Numerous studies have shown that active learning and student-centered pedagogies lead to better student outcomes, such as higher grades, enhanced self-efficacy, and an increased sense of belonging. These outcomes are closely linked to higher levels of student engagement. To better understand the relationship between student engagement and pedagogical approach, our research documents what actually happens in CS1 classes that implement active learning. This paper presents a case study of two instructors, at different undergraduate institutions, teaching with Process Oriented Guided Inquiry Learning (POGIL) and Interactive Lectures. Using structured classroom observations and student surveys, we measure the engagement of the same students in different class periods taught by the same instructor. Our study investigates the differences and similarities in self-reported and observed student behaviors, as well as observed instructor behaviors. We examine how instructor behavior impacts student behavior. The results show significant differences in observed instructor and student behaviors based on the pedagogical approach. In class periods where instructors spoke more, students were more inclined to watch or listen rather than actively work or discuss, coupled with higher levels of student distraction. Our results provide insight into how specific teaching practices can lead to more engaging classrooms and better student outcomes.

Process Oriented Guided Inquiry Learning (POGIL) is a research-based instructional strategy with a proven history across STEM disciplines. In a POGIL classroom, teams of students work on activities that are specifically designed to guide them to construct their own understanding of key concepts. At the same time, students develop process skills such as communication, teamwork, problem solving, and critical thinking. POGIL incorporates practices shown to be particularly helpful for students from underrepresented populations. In a POGIL classroom, teachers are facilitators, not lecturers. Multiple studies have shown that students in POGIL classes do better on common exams and in subsequent courses. For more information, see http://cspogil.org and http://pogil.org. This BOF will (1) enable people unfamiliar with POGIL to ask questions and learn more, and (2) bring together experienced POGIL practitioners to share experiences, concerns, ideas, and insights. As in a POGIL classroom, we will discuss topics in small teams and report out to the larger group.

From 2017-2022, our research project supported faculty at higher-ed institutions in the United States to adopt POGIL in CS1 courses. The faculty participated in summer workshops and mentoring groups during the academic year. At the end of each term, the faculty submitted a summary of their students' grades to the research team. This paper presents a Bayesian analysis of the student grades using a hierarchical ordinal logistic regression model. The data included the number of A, B, C, D, F, and W grades, disaggregated by gender and race, for all students enrolled in the course. In addition to each POGIL term, faculty submitted grades for one or two previous terms when they taught the same course without POGIL. Most faculty observed an improvement in student pass rates in the second and third term after they began teaching with POGIL. We present detailed visualizations of grade distributions from 25 faculty, along with the results of the statistical analysis. Our model suggests that CS1 faculty adopting POGIL can expect to see a modest increase of A grades and a modest decrease of DFW grades. However, the grades of Black, Hispanic, and Indigenous students decreased slightly, especially in the first term faculty taught with POGIL. The results of this study demonstrate the importance of gender and racial analysis in evaluating pedagogical approaches.

This poster presents lessons learned from offering three iterations of summer professional development (PD) for rural fourth- to sixth-grade teachers. Participating teachers attended a PD on Utah's new state science standards, computer science concepts, and the integration of computer science within science. With each iteration, the content covered in the PD became more focused, and a higher percentage of teachers expressed intent to integrate CS in their elementary science classrooms. The last year of the PD relied heavily on a Teacher-Learner-Observer model to familiarize teachers with the TIPP&SEE lesson structure before encouraging teachers to modify an existing TIPP&SEE lesson for integration in science. All nine participants in this latest cohort plan to create their own TIPP&SEE lessons; eight of the nine have already completed and taught their lessons by December. The poster shares the PD agenda, links to teacher-developed Scratch lessons integrating CS in elementary science, and lessons learned from three years of workshops delivered to teachers from rural districts.

This poster presents a model for supporting prospective authors of POGIL (Process Oriented Guided Inquiry Learning) activities for computer science courses. 36 participants knowledgeable about POGIL attended a virtual kickoff event in May 2022 and many chose to participate in a POGIL Activity Writing Retreat in June 2022. By the end of the summer, 29 different authors drafted 73 activities in nine different areas of CS. 62 activities were revised until approved by the program as high-quality POGIL activities ready for classroom testing, doubling the number of peer-reviewed POGIL activities in CS. This model of supporting instructors as they write POGIL activities has been so successful that the POGIL Project is considering adopting it for the future. The poster shares links to the CS POGIL activities (http://cspogil.org) and summarizes lessons learned from the Activity Writing Program that would be useful for supporting authors of other forms of learning activities.

Employers regularly list teamwork as one of the most desirable skills they are seeking in college graduates. This paper describes a study about the effect of teamwork on student learning and classroom culture in a CS1 college class. In Fall 2021, an experienced college professor taught with POGIL for the first time in three sections of CS1. In two sections, students completed the POGIL activities in teams. In the third section, students completed the same POGIL activities individually. This study was then repeated in Spring 2022. In the fall semester, we observed a noticeable effect on classroom culture but no differences in student learning. In the spring semester, students in the sections with POGIL teams performed better on quizzes and programming assignments than those in the section where students worked individually. We discuss the implications of these results on collaborative learning in CS courses and the importance of student teams for faculty adopting POGIL.

Process Oriented Guided Inquiry Learning (POGIL) is becoming increasingly popular in computer science as an evidence-based teaching strategy. From 2017--2022, the IntroCS-POGIL project supported faculty at higher-ed institutions in the United States to adopt POGIL in their introductory CS courses. The faculty participated in summer workshops and mentoring groups during the academic year. At the end of each semester, the faculty submitted a summary of their students' grades to the research team. This poster presents a Bayesian analysis of the student grades using a hierarchical ordinal logistic regression model. The data included the number of A, B, C, D, F, and W grades, disaggregated by gender and ethnicity, for all students enrolled in the course. In addition to each POGIL semester, faculty submitted grades for one or two previous semesters when they taught the same course without POGIL. The poster will summarize the regression model and present a detailed visualization of 12 faculty that highlight positive and negative results.

To encourage and support faculty to adopt active learning pedagogies, we need to understand: (1) what faculty perceive as the challenges and benefits of adoption; and (2) how professional development and support affect faculty adoption. This paper describes a project to provide professional development and support for faculty planning to adopt POGIL in their introductory CS classes. Process Oriented Guided Inquiry Learning (POGIL) is an evidence-based, student-centered pedagogy that focuses on developing both content knowledge and process skills. Using workshop evaluations, interviews, and an end-of-term survey, we found that participating faculty appreciated the additional training, learning materials, and mentoring. They reported that they implemented most key elements of POGIL and that POGIL enhanced student engagement and learning. Key challenges include the time required to complete in-class activities, cover course content, and prepare for activities. These results should help to improve professional development for faculty who want to adopt evidence-based strategies to improve student outcomes.

For the past ten years, computer science instructors have adopted Process Oriented Guided Inquiry Learning (POGIL). Other STEM disciplines have shown conclusively that POGIL impacts student learning and knowledge retention. However, most research about POGIL in computer science has focused on perceptions and experiences, not learning outcomes. In this study, we examined the influence of POGIL on student learning in CS1. We collected data from all sections of CS1 at the same institution. Four of the faculty implemented POGIL, and three taught with other active methods. The learning data included pre and post assessments, midterm and final exams, and a retention test at the beginning of the next course. Students also completed three surveys about their prior programming experience, sense of belonging, and perceptions of teamwork. We used multiple regression to analyze the relationship between the survey data and learning outcomes. Our results show that students in the POGIL sections outperformed students in the other sections. POGIL students scored higher on the post-test, and a higher proportion of them met the grade requirement to progress to the next course. After the five-week winter break, POGIL students had higher and more consistent scores on the retention test. These results provide evidence that POGIL can be very effective as an instructional technique in computer science.

Computing has, for many years, been one of the least demographically diverse STEM fields, particularly in terms of women's participation [2] and those from minoritized racial and ethnic groups. In the case of higher education, one of the most powerful sites of intervention is the classroom. The last decade has seen a proliferation of research exploring new teaching techniques and course sequencing and their effect on the retention of students who have historically been excluded from computing. This research suggests interventions and practices that can affect the inclusiveness of the computer science classroom and potentially improve learning outcomes for all students. But research needs to be translated into practice, and practices need to be taken up in real classrooms. The goal of this working group (WG) is to conduct a systemic "state-of-the-art" review of recent empirical studies of teaching practices that have some explicit test of the impact on women (or other under-represented groups) in computing. The WG will produce an annotated bibliography and a report that distills the research into specific, actionable practices.

Process Oriented Guided Inquiry Learning (POGIL) provides structures for successful collaborative student learning that are readily adapted for synchronous online classes. This work presents examples of how experienced POGIL instructors transitioned to online classes, and describes best practices from POGIL that are easy for CS instructors to adapt to facilitate effective collaborative learning in online classes. Successful online collaborative learning requires more structure than in-person collaborative learning, and POGIL roles and activities can provide that structure.

This poster describes an NSF S-STEM project that provides scholarships and student support S3 for computer science, physics, and math (CSPM) majors at a private comprehensive liberal arts college with an undergraduate enrollment of approximately 1800 students. In five years, the S3 program supported 19 computer science, 6 physics, and 7 math undergraduates. The S3 program featured a highly-interactive, first-year seminar that used mini-projects in CSPM to engage students. Students explored CSPM career opportunities with frequent guest speakers and discussions about internships and summer research opportunities. The program likely contributed to an increased percentage of CS degrees earned by female students, which grew from 17% to 25%.

Prior research has shown that a sense of belonging is very important for students to continue in their field of study. This is particularly true for minoritized students in introductory CS courses. The methods used so far to study sense of belonging in CS have been qualitative or have used a small number of survey items. In this paper, we validate a large 30-item survey originally developed for Mathematics. We collected data from 21 institutions, with 30 faculty and 1165 survey responses. We present a factor analysis for the survey to highlight how it measures factors like 'Membership', 'Acceptance', 'Affect', 'Trust' and 'Desire to Fade'. We measured the students' sense of belonging using the survey and found that it correlates with their learning and their interest to pursue more CS courses. These correlations were nuanced based on students' gender, race, and the type of learning environment. We found that for minoritized students in particular, the interest to pursue CS courses was more correlated with their sense of belonging. A type of learning environment we examined was Process Oriented Guided Inquiry Learning (POGIL). We studied the differences in sense of belonging between POGIL and non-POGIL classrooms. Although we did not find a significant difference in overall sense of belonging at the factor level, we did find significant differences when we examined at the item level. These results shed light about nuances in students' sense of belonging in CS POGIL classrooms when compared to other approaches.

Collaborative learning actively engages students in the learning process while developing professional skills that employers seek. Approaches such as Pair Programming and Peer Instruction have been shown to improve student outcomes in computer science. Process Oriented Guided Inquiry Learning (POGIL) is another col- laborative learning approach that aims to develop students' mastery of discipline-specific concepts as well as 'process skills' like com- munication, teamwork, and critical thinking. This paper examines students' perceptions of their content learning and process skills in courses that recently switched to POGIL. We explore the re- lationship between those perceptions, self-efficacy, and learning performance. Our results show that students have positive views about their teamwork, developing skills to work with others, and thinking through a problem. However, self-efficacy is the only sig- nificant predictor of their learning. We discuss the implications of these results for using POGIL and other collaborative learning in CS courses, and identify directions for future work.

Process-Oriented Guided Inquiry Learning (POGIL) is a research-based instructional strategy with a proven history across STEM disciplines. In a POGIL classroom, teams of students work on activities that are specifically designed to guide them to construct their own understanding of key concepts. At the same time, students develop process skills such as communication, teamwork, problem solving, and critical thinking. POGIL incorporates practices shown to be particularly helpful for students from underrepresented populations. In a POGIL classroom, teachers are facilitators, not lecturers. Multiple studies have shown that students in POGIL classes do better on common exams and in subsequent courses. For more information, see http://cspogil.org and http://pogil.org. This BOF will (1) enable people unfamiliar with POGIL to ask questions and learn more, and (2) bring together experienced POGIL practitioners to share experiences, concerns, ideas, and insights. As in a POGIL classroom, we will discuss topics in small teams and report out to the larger group.

Many SIGCSE attendees bring what they learn at SIGCSE back to their colleagues. In our well attended Special Sessions at SIGCSE in 2018 and 2019, attendees learned to respond to bias, which might be more difficult to bring back to their colleagues. This workshop will prepare attendees to lead interactive-sessions about responding to bias at their institution or at other conferences. The workshop will begin by modeling an interactive-session with updated materials from SIGCSE 2019. The workshop attendees will then explore facilitation strategies, ways of managing difficult conversations, and all attendee concerns. All attendees will receive printed copies of the game (csteachingtips.org/cards) to use at their institution or to local conferences.

Process skills (also known as professional skills, lifelong learning skills, workplace skills, transferable skills, or soft skills) are an important aspect of computer science education. Learning objectives for computer science courses often include the development of process skills like critical thinking, problem solving, and teamwork, but many instructors struggle with how to encourage and measure the development of these skills. This special session will introduce detailed rubrics for assessing process skills in a manner that will model POGIL (Process Oriented Guided Inquiry Learning) facilitation techniques. Presenters will demonstrate how to use one set of these rubrics in an active learning classroom (i.e., POGIL) to provide students with feedback. The other set of rubrics assess process skills on student work and can be used with any classroom. Attendees will leave the session with a better understanding of key process skills in computer science, how to assess student interactions and student work for these skills, and how a POGIL classroom facilitates the development of critical thinking, information processing, and teamwork. This special session will appeal to any K-12 teacher or college instructor interested in developing students' process skills in a computer science class.

SIGCSE is packed with teaching insights and inspiration. However, we get these insights and inspiration from hearing our colleagues talk about their teaching. Why not just watch them teach? This session does exactly that. Six exceptional educators will present their favorite piece of innovative lecture content just as they would their students. The moderator, Colleen Lewis, will describe the central pedagogical move within the innovation and how this connects to education research. The goal of the session is to inspire SIGCSE attendees by highlighting innovative instruction by exceptional educators. The specific content of the innovative instruction may be applicable for some attendees, and the discussion of the underlying pedagogical move within each innovation can be applied across the attendees' teaching.

A meritocracy is an environment in which rewards are based solely on ability. The concept of privilege runs counter to this idea. Privilege is an unearned, unasked for advantage gained because of the way society views an aspect of your identity such as race, ethnicity, gender, perceived socioeconomic status, and language. Privilege can affect our students experiences in the classroom and beyond. However, privilege does not have to be viewed as an entitlement, but rather an opportunity to level the playing field for all people. In this session, we seek to visually display the world of privilege through adapting interactive activities known as a privilege walk and an asset walk. Come to learn and meet with other attendees who want to create a more inclusive society

Introductory computer science courses face multiple challenges, including a broad range of content, diverse teaching methods, and the need to help students develop skills such as problem solving, critical thinking, and teamwork. One evidence-based approach to address these challenges is Process Oriented Guided Inquiry Learning (POGIL), in which student teams work on classroom activities specifically designed to help them construct understanding and develop key skills. While POGIL has been widely used and studied in Chemistry and other STEM fields, much less is known about how it is used in Computer Science. In this study, we examined how faculty adopt POGIL for the first time in introductory CS classrooms. Using qualitative in-depth interviews, we investigated why faculty chose to adopt POGIL and their concerns about using it. Our results suggest that faculty motivations to use POGIL centered around improving student outcomes, including their learning and engagement. However, faculty also had concerns about using POGIL, which ranged from how POGIL impacts the curriculum to logistical and institutional barriers. We discuss the implications of these findings with respect to faculty development and active learning pedagogies.

No abstract available.

his workshop introduces Process-Oriented Guided Inquiry Learning (POGIL) to anyone who teaches CS or related subjects. In a POGIL classroom, teams of 3-4 learners work on activities with a particular structure based on learning cycles. Through scripted inquiry and investigation, learners discover concepts and construct their own knowledge. Using assigned team roles and other scaffolding, learners develop process skills and individual responsibility. The teacher is not a lecturer, but an active facilitator who helps all students to be engaged and achieve the learning objectives. POGIL is an evidence-based approach, and has been shown to significantly improve student performance. Workshop participants will work through POGIL activities as students, and work through POGIL meta-activities that are designed to help teachers learn core POGIL concepts, practices, and benefits. We will share POGIL materials for a variety of CS courses and concepts. For more information (including activities for CS1, CS2, and other courses), see http://IntroCSpogil.org and http://pogil.org. Laptops optional.

As a form of active learning, POGIL (Process Oriented Guided Inquiry Learning) engages students by grouping them in teams to work collaboratively through activities and construct their own understanding of computer science content. POGIL activities are carefully designed to foster student learning by guiding students through a learning cycle of exploration, concept invention and application. Computer science assignments typically emphasize application questions and problems, where students are expected to apply the new concept to different applications (e.g., writing multiple programs involving while-loops). In contrast, POGIL activities require students to first explore a model, possibly by asking critical thinking questions about some code and its output, before leading students to recognize patterns in the model, thereby helping them to form a better understanding of the new CS concept. Only after students have explored and developed an understanding of the concept, do the POGIL activities proceed to more traditional application questions. Studies of POGIL's effectiveness in STEM classrooms have generally found that (1) attrition is lower for POGIL than for traditional courses; (2) content mastery is greater than for traditional instruction; (3) students prefer POGIL over traditional methods; (4) students have more positive attitudes about the course and the instructors; and (5) learning skills appear to improve during the course. These advantages have drawn many Computer Science instructors to adopt POGIL in their classrooms, but very few instructors are developing POGIL activities for Python, even though Python lends itself well to learning cycle questions as an interpreted language. All CS instructors, but especially Python instructors, can benefit from adding exploration and concept invention questions to assignments before asking application questions.The growing popularity of Jupyter Notebooks makes it even easier for instructors to embed learning cycle questions in Python (or any other Jupyter supported programming language). This special session will provide SIGCSE attendees the opportunity to experience a CS POGIL activity for themselves, before introducing attendees to the learning cycle. Attendees will be view several examples of exploration and concept invention questions, which should be helpful to anyone creating CS assignments, not just POGIL instructors. The presenters will provide a short tour of two collections of POGIL activities in Python before the question and answer period.

Recently, many computing departments in universities and colleges around the nation have seen increases in enrollments in the major. While these increases are largely welcome, it is important that the student population be diversified even as enrollments swell. What are departments doing to ensure that women are both recruited and retained in this changing environment? This panel will share interventions undertaken by three U.S. post-secondary institutions that have focused on increasing their female and underrepresented student enrollment. Their efforts all include multi-pronged approaches, which is consistent with the social science research on how to create institutional reform in academic departments [1]. These institutions have made changes that reflect increased departmental engagement with recruitment and retention for diversity: a shift in individual faculty pedagogical strategies, introductory course restructuring, as well as more outreach and preparatory programs for incoming students. These departments have not only implemented existing evidence-based practices to make these lasting changes, but have tried new ideas as well.

TIDES (Teaching to Increase Diversity and Equity in STEM) is a three-year initiative to transform colleges and universities by changing what STEM faculty, especially CS instructors, are doing in the classroom to encourage the success of their students, particularly those that have been traditionally underrepresented in computer science. Each of the twenty projects selected proposed new interdisciplinary curricula and adopted culturally sensitive pedagogies, with an eye towards departmental and institutional change. The four panelists will each speak about their TIDES projects, which all involved educating faculty about cultural competency. Three of the panelists infused introductory CS courses with applications from other disciplines, while one of the projects taught computational skills in natural science courses.

From 2012 to 2015, the number of Utah secondary teachers teaching computer science courses grew from 38 to 164. This growth was made possible by introducing three new CS teacher endorsements, which reduced the effort required for existing teachers to start teaching CS. Instead of committing to completing five college-level CS courses in two years, an existing but new-to-CS Utah teacher could complete an Exploring Computer Science (ECS) endorsement in half a year. Thanks to changes to high school graduation requirements, students were able to take a CS course without using an elective credit, boosting enrollment and broadening participation. Analysis of ECS teacher surveys and student surveys found surprisingly few differences between CS-experienced teachers and new-to-CS teachers in their ability to teach CS. By the end of the ECS course, even ECS students with low confidence in their own CS abilities believed that anyone could succeed in CS, regardless of their teacher's CS background. All students' interest in taking additional CS classes significantly increased after taking ECS, although CS-experienced teachers had a stronger impact on ECS students with low confidence than new-to-CS teachers. These results suggest that school districts seeking to provide computer science education for all their students can successfully staff their CS classes by supporting existing secondary teachers with no prior CS background with quality CS professional development and mentoring.

POGIL (Process Oriented Guided Inquiry Learning) is a form of active learning where students work collaboratively through activities designed to guide them to discover concepts on their own. POGIL is based on the principle that students will learn and retain more when they construct their own understanding of the computer science (CS) content. Working in groups of three to four, students develop process skills, such as problem solving, communication, and teamwork. This special session will first provide SIGCSE attendees the opportunity to experience a CS POGIL activity for themselves. We will then discuss different ways that instructors might adopt POGIL for use in their classroom, and how the adoption of POGIL by multiple instructors in a department can change the culture of the department.

This workshop introduces Process-Oriented Guided Inquiry Learning (POGIL) to anyone who teaches CS or related subjects. In a POGIL classroom, teams of 3-5 learners work on activities with a particular structure based on learning cycles. Through scripted inquiry and investigation, learners discover concepts and construct their own knowledge. Using assigned team roles and other scaffolding, learners develop process skills and individual responsibility. The teacher is not a lecturer, but an active facilitator who helps all students to be engaged and achieve the learning objectives. POGIL is an evidence-based approach, and has been shown to significantly improve student performance. Workshop participants will work through POGIL activities as students, and work through POGIL meta-activities that are designed to help teachers learn core POGIL concepts, practices, and benefits. We will share POGIL materials for a variety of CS courses and concepts. For more information, see http://cspogil.org and http://pogil.org, including activities for CS1, CS2, and other courses. Laptops optional.

In recent years, there has been a dramatic increase in computer science undergraduate research activities at colleges and universities nationwide. Developing and maintaining undergraduate research benefits students, faculty mentors, and the institution. Incorporating a research culture along with a sound academic foundation enables students to develop independent critical thinking skills along with effective oral and written communication skills. However, we are in a time when budgets are being tightened and some institutions do not have the resources to pursue such initiatives. Traditionally research focused universities (like R1) have access to various large funding sources to host Research Experience for Undergraduate (REU) programs. R1 universities have established records of accomplishment for innovative research and the faculties at R1 institutions have lab infrastructure to blend such activities for undergraduate students. However, non-R1 institutions (like community colleges, undergraduate, masters, and to some extent R2 institutions) lack resources, lab infrastructure and above all a track record for innovative research that makes it hard for them to obtain funding to host an REU program. Thus, in this panel, our goal is to present ideas for establishing a track record and building an internally and externally funded Undergraduate Research experience (UR), particularly for non-R1 institutions. This involves obtaining funds to conduct the research and to secure travel funds to disseminate research results.

This paper presents an analysis of CS faculty perceptions of the benefits of POGIL, the obstacles to POGIL adoption, and opportunities for professional development. Participants strongly agreed that with POGIL, students are more engaged and active, develop communication and teamwork skills, and have better learning outcomes. The largest perceived obstacle was lack of preparation time; other obstacles included availability of relevant POGIL activities and pressure to cover more content. Participants expressed a desire for further training and mentoring beyond workshops. Our data analysis also considers bivariate associations and interactions. The results should help to improve professional development for CS faculty adopting evidence-based strategies, and thereby help more CS students to be successful.

Exploring Computer Science (ECS) is a high school introductory computer science class designed to increase student interest in CS. Utah is the first state to offer ECS statewide and use it to meet a high school graduation requirement. Over the past four years, 150 teachers have been trained as Utah ECS teachers and over 10,000 Utah students have taken the class. The Utah initiative is unique because it is the first to deploy ECS in a non-urban environment and with a modified half-year curriculum that includes no additional equipment costs. This paper discusses how the Utah deployment was organized, reports its results and unique difficulties, and offers lessons for deployments with similar characteristics: statewide, rural, and limited resources.

This workshop is for anyone who teaches CS, and introduces process-oriented guided inquiry learning (POGIL) in computer science. In a POGIL classroom, teams of 3-5 learners work on activities with active facilitation by the teacher. Through scripted inquiry and investigation, learners discover concepts and construct their own knowledge. Using assigned team roles and other scaffolding, learners develop process skills and individual responsibility. In a POGIL classroom, the teacher is not a lecturer, but a facilitator who helps to ensure that all students are engaged and able to achieve the learning objectives. POGIL activities have a particular structure based on learning cycles. POGIL is a research-based instructional strategy, and studies show that it can significantly improve student performance. Workshop participants will work through POGIL activities as students. Participants will also work through meta-activities that use POGIL and are designed to help teachers learn core POGIL concepts, practices, and benefits. POGIL materials for a variety of CS concepts will be shared. More information is available at http://pogil.org and http://cspogil.org, including sample activities for CS1, CS2, and other courses. Laptops optional.

Employer surveys and other sources indicate that CS students need process skills such as communication, teamwork, critical thinking, and problem solving. Further, the AP CS Principles practices include communicating and collaborating. POGIL (Process Oriented Guided Inquiry Learning) can be used to teach these process skills in high school or college courses. Instead of sitting in lecture or working together with minimal guidance, student teams work through POGIL activities to discover concepts on their own, while the instructor circulates and facilitates learning of key concepts and the development of process skills. Structured roles help students learn to communicate and work in teams more effectively. In this special session, attendees will experience a POGIL activity, learn how process skills are developed and reinforced by POGIL (through a POGIL meta-activity), and see the range of activities available at http://cspogil.org. We will share POGIL activities and discuss how POGIL can transform CS classes at all levels, from high school to graduate-level classes, from small schools to large universities.

Process-Oriented Guided Inquiry Learning (POGIL) is a research-based instructional strategy with a proven history across STEM disciplines. In a POGIL classroom, teams of students work on activities that are specifically designed to guide them to construct their own understanding of key concepts. At the same time, students develop process skills such as communication, teamwork, problem solving, and critical thinking. POGIL incorporates practices shown to be particularly helpful for students from underrepresented populations. In a POGIL classroom, teachers are facilitators, not lecturers. Multiple studies have shown that students in POGIL classes do better on common exams and in subsequent courses. For more information, see http://cspogil.org and http://pogil.org. This BOF will (1) enable people unfamiliar with POGIL to ask questions and learn more, and (2) bring together experienced POGIL practitioners to share experiences, concerns, ideas, and insights. As in a POGIL classroom, we will discuss topics in small teams and report out to the larger group.

As part of the new AAC&U TIDES initiative (TIDES: Teaching to Increase Diversity and Equity in STEM), Westminster College has created a new computer science course for non-majors and paired it with a biology course as a first-year Learning Community. The new CS0 course relies heavily on culturally sensitive POGIL activities to be welcoming of all students, shifting to a more equitable, multicultural approach to CS curriculum and instruction. Process Oriented Guided Inquiry Learning (POGIL) is a student-centered learning approach that 1) assigns students to work in self-managed learning teams, 2) on specially designed guided inquiry materials, 3) while the instructor facilitates the development of process skills [1]. By requiring students to derive CS concepts for themselves while working together in learning teams, POGIL activities allow diverse student voices to be heard. They also provide a framework for instructors to act as "guides on the side" rather than "sage on the stage" for a large portion of class time. These CS Principles POGIL activities are among the first POGIL activities in any discipline to be deliberately designed to be culturally sensitive. In Fall 2015, CS instructors at four partner institutions will adopt these POGIL activities in their CS0 courses.

POGIL (Process Oriented Guided Inquiry Learning) is based on the principle that students learn more when they construct their own understanding. Instead of attending lecture, student teams work through POGIL activities to discover concepts on their own, while instructors circulate and facilitate learning. Students learn the material better, and this constructivist approach also teaches them important process skills, including critical thinking, team work, and leadership. In this special session, SIGCSE attendees will experience a POGIL activity for themselves, learn about the structure of POGIL activities (through a POGIL meta-activity), and hear perspectives from teachers who recently adopted POGIL activities available at http://cspogil.org. We will share classroom-tested guided inquiry activities and discuss how POGIL can transform CS classes at all levels, from high school to graduate-level classes, from small schools to large universities.

Process-Oriented Guided Inquiry Learning (POGIL) is a research-based instructional strategy with a proven history across STEM disciplines. In a POGIL classroom, teams of students work on activities that are specifically designed to guide them to construct their own understanding of key concepts. At the same time, students develop key process skills such as communication, teamwork, problem solving, and critical thinking. For example, an activity might start with a simple game, and questions would guide teams to identify, analyze, and compare algorithms to play the game, leading them to develop techniques and identify issues and tradeoffs. POGIL incorporates practices shown to be particularly helpful for students from underrepresented populations. In a POGIL classroom, teachers are facilitators, not lecturers. Multiple studies have shown the students in POGIL classes do better on common exams and in subsequent courses.

No abstract available.

The computer science community has started to experiment with process oriented guided inquiry learning, or POGIL, a learning approach that focuses on concept and process skills development by having students work together in organized teams. By emphasizing the learning process and group discussions, instructors who implement POGIL activities and roles in their classrooms may better address the different needs of their CS 1 students.

This workshop is for anyone who teaches CS, and introduces process-oriented guided inquiry learning (POGIL) in computer science. POGIL is based on learning science, and shares characteristics with other forms of active, discovery, and inquiry learning. In a POGIL classroom, teams of 3-5 learners work on instructor-facilitated activities. Through scripted inquiry and investigation, learners discover concepts and construct their own knowledge. Using assigned team roles and meta-cognition, learners develop process skills and individual responsibility. Studies show that POGIL can significantly improve student performance. POGIL has particular potential for CS education. Software development is largely a team-based problem-solving activity, and POGIL helps students to learn from each other and develop problem-solving abilities as well as important team process skills. POGIL has been developed and validated over the last 15 years in a range of STEM disciplines. The workshop consists primarily of hands-on team activities. Workshop participants will experience POGIL activities, learn core practices, and draft activity pieces. POGIL materials for a variety of CS concepts will be shared. More information and materials are available at http://cspogil.org and http://pogil.org, including sample activities for CS1, CS2, and other courses. Laptops optional. This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under grant DUE-1044679.

POGIL activities are carefully designed to guide students to discover and explore concepts while encouraging students to practice process skills (e.g., team work, leadership and problem solving). Many college instructors have written POGIL activities for CS 1, CS 2, Software Engineering and other upper division CS classes (http://www.cspogil.org). High school teachers are also writing POGIL activities for the AP Principles course. This BOF is an opportunity for educators to share POGIL activities and ideas for improving group dynamics and encouraging reflection. We welcome everyone interested in learning more about POGIL and will provide information on regional POGIL workshops.

This workshop is for anyone who teaches CS, and introduces process-oriented guided inquiry learning (POGIL) in computer science. POGIL is based on learning science, and shares characteristics with other forms of active, discovery, and inquiry learning. In a POGIL classroom, teams of 3-5 learners work on instructor-facilitated activities. Through scripted inquiry and investigation, learners discover concepts and construct their own knowledge. Using assigned team roles and meta-cognition, learners develop process skills and individual responsibility. Studies show that POGIL can significantly improve student performance. POGIL has particular potential for CS education. Software development is largely a team-based problem-solving activity, and POGIL helps students to learn from each other and develop problem-solving abilities as well as important team process skills. POGIL has been developed and validated over the last 15 years in a range of STEM disciplines.

POGIL has been successfully implemented in a scientific computing course to teach science students how to program in Python. Following POGIL guidelines, the authors have developed guided inquiry activities that lead student teams to discover and understand programming concepts. With each iteration of the scientific computing course, the authors have refined the activities and learned how to better adapt POGIL for the computer science classroom. This article details how POGIL activities differ from both traditional computer science labs and other active-learning pedagogies. Background is provided on POGIL's effectiveness. The article then includes a full description of how POGIL activities were used in the scientific computing course, as well as an example POGIL activity on recursion. Discussion is provided on how to facilitate and develop POGIL activities. Quotes from student evaluations and an assessment on how well students learned to program are provided.

POGIL is a learning method that encourages students to learn coursework material in cooperative groups. Instead of passively listening to a traditional lecture, POGIL students work together on activities that guide students to discover programming concepts and algorithms for themselves. For example, instead of being told in lecture that a return statement ends the execution of a method, students might be asked what happens if two lines in their program are reversed (so that a line of code appears after the return statement). This emphasis on the process of discovery teaches students to become better problem solvers. POGIL has been used for over 15 years in science classrooms, where studies have shown it to be more effective than traditional lectures, measured both in student mastery of the material and in student retention.

POGIL (Process Oriented Guided Inquiry Learning) is a type of learning based on the principle that students learn more when they construct their own understanding. Rather than teaching by telling, POGIL instructors provide activities that guide students to discover concepts on their own. Students work in groups, encouraging them to discuss their findings with their peers. Not only do students learn the material better, but the very process of discovery teaches them to be better problem solvers. This special session will provide SIGCSE attendees the opportunity to experience a POGIL activity for themselves. The presenters will share guided inquiry activities tested in our classrooms. We will discuss ways that POGIL may be used to transform computer science classes at all levels, from high school to graduate-level classes, from small schools to large universities.

As part of its commitment to developing a strong community of computer science educators, the Computer Science Teachers Association (CSTA) supports the development of regional CSTA chapters. A CSTA chapter is a local branch of CSTA designed to facilitate discussion of local issues, provision of member services at the local level, and to promote CSTA membership on the national level[1]. This BOF will provide a platform for the discussion of CSTA chapter formation and for the sharing of successful chapter activities.

Summer camps offer a ripe opportunity for increasing computer science diversity. This panel provides several examples of summer camps that specifically recruit from traditionally underrepresented demographics. The panelists run camps at a community college, a private liberal-arts college, and public universities. The camps are residential and day camps, coed and all-female camps, ranging from three-days to two-weeks long, with campers from 10-years-olds to high school seniors. In addition to describing their camps, the panelists will provide information on securing funding, recruiting campers from underrepresented populations, measuring impact, and lessons learned along the way. Demonstrations of what campers accomplished will also be shown.

Distance judgments are difficult in current virtual environments, limiting their effectiveness in conveying spatial information. This problem is apparent when contact occurs while a user is manipulating objects. In particular, the computer graphics used to support current-generation immersive interfaces does a poor job of providing the visual cues necessary to perceive when contact between objects is about to occur. This perception of imminent contact is important in human motor control. Its absence prevents a sense of naturalness in interactive displays which allow for object manipulation. This paper reports results from an experiment evaluating the effectiveness of binocular disparity, cast shadows and diffuse inter-reflections in signaling imminent contact in a manipulation task.

We discuss the theory and practical issues behind creating reflection models to show the difficulty of the problem. We survey the current approaches towards reflection models for computer graphics to show that even for simple surfaces, the important issues are far from settled. We briefly discuss future directions for research. Finally, we present a case study of a particular type of light reflection that captures some important aspects of appearance for a limited class of materials with subsurface reflection.