Science and Mathematics Education Commons^™

College Of Engineering Senior Design Competition Fall 2018, University Of Nevada, Las Vegas

Fred and Harriet Cox Senior Design Competition Projects

Part of every UNLV engineering student’s academic experience, the senior design project stimulates engineering innovation and entrepreneurship. Each student in their senior year chooses, plans, designs, and prototypes a product in this required element of the curriculum. A capstone to the student’s educational career, the senior design project encourages the student to use everything learned in the engineering program to create a practical, real world solution to an engineering challenge. The senior design competition helps focus the senior students in increasing the quality and potential for commercial application for their design projects. Judges from local industry evaluate the projects on …

Visualization Of Geospatial Data As An Analytical And Educational Tool, Richard A. Vu

STAR Program Research Presentations

World Wind is an open-source API developed for Java, Android, and browsers that is designed to visualize and interact with geospatial data. The Web World Wind client is composed of four major components: the HTML template, the globe, geospatial features, and application features. The template was implemented using Bootstrap and hosts the globe provided by World Wind. This globe draws its data from multiple imagery sources, including the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) Web Map Service and Web Map Tile Service. This enables the application to perform and visualize complex calculations with multiple types of data such as weather and terrain. …

Code4her Spring 2018, Rebeccah Knoop

Honors Projects

CODE4her is a mentorship program with a goal of sparking interest in computer science organized by the BGSU Women in Computing (BGWIC) student organization. Participation is open to middle school girls (grades 5-8), and participants are paired with BGWIC members who serve as mentors.

Equal Outcomes 4 All: A Study Of Student Learning In Ecs, Steven Mcgee, Randi Mcgee-Tekula, Jennifer Duck, Catherine Mcgee, Lucia Dettori, Ronald I. Greenberg, Eric Snow, Daisy Rutstein, Dale Reed, Brenda Wilkerson, Don Yanek, Andrew M. Rasmussen, Dennis Brylow

Computer Science: Faculty Publications and Other Works

This study investigated patterns in the development of computational thinking practices in the context of the Exploring Computer Science (ECS) program, a high school introductory CS course and professional development program designed to foster deep engagement through equitable inquiry around CS concepts. Past research indicates that the personal relevance of the ECS experience influences students’ expectancy-value towards computer science. Expectancy-value is a construct that is predictive of career choices. We extended our research to examine whether expectancy-value influences the development of computational thinking practices. This study took place in the context of two ECS implementation projects across two states. Twenty …

Cs As A Graduation Requirement: Catalyst For Systemic Change, Lucia Dettori, Ronald I. Greenberg, Steven Mcgee, Dale Reed, Brenda Wilkerson, Don Yanek

Computer Science: Faculty Publications and Other Works

Since President Obama's announcement of the Computer Science for All Initiative in 2016, there has been a surge in the number of districts that are planning for or newly implementing computer science (CS) offerings at their schools. Chicago Public Schools (CPS) is the first large school district to have adopted Computer Science as a high school graduation requirement, taking this significant step along the path towards systemic change. The foundation was laid eight years ago when an informal alliance was formed between a CPS high school CS teacher, a CPS administrator, and three university computer scientists.

On The Use Of Semantic-Based Aig To Automatically Generate Programming Exercises, Laura Zavala, Benito Mendoza

Publications and Research

In introductory programming courses, proficiency is typically achieved through substantial practice in the form of relatively small assignments and quizzes. Unfortunately, creating programming assignments and quizzes is both, time-consuming and error-prone. We use Automatic Item Generation (AIG) in order to address the problem of creating numerous programming exercises that can be used for assignments or quizzes in introductory programming courses. AIG is based on the use of test-item templates with embedded variables and formulas which are resolved by a computer program with actual values to generate test-items. Thus, hundreds or even thousands of test-items can be generated with a single …

Pythagorean Combinations For Lego Robot Building., Ronald I. Greenberg

Ronald Greenberg

This paper provides tips for LEGO robot construction involving bracing or gear meshing along a diagonal using standard Botball kits.

The Impact Of Meaningful High School Computer Science Experiences In The Chicago Public Schools, Ronald I. Greenberg

Ronald Greenberg

We report on initial outcomes of the Taste of Computing project, under which a meaningful computer science course has been initiated in many high schools of the Chicago Public Schools system. Surveys of students have shown that they attribute high value to the course and have experienced increases in their understanding and interest regarding the computing field. Data was also collected from teachers participating in professional development regarding their preparation and confidence in teaching the new course. We report on the strengths of various survey responses and their relationships, and we compare student responses by race and gender. The data …

Tools For Outreach Presentations, Ronald I. Greenberg, Dale Reed

Ronald Greenberg

We present resources we have constructed and culled from the internet that can be used in computing outreach visits in K–12 classrooms, especially high schools. We have used such tools at about 100 schools, reaching several thousand students, and achieving positive attitudinal responses in surveys of several hundred of these students.

The Impact Of The Exploring Computer Science Instructional Model In Chicago Public Schools, Ronald I. Greenberg

Ronald Greenberg

As part of the Taste of Computing project, the Exploring Computer Science (ECS) instructional model has been expanded to many high schools in the Chicago Public Schools system. We report on initial outcomes showing that students value the ECS course experience, resulting in increased awareness of and interest in the field of computer science. We compare these results by race and gender. The data provide a good basis for exploring the impact of meaningful computer science instruction on students from groups underrepresented in computing; of several hundred students surveyed, nearly half were female, and over half were Hispanic or African-American.

Pythagorean Approximations For Lego: Merging Educational Robot Construction With Programming And Data Analysis, Ronald I. Greenberg

Ronald Greenberg

Abstract. This paper can be used in two ways. It can provide reference information for incorporating diagonal elements (for bracing or gear meshing) in educational robots built from standard LEGO kits. Alternatively, it can be used as the basis for an assignment for high school or college students to recreate this information; in the process, students will exercise skills in both computer programming and data analysis. Using the paper in the second way can be an excellent integrative experience to add to an existing course; for example, the Exploring Computer Science high school curriculum concludes with the units “Introduction to …

Does A Taste Of Computing Increase Computer Science Enrollment?, Steven Mcgee, Randi Mcgee-Tekula, Jennifer Duck, Ronald I. Greenberg, Lucia Dettori, Dale F. Reed, Brenda Wilkerson, Don Yanek, Andrew Rasmussen, Gail Chapman

Ronald Greenberg

The Exploring Computer Science (ECS) high school curriculum is designed to foster deep engagement through equitable inquiry around computer science concepts. We have shown that students find ECS courses personally relevant, are increasing their expectancies of success and perceived value for the field of computer science, and are more likely to take another computing course.

Does A Taste Of Computing Increase Computer Science Enrollment?, Steven Mcgee, Randi Mcgee-Tekula, Jennifer Duck, Taylor White, Ronald I. Greenberg, Lucia Dettori, Dale F. Reed, Brenda Wilkerson, Don Yanek, Andrew Rasmussen, Gail Chapman

Ronald Greenberg

This study investigated the impact of the Exploring Computer Science (ECS) program on the likelihood that students of all races and gender would pursue further computer science coursework in high school. ECS is designed to foster deep engagement through equitable inquiry around computer science concepts. If the course provides a meaningful and relevant experience, it will increase students' expectancies of success as well as increase their perceived value for the field of computer science. Using survey research, we sought to measure whether the relevance of students' course experiences influenced their expectancies and value and whether those attitudes predicted whether students …

Models As Weapons: Review Of Weapons Of Math Destruction: How Big Data Increases Inequality And Threatens Democracy By Cathy O’Neil (2016), Samuel L. Tunstall

Numeracy

Cathy O’Neil. 2016. Weapons of Math Destruction: How Big Data Increases Inequality and Threatens Democracy (New York, NY: Crown) 272 pp. ISBN 978-0553418811.

Accessible to a wide readership, Cathy O’Neil’s Weapons of Math Destruction: How Big Data Increases Inequality and Threatens Democracy provides a lucid yet alarming account of the extensive reach of mathematical models in influencing all of our lives. With a particular eye towards social justice, O’Neil not only warns modelers to be cognizant of the effects of their work on real people—especially vulnerable groups who have less power to fight back—but also encourages laypersons to take initiative …

Model Ai Assignments 2018, Todd W. Neller, Zack Butler, Nate Derbinsky, Heidi Furey, Fred Martin, Michael Guerzhoy, Ariel Anders, Joshua Eckroth

Computer Science Faculty Publications

The Model AI Assignments session seeks to gather and disseminate the best assignment designs of the Artificial Intelligence (AI) Education community. Recognizing that assignments form the core of student learning experience, we here present abstracts of seven AI assignments from the 2018 session that are easily adoptable, playfully engaging, and flexible for a variety of instructor needs. Assignment specifications and supporting resources may be found at http://modelai.gettysburg.edu.

Precise Energy Efficient Scheduling Of Mixed-Criticality Tasks & Sustainable Mixed-Criticality Scheduling, Sai Sruti

Masters Theses

"In this thesis, the imprecise mixed-criticality model (IMC) is extended to precise scheduling of tasks, and integrated with the dynamic voltage and frequency scaling (DVFS) technique to enable energy minimization. The challenge in precise scheduling of MC systems is to simultaneously guarantee the timing correctness for all tasks, hi and lo, under both pessimistic and optimistic (less pessimistic) assumptions. To the best of knowledge this is the first work to address the integration of DVFS energy conserving techniques with precise scheduling of lo-tasks of the MC model.

In this thesis, the utilization based schedulability tests and sufficient conditions for such …