Assignments

Assignment #1 - Person, Place, Thing

Accompanying Text:

It all began freshmen year of high school. I was a STEM-inclined student from a family that supported me. I had always had some (although very few) female companions in my STEM-based activities outside of school. However, that was all about to change. When I stepped into my Game Design class during the second semester of freshmen year, I had a realization. The homogeneity of the classroom was too apparent to ignore. At first, I didn’t understand why I felt so out of place. I couldn’t fathom why everyone in that classroom was looking at me so oddly. Then, it occurred to me that I was surrounded by guys.

The next step in this journey was very willful. My initial experience in that computer science class made me want to investigate more. I began a podcast in collaboration with Dr. Shannon Stephens at Albany Medical College. It was to be called Illuminating STEM Stories, and it would feature the unique stories of successful women in STEM. One particular conversation that I had brought me into the reality of STEM representation. It was an interview with Dr. Carrie Anderson, a world-renowned astrophysicist at NASA. Her story was heartbreaking. From being the only girl in her college physics classes to having to act exceedingly strong to achieve respect, she has been through a lot. She revealed to me an exchange she had with a group of low-income students. They told her that they didn’t have the resources to even hope to become an astronomer like her. That’s when it hit me. I never considered how lucky I am to be able to do things like medical research and enjoy making computer games.

The final straw was drawn at the beginning of quarantine. It was only around April, 2020. My group of friends and I were keen on making sure science curriculum was being taught to our younger colleagues in the best way possible. We offered our help to local schools, but were distraught at the response. The elementary schools had to scrap science curriculum to instead focus on the essentials, math and english. I was devastated for those kids. School science curriculum does no justice to the subject. Students never get an accurate picture of what it means to be a scientist or what the purpose of it even is. My sister and her friends (who were third graders at the time) told me that they don’t like science. They’ve never understood the point of it. I was disappointed, but prepared to make a difference.

Assignment #2 - October SDA

Assignment #3 - December SDA

Assignment #4 - Midterm SDA

Bibliography

Allsop, Yasemin, and John Jessel. "Teachers' Experience and Reflections on Game-Based Learning in the Primary Classroom." International Journal of Game-Based Learning 5, no. 1 (2015): 1-17. doi:10.4018/ijgbl.2015010101.

Century, Jeanne, Kaitlyn A. Ferris, and Huifang Zuo. "Finding Time for Computer Science in the Elementary School Day: A Quasi-experimental Study of a Transdisciplinary Problem-based Learning Approach." International Journal of STEM Education 7, no. 1 (2020). doi:10.1186/s40594-020-00218-3.

Vegas, Emiliana, and Brian Fowler. "What Do We Know about the Expansion of K-12 Computer Science Education?" Brookings. August 04, 2020. https://www.brookings.edu/research/what-do-we-know-about-the-expansion-of-k-12-computer-science-education/.

Wilson, Amanda, Thomas Hainey, and Thomas M. Connolly. "Using Scratch with Primary School Children." International Journal of Game-Based Learning 3, no. 1 (2013): 93-109. doi:10.4018/ijgbl.2013010107.

Yongpradit, Pat. "Should We Teach Computer Science in Elementary School? Yes." ISTE. November 14, 2014. https://www.iste.org/explore/Point-Counterpoint/Should-we-teach-computer-science-in-elementary-school?-Yes.

Assignment #5 - March SDA