Bringing CS education to everyone through six new grants

Anne Leftwich, an associate professor at Indiana University Bloomington’s School of Education, started a program last year to help reduce school bullying. Her program, which uses a social impact computer science (CS) curriculum, was tested last year with four sixth grade teachers and 300 students. And it worked. It was so impressive that the effort is now being expanded to all sixth grade students at 13 elementary schools, and a new pilot will begin seventh- and eight-grade science teachers to see how CS can support science standards in her district.

Her project got off the ground thanks to funding from Google. She was a 2018 recipient of our Computer Science and Education Research (CS-ER) grant, and this year’s grantees are set to complete research that is just as ambitious.

Google has a longstanding commitment in bringing CS to everyone. From providing teacher resources with Code with Google to supporting nonprofits like Code.org and the National Center for Women & Information Technology, we’re part of a larger community to increase access to both technical and non-technical skills for every student—regardless of background.  

As part of this commitment, we also support academic researchers in their efforts to improve CS learning and teaching throughout the country. In 2018, we first announced our six CS-ER grants, given to a number of research institutions, and today we’re announcing the 2019 grantees:

• Beryl Hoffman, Elms College; Barbara Ericson, University of Michigan; and Jennifer Rosato, College of St. Scholastica

• M. Bachrach, G. Verdi, and P. Morreale, School of Computer Science & Technology, College of Education, Kean University

• Lauren Milne, Macalester College

• Jennifer Parham-Mocell, Oregon State University

• Anne Leftwich, Indiana University

• Rafi Santo and Dr. Leigh Ann DeLyser, CS4ALL

We’re proud to be a part of a larger community working to improve access to CS education. Read more about our grantees and how they’re planning to improve CS learning for all.