Special Projects 2019

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Since 2003 SIGCSE has awarded a limited number of Special Projects Grants each year. These grants help SIGCSE members investigate and introduce new ideas in the learning and teaching of computing. Projects must provide some clear benefit to the wider disciplinary community in the form of new knowledge, developing or sharing of a resource, or good practice in learning, teaching, or assessment.

Here is a list of the awards given in 2019.

Developing Physical Manipulatives and Games for Teaching Advanced Data Structures

Mark Goadrich, Hendrix College, USA
Award: $4,598
Award date: May 2019

Description: This project will develop engaging manipulatives specifically developed for physically demonstrating concepts in advanced data structures. Instructors will be able to use these tools to support lessons on sorting algorithms, binary search trees, heaps, sets, and hash tables.

Report: Final report

Decoding Doctoral Student Departure: Faculty and Student Perspectives

Kari George, UCLA, USA
Award: $3,500
Award date: May 2019

Report: Final report

Dive into Systems - A Free Online Textbook for Introductory Computer Systems Topics

Tia Newall, Swarthmore College, USA
Suzanne Matthews
Kevin C. Webb
Award: $5,000
Award date: May 2019

Description: The purpose of this project is to develop and promote a free online textbook that covers introductory computer systems, architecture and parallel computing.

Report: Final report

Developing Ethics Modules for Core CS and DS Courses

Lori Carter, Point Loma Nazarene University, USA
Catherine Crockett
Whitney Featherston
Morgan Wheeler
Award: $2,900
Award date: May 2019

Description: Two professors and two students at Point Loma Nazarene University (PLNU) have been working for the last year to create a series of 10-20 minute ethics modules that can be integrated into core Computer Science and Data Science courses. This project is for focus groups to obtain student feedback on the new modules and for subsequent refinement.

Report: Final report

A 50 year retrospective on academic integrity and computer ethics in CS Education (Special theme “SIGCSE: 50 Years and Beyond”)

Nadia Najjar, University of North Carolina, Charlotte, USA
Mary Lou Maher, University of North Carolina, Charlotte, USA
Award: $5,000
Award date: May 2019

Report: Final report

The Firsts: Exploring the Intersectional Experiences of Black Women in Computing Who Were First to be Conferred Ph.D.s in Computing/Computer Science at Colleges/Universities

Jakita O. Thomas, Auburn University, Auburn, Alabama, USA
Yolanda A. Rankin, Florida State University, Tallahassee, Florida, USA
Award: $5,000
Award date: November 2019

Description: To the explore the intersectional experiences of Black Women in Computing who were the first complete a Ph.D. in Computing/Computer Science (C/CS) from their respective institutions (1980’s – present).

Mastery Learning in Programming Courses

Matthias Hauswirth, Università della Svizzera italiana (USI), Lugano, Switzerland
Award date: November 2019

Description: (This project was never performed due to interruption the covid pandemic had on our work patterns). We want to plant the seeds for a community of practice on Mastery Learning for Programming Courses, by making our lessons learned and resources available in an easily adoptable way.

An Online Tool for Easy-to-set-up and Auto-gradable Full Tracing Exercises

Wei Jin, Georgia Gwinnett College, Lawrenceville, Georgia, USA
Award: $5,000
Award date: November 2019

Description: We propose a web-based system that allows instructors to set up auto-gradable full tracing exercises easily. We will utilize pythontutor.com, a popular open-source code visualization tool, as the underlying system. The augmented system will help engage students in the learning process by require students to determine which line is executed next and what happens in memory/output before the system demonstrates the step.

Report: Final report

The Crossroads of Computer Science: Stories of ‘Sideways’ and ‘Hidden’ Computer Scientists

Brett Becker, University College Dublin, Belfield, Ireland
Award: $4,785
Award date: November 2019

Report: Final report

Developing Coding Instruction Videos for K12 Hearing Impaired Students Using American Sign Language

Daniela Marghitu, Auburn University, Auburn, Alabama, USA
Award: $3,500
Award date: November 2019

Description: A number of ambitious projects such as ASLCORE 6 and ASLClear 7 are working on creating American Sign Language (ASL) signs for STEM disciplines. For example, in the computer science domain, ASLCORE has produced signs for concepts such as “Recursion”, “Debugger”, “Linked List” and “Variable”. In this way, computer science jargon is being made accessible to students who are hearing impaired. Drag and Drop coding applications such as MIT’s Scratch 8 are popularly used to teach K-12 students to code. Our project aims to make computer science concepts, using Block-based coding, a more inclusive experience for hearing impaired students.

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