Community Action Computing: A Data-centric CS0 Course

A student’s sense of belonging in computing can be positively impacted when coursework can authentically be connected to real community contexts. We describe the design, materials, and pre-liminary evaluation of an introductory programming (CS0) course infused with a focus on societal responsibility and relevance. We take a data-centric, constructionist approach to introductory computing. Data-centricity allows us to authentically connect course-work with students’ communal and societal interests, and students’ motivation was enhanced given that they were creating and sharing artifacts as part of their coursework. Students used TypeScript to manipulate and analyze real data-sets, and created shareable websites containing statistics, data visualizations, and reflections based on the data-set of their choosing. Students chose varied topics for their assignments—they worked with data about access to CS education, climate change, and data provided by local non-profit organizations. A preliminary evaluation indicated that students who took this CS0 course attained CS-specific learning objectives equally well in the two subsequent follow-on courses as students who took alternative CS0 courses at our University. We close with instructor perspectives and reflections on lessons learned.