The Round Table project will adapt the pedagogical and technological foundations of the redesigned CS 101 course to a 23-hour Upward Bound course.
Bowdoin Upward Bound conducts a 6-week residential program for low-income and first generation college-bound students. Students are selected from Maine high schools with low college sending rates and limited resources. The summer program provides a rigorous core curriculum, dorm life, and a variety of cultural activities and college trips with the overall mission of providing students with the skills necessary for success in higher education. The program includes an innovative Focus Week curriculum that offers participants the opportunity to study a subject in-depth for an entire week.
Bridget Mullen, Director of Upward Bound, will hire an instructor to develop a computer science offering for Focus Week. This course is likely to be the students’ first and only formal exposure to computer science before college, given that most Maine high schools, and especially those with limited resources, do not offer computer science within the curriculum. Furthermore, the teaching and learning strategies developed for CS101 will similarly address the challenge of heterogeneous learners in the Upward Bound program and hopefully encourage students to pursue Computer Science further.
