Computational thinking via interactive journalism in middle school

Abstract

To address the critical shortage of students entering computing fields, as well as broaden participation in computing, we present a summer and afterschool program in Interactive Journalism through which middle school students and their teachers develop an appreciation for and competence in computational thinking. We report on the outcomes of our first year in which three middle school language arts teachers, a technology teacher and a guidance counselor collaborate with college faculty to publish a school magazine of the future. Students and their teachers research and conduct interviews to develop news stories that are then presented as story packages with text, video, and procedural animations in Scratch. Results of formal data collection show changes in students' perceptions of what it means to program, as well as their emerging confidence in their ability to design computational solutions and to program. Copyright 2010 ACM.