Project Rise Up 4 CS - 2013 to 2014
The Institute for Computing Education (ICE) is conducting a research project to help broaden participation in computing. We have finished accepting applications for this program from African-American students in Georgia who are taking an Advanced Placement Computer Science A course during the 2013-2014 school year. The program will pay $100 to up to the participants who meet all of the following requirements.
1) Do pre attitude and content knowledge assessments
2) Attend a total of at least 6 help sessions (any combination of in-person and remote (webinars))
3) Take the post attitude and content knowledge assessments
4) Pass the AP CS A exam with a score of 3 or higher
Thanks to a Google Rise grant we can also pay students who attend at least 6 help sessions $100! Students can earn a total of $200.
The webinars for Project Rise Up 4 CS will be on Tuesdays at 7:00pm and Sundays at 3:00pm. You only need a computer with a browser and an internet connection https://sas.elluminate.com/m.jnlp?sid=2009238&password=M.8CAE9CDCEC10D39DD7A11F09DCBA03 to join the webinar. If you have any trouble joining the webinar see http://support.blackboardcollaborate.com/ics/support/default.asp?deptID=8336&task=knowledge&questionID=1473
Upcoming Events
Meeting - Sunday May 4th at 1pm-5pm
Past Events
Webinar - Wednesday April 23rd at 7pm-8pm
Webinar - Tuesday April 22nd at 7pm-8pm
Webinar - Wednesday April 16th at 7pm-8pm
Webinar - Tuesday April 15th at 7pm-8pm
Meeting - Saturday April 12th at 1pm-5pm at Georgia Tech, College of Computing Room 345.
Webinar - Wednesday April 9th at 7pm
Webinar - Tuesday April 8th at 7pm
Webinar - Wednesday April 2nd at 7pm
Webinar - Tuesday April 1st at 7pm
Webinar - Wednesday March 26th #2
Webinar - Tuesday March 25th at 7pm
Meeting - Sunday March 23rd at 1pm - 4pm at Georgia Tech, College of Computing Room 345.
Webinar- Tuesday March 11th at 7pm
Webinar- Tuesday March 4th at 7pm
Webinar- Wednesday March 5th at 7pm
Webinar - Tuesday February 25th at 7:00pm
Webinar - Sunday February 23rd at 3:00pm
Webinar - Tuesday February 18th at 7:00pm
Meeting - Sunday February 16th at 1:00pm - 4:00pm at Georgia Tech, College of Computing Room 345.
Webinar - Tuesday February 11th at 7:00pm
Webinar - Sunday February 9th at 3:00pm
Webinar - Tuesday February 4th at 7:00pm
Webinar - Sunday February 2nd at 3:00pm
Webinar - Tuesday January 28th at 7:00pm - CANCELLED
Webinar - Sunday January 26th at 3:00pm
Webinar - Tuesday January 21st at 7:00pm
Webinar - Sunday January 19th at 3:00pm
Webinar - Tuesday January 14th at 7:00pm
Webinar - Tuesday December 10th at 7:00pm
Meeting at Georgia Tech Sunday December 15th at 1:00pm - 4:00pm
Webinar - Tuesday December 17th at 7:00pm
Webinar - Sunday December 8th at 3:00pm
Webinar -Tuesday December 3rd at 7:00pm - CANCELLED
Webinar - Sunday December 1st at 3:00pm - CANCELLED
Webinar - Tuesday November 26th at 7:00pm - CANCELLED
Webinar - Sunday November 24th at 3:00pm
Webinar - Tuesday November 19th at 7:00pm
Webinar - Sunday November 17th at 3:00pm
Webinar - Tuesday November 12th at 7:00pm
Meeting at Georgia Tech Sunday November 10th at 1:00pm - 4:00pm
Webinar - Tuesday November 5th at 7:00pm
Webinar - Sunday November 3rd at 3:00pm
Webinar - Tuesday October 29th at 7:00pm
Webinar - Sunday October 27th at 3:00pm
Webinar - Tuesday October 22nd at 7:00pm
Meeting at Georgia Tech on Sunday October 20th from 1:00pm - 4:00pm. Led by Ja'Quan in Klaus. Setup computers in the classroom 1447. Parents and students will assemble in the Auditorium 1443.
Webinar - Sunday February 23rd at 3:00pm
The requirements for the program are:
- Apply to be part of the program by filling out the survey at: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/RiseUp4CS2013-2014. Be sure to click submit on each page. The survey has several pages. You are not done till you see the "Thank You" page. Be sure to enter a valid e-mail address as e-mail is our primary means of communicating.
- The student must attend a required meeting on Sunday, October 20th, 2013 with at least one parent or guardian from 1pm - 4pm in room 1443 of the Klaus Advanced Computing Building. Directions to this building and parking information is here: Directions to the Klaus Advanced Computing Building. The purpose of the meeting is to make sure that you understand the requirements for the project, answer any questions about the project, and fill out consent forms to allow you to be part of the project. Students will take a 30 question multiple choice exam during the meeting. Parents can take a tour of Georgia Tech while the students are taking the exam.
- The student must attend at least 6 help sessions at Georgia Tech or via a webinar to help prepare the student to pass the AP CS A exam. A help session will be offered once a month at Georgia Tech on Sunday afternoons and webinars will be offered at least 4 times a month. To participate in a webinar the student will need access to a computer with an internet connection and a browser.
- The student must complete surveys about his or her attitudes towards computing, and take tests that measure the student's computer science knowledge. The student may also be asked to participate in interviews or focus groups as part of the evaluation of this project.
- The student must pass the AP CS A exam and score at least a 3 and report his or her scores to the project staff. The AP CS A exam scores are usually reported to students in July.
Questions and Answers
Do I have to pay to apply. No
Do I have to attend every session at Georgia Tech? No - just the initial session on Sunday, October 20, 2013 from 1pm - 4pm with a parent or guardian. After that you can participate via webinar which only requires internet access and a browser.
What will we be doing in the sessions? The sessions at Georgia Tech will be helping you with some of the concepts on the AP CS A exam such as class, object, methods, conditionals, iteration, inheritance, polymorphism, interfaces, class design, searching, sorting, recursion and GirdWorld. We will introduce these concepts by creating animations in Alice, art using media computation, games in Greenfoot, controlling a robot, and other engaging activities. We will also tour some of the research labs at Georgia Tech. The webinars will help you with questions, homework, and concepts.
Resources for AP CS A students:
Free Response Questions from Previous Years https://apstudent.collegeboard.org/apcourse/ap-computer-science-a/exam-practice
Free on-line Java textbook that is good a as a reference http://www.bluepelicanjava.com/download.htm
Free on-line Java textbook http://www.schram.org/APSI2013PREP/APComputerScience.pdf
Online Java Visualizer http://cscircles.cemc.uwaterloo.ca/java_visualize/
Alice - free software that makes it easy to create 3D movies using drag-and-drop programming and Java - http://www.alice.org
Videos for Alice 3 http://www.alice.org/3.1/materials_videos.php
MOOC on introductory programming in Java https://www.udacity.com/course/cs046
Greenfoot - free software that makes it easy to create 2D games and simulations in Java - http://www.greenfoot.org/door
Tutorials for Greenfoot and Reference - http://www.greenfoot.org/docRecorded webinars on Greenfoot - http://coweb.cc.gatech.edu/ice-gt/1883
Georgia Tech's database of AP A type multiple choice questions http://ice.cc.gatech.edu/apexam_final/
Starter and testing code for past free response questions http://coweb.cc.gatech.edu/ice-gt/1277
DrJava - free IDE with an interactions pane and the ability to debug: http://drjava.org
CodingBat - free small practice problems that you can code in the browser http://codingbat.com
Barbara Ericson's CodingBat page with some very simple problems: http://codingbat.com/home/ericson@cc.gatech.edu
Practice-It website - more of a range of problems than you find at CodingBat and more OO problems http://webster.cs.washington.edu/practiceit/
Jeliot - Visualize Java code and step through programs (especially good for recursion) http://cs.joensuu.fi/jeliot/
Free Java textbook used for competitions - good as a reference http://www.bluepelicanjava.com
National Video Game Challenge http://www.STEMchallenge.org
On-line demonstrations (animations) for loops, recursion, encapsulation, and more at http://www2.davidson.k12.nc.us/hartsook/
Links for learning PHP http://www.w3schools.com, http://php.net, http://www.killerphp.com/tutorials/object-oriented-php/php-objects-page-1.php, http://www.massassi.com/php/article/classes/, http://www.webstepbook.com
Scholarships to study CS as an undergrad http://uncf.org/sections/ForStudents/SS_Scholarships/scholarDetailSGA.asp?id=886