Digitized Honors Theses (2002-2017)

Date of Award

2013

Document Type

Undergraduate Thesis

Degree Name

BS

Department

Computer Science

Faculty Mentor

Michael Doran

Abstract

According to the Association of Computing Machinery (ACM) and the Computer Science Teaching Association (CSTA), the United States has fallen behind the rest of the world in preparing K-12 students with the "fundamental computer science knowledge and skills they need for future success" (Wilson, 2010). This alarming trend in computer science education started in 2001, and has been on a steady decline ever since. In 2005, Bill Gates described his disappointment in this decline when he stated that more Microsoft positions were open than could be filled. This shortage of skilled professionals has limited the speed of productivity and economic growth (Bishop, 2005). The University of South Alabama's School of Computing (USA SoC) established the Center for Forensics, Information, and Technology (CFITS) in 2011 to help further educational and research objectives. Since then, CFITS has established partnerships between the SoC, K-12 schools, corporate business, and industry partners. A goal of CFITS is to create programs to increase student interest in computer science, and maintain interest in general science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) ideas. As part of our creative endeavor, we created lesson plans and applications that teachers in K-12 schools could use to introduce, support, and explore STEM concepts. The research presented here discusses an Honors Program Thesis and associated Computer Science Senior Project which demonstrated using Blender, as a Digital Art Tool, to illustrate Computer Science (CS) and STEM concepts in a classroom setting. In the Senior project, college students with no prior Blender experience worked with a skilled Blender learning curve was steep, there was enough content online and in books to simplify Blender's capabilities. For this thesis, we hypothesized that if younger students encounter computing concepts in a creative and artistic environment, then they are more likely to consider computer science as a career option and also feel encouraged to use digital art as a platform to interact with fundamental mathematics and science in a broader application beyond the conventional classroom setting.

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