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MILES O'BRIEN: So how do you stop your robot from going in
circles? It's not exactly your typical high school problem.
GIRL: So we're supposed to like make it turn in a square.
MILES O'BRIEN: Programming robots is just one of the
challenges the students take on in this Exploring Computer
Science or ECS class, in Los Angeles.
JANE MARGOLIS: There were great disparities and opportunities in
computer science that fell along race and socioeconomic lines.
MILES O'BRIEN: With support from the National Science
Foundation, education researcher, Jane Margolis,
investigated why so few girls and underrepresented minorities
are learning Computer Science. She and her team at UCLA
developed ECS to reverse that trend.
JANE MARGOLIS: It's for getting kids to understand the problem
solving that is at the heart of Computer Science.
LESLIE AARONSON: What do we have to do in order to make it
correct, what do we have to try?
MILES O'BRIEN: ECS is tailored to spark the interest of all
kids but especially a diverse mix of kids living in
low income areas.
GIRL: My family, we were really poor when we came here.
This class has helped a lot because it's – not only is
it computers but it's also career focused.
MILES O'BRIEN: The curriculum encourages hands on learning.
JANE MARGOLIS: The kids are let loose to explore and are really
encouraged to collaborate with each other, to brainstorm
together, to work together to solve the problem and
to be creative.
MILES O'BRIEN: Like squaring away that robot.
GIRL: It gets complicated because like you know you have
to get the codes right so it – you know, if you miss one little
thing it's like you know it's all wrong so you have to be
very careful also.
MILES O'BRIEN: Students learn how to think about problems,
to create, and use technology to express themselves.
GIRL: This is my robot named Bombay. I'm just programming it
to do music since I'm a musician myself. This class is amazing.
I can never stop learning.
MILES O'BRIEN: Teacher development is a critical part
of making ECS a success in the classroom.
LESLIE AARONSON: Here is the challenge right now. Because if
all you're doing is following directions, your job's gonna be
automated, it's gonna be a low skill job that's probably gonna
go away. So we need to learn how to be thinkers, we need to
learn how to be problem solvers; we need to learn how to ask
questions because that's where the jobs will be.
MILES O'BRIEN: ECS is having a real impact. Y'shua Ortiz took
the course and is now working full time for the web
based company, Edlio.
Y'SHUA ORTIZ: Oh, it's great. I mean, it's pretty much been
the best opportunity I've ever had. I mean I wouldn't be
anywhere even close to here or where I am in life today if it
wasn't for that program.
MILES O'BRIEN: ECS is now being taught in schools across the
U.S. Thanks to Margolis' research, this curriculum is
introducing more kids to the creative possibilities in
Computer Science. For Science Nation, I'm Miles O'Brien.
