate easily objects to which they can relate. In addition to programming and design activities, the students have been exposed to field of Information Security. Mr. Byron Fletcher of Deloitte visited the students just before Spring Break and provided a presentation on the fundamentals and career opportunities in this emerging field.

We have successfully completed half of the semester. At the end of the semester, another story will follow detailing the outcomes.