This article illustrates the potential for hackathons to serve as an innovative educational tool in addressing the underrepresentation of minority communities in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields. Using Merced, California--a region recognised for its agricultural economy, socioeconomic disparities, and diverse…

With the increasing demand for K-12 computer science education (CSed), and the importance of preparing highly qualified preservice teachers who have basic CS knowledge, teacher education faculty play an essential role in CSed capacity building. However, little is known about the best ways for supporting teacher education faculty with the…

There are currently too few computer science faculty to meet student demand, and faculty from historically minoritized groups are severely underrepresented. Expanding pathways from community colleges to PhDs is one critical avenue to both grow and diversify the computer science professoriate that has been underexplored. To gain insight into these…

This case study focuses on the implementation and analysis of critical algorithmic literacy (CAL) lessons in two grade 3/4 combination classes. The study involves one elementary school teacher and 36 students from a K-6 school in Southern California. By analyzing various data sources, I identified trends that could be helpful for future…

Background and context: High school students' interest in computing fields is not always sustained in community college due to a disconnect between institutions. Objective: To understand how cross-sector collaborations can align institutional pathways in computing. Research questions: What cross-sector practices can be used to build a computing…

Purpose: Supporting community college transfer students represents a critical strategy for broadening participation in STEM. In addition to being a racially diverse group, students who pursue STEM degrees by way of community college report frequent interests in graduate study and academic careers. Thus, supporting and expanding transfer students'…

Background: Multilingual learners have been overlooked and understudied in computer science education research. As the CS for All movement grows, it is essential to design integrated, justice-oriented curricula that help young multilingual learners begin to develop computational thinking skills and discourses. Purpose: We present a conceptual…

Research demonstrates a connection between parent perspectives and children's decisions to pursue careers in STEM (e.g. Albritton et al., 2020; Fouad et al., 2016). However, there is limited research on parents' impact on CS education advocacy. Through one-on-one parent interviews, this study found that parents engage in educational advocacy, but…

Digital technologies are an integral facet of human existence, changing how humans find information, the way humans communicate and even human behavior. This transition applies to education as well, with the continued growth of artificial intelligence (AI) reshaping the higher education landscape at two- and four-year institutions alike. AI is…

This dissertation presents the results and outcomes of an effort to design educational tools and curriculum to improve student learning in introductory programming courses. The work was conducted at the University of California, Merced (UC Merced), situated in the Central Valley of California, and home to a diverse student population. The findings…

Young people need digital competency and confidence to effectively harness computing power to solve problems and design solutions; a core component is improving young people's computational thinking. Unfortunately, access to computer science education is lacking for all youth, and in particular for youth who live in lower-income households, who…

High schools in California--and around the country--increasingly offer computer science (CS) and often would like to expand CS offerings further. However, these expansions pose a number of challenges for administrators and policymakers, especially if they are going to happen effectively and equitably. We consider four of the most pressing…

College-educated women in the workforce are discovering a latent interest in and aptitude for computing motivated by the prevalence of computing as an integral part of jobs in many fields as well as continued headlines about the number of unfilled, highly paid computing jobs. One of these women's choices for retraining are the so-called coding…

The purpose of this report is to provide findings from the Abt Global independent evaluation of the PreK-12 STEM Pathway program. The Community Training and Assistance Center (CTAC), a nonprofit organization focused on supporting educational innovation and community change, received an Education Innovation and Research (EIR) Early Phase grant from…

Background: Learning to program and success in computer science requires persistence in the face of challenges. This study contributes to research on the social context of learning by describing how children's peer interactions can support or hinder the pair's problem solving on the computer. Methods: Video recordings from eight pairs of middle…