Computer Science Introductory Program (CSIP) is an initiative I created to introduce upper elementary students to various computer science languages and engineering disciplines with an emphasis on social good. Driven by both my realization of the lack of computer science education among youth and my passion for teaching, my first activity through CSIP was providing 3 introductions to computer science workshops for my local elementary school, yet nothing could prepare me for the excitement and motivation all my students had for learning Scratch, the language I taught for my workshop. It was an amazing experience to witness nearly 170 students being in awe as they moved the cat to catch the mice. In order to help foster another group of community-minded students while also increasing their interest in computer science, I decided to host a 5-day web development camp with an emphasis on social good.

Climate change, homelessness, recycling, food security, poverty in third world countries—are some of the world’s biggest challenges and also the topics that my students chose to address in my CSIP (Computer Science Introductory Program) Spring Web Development Camp. Over quarantine, I reached across my network to create a community of twenty elementary school students who aspired to learn website development to engage on social topics that impact society. After four months of creating a curriculum, planning for games, and activities, and designing the structure of the camp, CSIP Spring Web Development Camp was ready to launch. I learned quickly that my students were passionate and capable—Alyssa was amazing at Pictionary, Arfatul loved basketball, Jazmin was a resin enthusiast, and I was eager to direct their energy into creating social good.

After our first HTML lesson, I prioritized hands-on programming to practice and reinforce coding. From writing their names to creating links on their webpage, their enthusiasm for programming was the best form of validation. I scoured my knowledge of HTML and CSS for anything I could teach that would fuel more excitement. I showed them how to embed their favorite videos, insert an image of green screen Queen Elizabeth, and use different fonts. After teaching them the basics of web development, I encouraged them to research and choose their website topic. Whether it was a resin jewelry guide to help women combat poverty in third world countries or instructions on creating a personal garden to promote food safety, by the end of the camp, each of my students created a social-good-inspired website that positively affected the world through their problem solving and creativity. My students presented their websites in a symposium and as they eagerly explained their topic and what they had learned, I understood the fulfillment of impacting my community, one student at a time. At that moment, they were not only elementary school students learning to code, but computer scientists striving to make the world a better place.

Through CSIP, I was able to engage in a large-scale self-directed project for the first time. From planning out the small details of the camp to interacting with my students for the first time, I was able to cultivate organizational skills and articulate my computer science knowledge for the sake of better understanding. I gained the fulfillment of forming personal bonds with each of my students, and imparted computer science knowledge that could positively empower them and allow them to discover the joy of computer science changing the world around them. Most of all, I experienced the delight of interacting with youth; from teaching them web development to playing icebreaker games, it was a pleasure to establish my camp.

While both the workshops and camp impacted my community by empowering youth to pursue computer science, I can confidently say that I was the most impacted by these experiences. I will always remember Manit, the 3rd grader who never fails to greet me, or how I drew a blob while playing Pictionary, and Alyssa was able to guess that I had drawn a peanut. Through both the camp and workshops, I learned that one is never too young to learn computer science and that I really enjoy teaching youth computer science. I hope to continue promoting computer science education to foster a community of students interested in computer science and so that they too, can also discover the joy of computer science changing the world around them.

Congratulation Shannon from Coronado Soroptimist!

Shannon is donating part of her monetary award to the Academy of Music and Art for Special Education (AMASE)