CompSciConnect: A Computing Camp for Middle School Girls

Students typically start immediately after finishing 5th or 6th grade in the Yellow Group. Rising 7th and 8th graders are typically accepted in the Red or Terp group if they have sufficient experience. Each summer students develop more advanced skills and meet once a month through the school year to maintain those skills.

Through the three years, we emphasize how different fields of computing connect to other areas of study and to make the world a better place.

Our decision to gear CompSciConnect to those completing 6th grade was based on the literature that shows that girls in elementary school are as interested in STEM as the boys, but through middle school and high school girls often lose interest.

The goal of this camp is to remove the hurdles and dispel the misconceptions that turn students away from computing by exposing them to a variety of areas within computer science, participating in fun activities around these areas, and showing them the connections to how computing connects to almost every part of our world. By allowing middle school students to see the wide variety of areas within computer science, we hope to keep our camp participants interested in computing by creating a three-year commitment.

Why?

• By 2020, there will be 1.4 million jobs in computing outpacing the number of graduates in the field.
• Computing touches every field from biology to education to business.
• Getting an early start on computing skills will help you in the future.
• Computing can change our world for the better.
• It's fun!

Each group is composed of 15-25 students who are around the same age and have similar backgrounds within computing. Every group has a team-oriented project as well as individual activities. For two weeks, UMD students teach the various curriculum to students in a safe, supportive environment where computing creativity can blossom supported by the proper tools and by people who believe that hands-on exploration leads to learning and more interest.

Days are supplemented with on-campus and off-campus field trips. Past trips off-campus trips include NSA's Crypto Museum, the International Spy Museum, Newseum, Smithsonian American History- SPARK Lab, Kid Museum, NASA, and the College Park Airport Museum. Past on-campus trips include UMD Wind Tunnel, UMD Robotics lab, HCIL lab, and the nano-imaging lab.

Students will learn

• Computational (and algorithmic) thinking is natural and can be learned in a fun and exciting ways.
• Computing is ubiquitous in our society.
• Computing has a wide variety of fields of study.
• People in computing come from a wide variety of populations and have a wide variety of interests.
• There are many computer tools and languages available.
• Camaraderie is important – It is great to work with others who share their interests.

Through...

• Hands-on Activities
• Interactive teaching methods
• Project oriented teamwork
• Field trips
• Visits with Computer Scientists from around the world in person and electronically

Programming projects include:

• Yellow- drag & drop programming with Scratch
• Red - creating dynamic web pages with an introduction to CSS, HTML & JavaScript
• Terp- introduction to object-oriented programming & creating virtual reality games using Unity

In addition to programming, the following topics are taught in increasing levels of depth over the three years:

• Applications of computing
• Number systems: binary, octal and hexadecimal - conversions and arithmetic
• Cybersafety & Cybersecurity
• Cryptology
• Computing concepts: Internet protocols, algorithms, etc.

• There is a charge of $400 for the two weeks of the summer camp (no additional charge for the meetings during the school year.)
• Applications will go live in early January of 2023
• Financial Assistance is available for those with displayed needs by completing our Scholarship Application.
• Lunch is not provided, but snacks are provided each day.
• Camp begins each day at 9:00 am and ends at 3:30 pm.
• Before and After Care is available for an additional fee ($100). Before care begins at 8:00 am and ends at 5:00 pm.
• Although the program is designed to be attractive and accessible to female students, male students from underserved populations are encouraged to apply.
• Parents and students are responsible for arranging transportation to and from the University of Maryland and for providing a bag lunch each day.
• Weekend meetings occur one Sunday afternoon each month.