ADDIE+Timeline

= = =Analysis: August 2nd=

I’m piloting a new computer science course sequence in a local title I school, which is challenging because the vast majority of precedent resources are tailored either toward more affluent student populations with greater prior exposure to computers, or a younger population with less sophisticated personal interests. Additionally, it is challenging to attract historically under-represented populations (specifically Latino, African-American, and female students) to the program given stereotyping and identity issues. I need to determine an introductory course sequence that not only attracts students from diverse backgrounds, but also teaches important fundamentals of computer programming in a way that is both accessible and appealing to novice high school sophomores and juniors. The programming concepts I am targeting include: sequential/procedural nature of programming; conditional/logical structures (if/then/else/while/until/etc.); looping/iterative structures; use of Boolean and comparison operators; use of variables and different data types; objects and inheritance; incorporation of external audio/visual resources; and code documentation and debugging strategies.

Having done some research regarding what sorts of projects serve as effective attractors to these populations, I’m going to try building and running a single semester curriculum to introduce these programming concepts through the design and development of arcade-style games. In order to increase accessibility to the material while maintaining rigor in formal concept development, I plan to use MIT Lab’s //Scratch// development environment, possibly moving into UC Berkeley’s //BYOB// //(“Build your own Blocks”)// environment (identical except for the addition of object structures allowing for recursion) toward the end of the sequence and for the final game project. This will require development of a lesson plan sequence, materials for direct instruction of concepts, practice exercises/projects, and generation/identification of exemplars and rubrics for the final project.

=Design: October 1st= =Development: November 18th= =Implementation: November 26th= =Evaluation: December 15th=