Broadening Accessibility to Computer Science for K-12 Education

Enrollments in computer science and computer engineering have decreased dramatically since the dot-com bubble burst in 2000 even though it is projected that nearly three quar-ters of all science and engineering jobs in the future will be in these fields. Meeting this demand will require a substan-tial effort to inspire and motivate students as early as in the elementary school years. The challenge is to provide moti-vational access to computer science training, particularly for women and minorities in disadvantaged areas. We consider three approaches for broadening accessibil-ity to software that teaches computer science fundamentals: (1) virtualization, (2) self-contained live CDs, and (3) web browser-based deployment. While the work is ongoing, ini-tial results are quite promising. Next steps include a more formal and much wider deployment to 3rd–5th grade classes in ten elementary schools in rural Virginia