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*** 15th Workshop in Primary and Secondary Computing Education
***                                   WIPSCE 2020
***                              CALL FOR PAPERS
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***  In a nutshell: WIPSCE 2020, October 28-30, 2020, Essen/Germany
***  – Abstract submission deadline: May 4th, 2020
***  – Re-submission deadline: May 10th, 2020
***  – Deadline for Poster/demo abstracts: June 28th, 2020
***  – Full information: http://www.wipsce.org
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On behalf of the WiPSCE Program Committee, we invite contributions to
the 15th Workshop in Primary and Secondary Computing Education
(WiPSCE 2020) to be held October 28th to 30th in Essen, Germany.

Research in primary and secondary computing education is a young field
with strong ties to national educational systems. Nevertheless, its
theories, methods, and results are internationally applicable and  of
interest to researchers and practitioners in the field. WiPSCE aims at
improving the exchange of research and practice relevant to teaching and
learning in primary and secondary computing education, teacher training,
and related research.

WiPSCE has its roots in a long-running workshop of the German computing
education community and is run in cooperation with ACM SIGCSE.

Topics of interest include, but are not limited to research on:
– Learning & Teaching: student motivation and engagement, attitudes and
beliefs, misconceptions and learning difficulties, educational
approaches, methods, technologies and tools
– Foundations of CSEd: competence modeling and measurement, assessment,
curricula and standards, emerging topics for computing education, contests
– Teacher education & Institutional aspects: pck in computing,
establishing and enhancing computing education, (continued) professional
development, communities of practice

IMPORTANT DATES

Submission deadline (full/short papers): May 4th 2020.
(*) Re-submission deadline (full/short papers): May 10th 2020.
Notification of acceptance (full/short papers): June 15th 2020

Submission deadline (demo/poster abstracts): June 28th 2020.
Notification of acceptance (demo/poster abstracts): July 13th 2020

(*): We offer a re-submission slack. This means that title and abstract
of papers must be submitted by the first deadline, but it will be
possible to upload the full versions of papers until the second deadline.

SUBMISSION FORMAT

It is mandatory to submit a PDF-file through the EasyChair-system.
The submission URL is:
https://www.easychair.org/conferences/?conf=wipsce2020

PROCEEDINGS

Accepted papers will be published in the WiPSCE 2020 proceedings as part
of the ACM International Conference Proceedings Series. The proceedings
will be included in the ACM Digital Library.

WHY ESSEN?

Essen (German pronunciation: [ˈɛsn̩]) is the central and second largest city
of the Ruhr area, the largest urban area in Germany. With a population of
around 600,000 it is also the ninth largest city of Germany. In the last century,
Essen was one of Germany’s most important coal and steel centers. The
most notable witness of that time is the Zollverein Coal Mine Industrial
Complex, which has been inscribed in the list of UNESCO World Heritage
Sites since 2001. Besides that, Essen has been recocgnized for its extensive
recreational green areas (almost 10% of the city area), which made it the
third-greenest city in Germany. Essen also won the title of European Green
Capital in 2017. Essen is a very lively city with numerous cultural offers of
all kinds and with plenty of interesting places to visit in and around the city.
Further information about Essen can be found on the Visit Essen portal
(https://www.visitessen.de/startseite_14/Startseite.en.html).

FURTHER INFORMATION

More information (including submission guidelines) can be found at the
conference’s web page:
http://www.wipsce.org

I gave a talk at Cornell Tech at their To Code & Beyond: Rising to Equity Conference on Jan 10, 2020. Here are a few slides from that talk. The slides are at https://umich.box.com/s/89amp7da5ss8hgxw4tztj68cq7e7gipk

There was a modest increase in AP CSA exams from 2017 to 2019, but the number of AP CSP exams more than doubled. I expect that we will see an increase in the number of AP CSA exams as more students get interested in computing after taking AP CSP, however we need to prepare more AP CSP teachers to teach AP CSA.

Black students had the lowest pass rate of any racial group on both CSP and CSA. The pass rate for Black students was less than half of that for Asian students in 2019. This is true for many AP exams, not just CS.

While the number of women taking AP CS has increased, the percentage of women hasn’t made all that much progress. AP CSA is still the second worst AP exam in terms of the Log(Female/Male) and AP CSP is the fifth worst. The size of the circle is the number of exams. The majority of the exams have a higher percentage of females than males.

While AP CS has been growing, it still isn’t reaching as many students as other exams. English Language and Composition is 6x the size of CSP.

A better measure than the total number of exams per state is the number of exams per 100,000 of population (according to the 2010 census). The image below includes the top ten states.

There is quite a variance in the percentage of exam takers that are female in each state. With a high of 29.9% in Vermont and a low of 0% in South Dakota (0 females out of 3 exam takers) for AP CSA.

For AP CSP the high was Washington D. C. with 53.1% and the low was Kansas with 16.83%.

There is also quite a variance in the percentage of females who pass the exam. For AP CSA it ranged from 85.7 in Nebraska (18 out of 21 females passed the exam) to 0% (since no females took the exam in South Dakota). Montana, Wyoming, and North Dakota have 0% on the map because the college board won’t publish the results for a group if less than 5 people in that group took the exam. In Montana two females took the AP CSA exam, in Wyoming it was one, in North Dakota it was four. South Dakota had 0 females take the AP CSA exam in 2019.

For AP CSP it ranged from 100% in South Dakota (6 out of 6) to 38.5% for the District of Columbia.

Here is the percentage of AP CSA exam takers that were Black for 2019.

Here is the percentage of AP CSP exam takers that were Black for 2019.

Here is the percent of AP CSA exam takers that were Hispanic by state for 2019.

Here is the percent of AP CSP exam takers that were Hispanic by state for 2019.

The Advanced Placement (AP) data is out for 2019 at the College Board at https://research.collegeboard.org/programs/ap/data/participation/ap-2019

I have downloaded the data and written Python programs to process it along with data from prior years. See the following spreadsheets for more information.

The number of AP CSA exams taken in the U.S. increased from 60,040 in 2018 to 64,197 in 2019 (a 7% increase). The number of AP CSP exams taken in the U.S. increased from 70,864 in 2018 to 94,360 in 2019 (a 33% increase).

The percentage of females taking the AP CSA exam increased from 24% in 2018 to 24.5% in 2019. However, this is still the second worse percentage of females in AP after Physics C:elec. & magnet which is 24.3%. The percentage of females taking the AP CSP exam increased from 31.5% in 2018 to 32.7% in 2019. This is still the 5th worst percentage of females. Most (26 of 38 – 68%) of the AP exams have a higher percentage of females than males taking the exam.

The average pass rate on CSA for 2019 was 69.2% and for CSP it was 71.7%. These pass rates are better than Calculus AB which was 57.8%. However, the pass rate for Black students on CSA was 37.1% and CSP was 41.9%. The Hispanic pass rate was 46.9% for CSA and 54.4% for CSP. The Female pass rate for CSA was 66.8% and for CSP was 69.4%.

The top 10 states with the highest number of exams per 100,000 of population are:

1. New Jersey at 47.5
2. Virginia at 42.2
3. Massachusetts at 39.2
4. Connecticut at 33.9
5. Maryland at 33.5
6. California at 32.7
7. Washington at 30.6
8. Illinois at 28.1
9. Delaware at 26.1
10. Texas at 25.1

Where are AP CSA and CSP courses offered? The interactive map below shows the locations of schools that passed the College Board Audit to offer AP CS courses in 2018-2019 in four states: California, Georgia, Michigan and Texas. Data for other states are under preparation.

This map is visualized by Willa Hua, a data visualization enthusiast. It is meant to supplement the data and report from Barbara Ericson, assistant professor in the School of Information at the University of Michigan who has been working with AP CS data since 2004.

In 2018, more women took Advanced Placement (AP) exams than men, as the comparative pie charts below show. However, when it comes to AP Computer Science (CS) exams, more specifically, AP Computer Science A (CSA) and AP Computer Science Principles (CSP), only 28% of all exam takers are female, and the percentage of female among those who passed the exam is even lower.

If we take a closer look at the statistics, we’d find that for the first time, AP CSA is not the most male-skewed of all of the AP exams. Nonetheless, AP CSA is the 2nd most male-skewed as shown in the 2017 v.s. 2018 comparison below. The further away from the center, the more gender-skewed is the AP exam subject. AP CSP, which is a newer exam piloted in 2016 and released in 2017, ranks the 5th most male-skewed exam. Both exams made significant process towards a balanced pool of exam takers in 2018.

Percentage Female Exam Takers

In addition to the growth of the number of exam takers, both the CSA and CSP witnessed a growth of the percentage of female exam takers. For CSA, as shown below, 23.9% of exam takers were female: a 0.4% improvement from 2017.

Female Pass Rate

How many of these females passed compared to males? The female pass rate has been steadily approaching the overall pass rate. In 2018, 65.0% of female exam takers passed the AP CSA exam, versus the 67.4% pass rate of all exam takers, and 68.5% female passed the CSP versus the 71.0% overall.

Percentage Female Exam Takers by State

CSA

The percentage of female exam takers varies from state to state. For AP CSA, the range was from 0% (no female exam takers in Mississippi and South Dakota) to 37% (Alaska, not pictured below).

The states with top five most percentage of female exam takers are Alaska (37%), Washington (27%), New-York (27%), California (27%) and West Virginia (27%).

CSP

The percentage of female exam takers increased slightly for CSP from 30% in 2017 to 31% in 2018. On the state level, however, the percentage of female exam takers varies from 0% (no female exam takers in Montana) to 40% (New York) and 47% (District of Columbia).

This analysis is visualized and written by Willa Hua, a data visualization enthusiast. It is meant to supplement the data and report from Barbara Ericson, assistant professor in the School of Information at the University of Michigan who has been working with AP CS data since 2004.

Racial representation in AP CS Exams*

Looking at AP CSA and CSP exams as an aggregate, the majority of AP CS exam takers are whites (45.8%) and Asians (27.1%). The graph above shows the racial decomposition of AP exam takers and exam passers in 2018, in comparison with the entire U.S. population. While young Hispanics constituted 22% of all AP exam takers, they were relatively underrepresented in AP CS exams. Blacks were underrepresented in both AP CS exams and AP exams in general. In terms of passing the exam, the pass rates of Asians and whites were consistently higher than that of Hispanics and blacks. Though 6% of all AP exam takers were Native Americans, less than 0.5% of all AP CS exam takers were Native American, and they constituted only a 0.1% of exam passers.

Exam Takers and Pass Rate by State

For all AP exams in 2018, the average pass rate was 58.4%. AP CSA had a pass rate of 67.4% and AP CSP 71.0%. Among the major racial groups, Asians had the highest pass rate and blacks the lowest, as shown in the table of pass rate below.

AP Exam	All	Asian	White	Hispanic	Black
CSP	71%	82%	78%	54%	40%
CSA	67%	76%	69%	46%	37%
Biology	61%	74%	69%	38%	31%
Calculus AB	57%	68%	62%	39%	32%
US History	52%	66%	60%	33%	27%
All APs	58%	71%	64%	44%	31%

Zooming in on the Minorities

As mentioned before, Hispanics and blacks are two major race groups underrepresented in AP CS exams. The interactive map below shows the number of exam takers and the pass rate by state in AP CSA 2018 for four groups respectively: blacks, black females, Hispanics, and Hispanic females.

To dive more into the data, you may access the data source here:https://www.dropbox.com/s/1xxykonu8wo5l81/DetailedStateInfoAP-CS-A-2006-2018.xlsx?dl=0 .   

This analysis is visualized and written by Willa Hua, a data visualization enthusiast. It is meant to supplement the data and report from Barbara Ericson, assistant professor in the School of Information at the University of Michigan who has been working with AP CS data since 2004.

*Data for the racial composition for the U.S. population comes from Kaiser Family Foundation estimates based on the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey, 2008-2017. Persons of Hispanic origin may be of any race; all other racial/ethnic groups are non-Hispanic.

Every year I, Barb Ericson, gather and report on the data for AP CS from the College Board which is at http://research.collegeboard.org/programs/ap/data/ 

There was a huge increase in Advanced Placement (AP) Computer Science Principles (CSP) exam takers nationally (from 43,780 in 2017 to 70, 864 in 2018 – a 62% increase).  The Computer Science A (CSA) exam also grew (from 56,088 in 2017 to 60,040 in 2018 – a 7% increase).

The detailed data for AP CSP for 2017 and 2018 is at https://www.dropbox.com/s/5gv4pvd5jlt9wyo/AP-CSP-2017-2018-with-pop.xlsx?dl=0

The detailed data for AP CSA from 2006 to 2018 is at https://www.dropbox.com/s/6y2xsydha1851nv/DetailedStateInfoAP-CS-A-2006-2018.xlsx?dl=0

The number of exam takers for all states for AP CSA from 1998 to 2018 is at

  AP CSA is no longer the most male skewed of any of the AP exams as of 2018.  The most male skewed exam is now Physics C: Elec. & Magnet.  However, AP CSA is the 2^nd most male skewed of the AP exams and AP CSP is the 5^th most male skewed after Physics 2 and Physics C: Mechanics.  Thanks to Willa Hua from the University of Michigan for creating the following graph.

The percentage of female exam takers increased slightly for CSA from 23.5% in 2017 to 23.9% in 2018. However, the percentage of female exam takers varies from state to state. For AP CSA, the range was from 0% (no female exam takers) in Mississippi and South Dakota to 37% in Alaska (not pictured below). Five states had 27% female exam takers: West Virginia, California, Arkansas, New-York, and Washington. Thanks to Willa Hua from the University of Michigan for creating the following graph.

The percentage of female exam takers increased slightly for CSP from 30% in 2017 to 31% in 2018. However, the percentage of female exam takers varies from state to state. For AP CSP, the range was from 0% (no females took the exam in Montana) to 40% in New York and 47% in the District of Columbia. Thanks to Willa Hua from the University of Michigan for creating the following graph.

The percentage of students who pass the AP CSP exam nationally is higher than the percentage who pass AP CSA, Biology, Calculus AB, and US History.  As you can see from the table below Black students have the lowest pass rate on all of these exams and Hispanics have the second lowest pass rates.

Pass Rates for AP Exams in 2018 by Racial Groups

AP Exam	All	Asian	White	Hispanic	Black
CSP	71%	82%	78%	54%	40%
CSA	67%	76%	69%	46%	37%
Biology	61%	74%	69%	38%	31%
Calculus AB	57%	68%	62%	39%	32%
US History	52%	66%	60%	33%	27%

The female pass rate for the CSA exam in 2018 was the highest ever at 65%, but this was still a bit lower than the pass rate for males, at 68.2%.  The female pass rate on the CSP exam fell slightly from 70.4% in 2017 to 68.5% in 2018.  The female pass rate at 68.5% in 2018 was slightly lower than the male pass rate, at 72.1%.  The female pass rate is lower than the male pass rate on many AP exams, including Biology, Calculus AB, and US History. The female pass rate is higher than the male pass rate for English Lit. & Comp. and Studio Art – Drawing. Black and Hispanic females had a lower pass rate in 2018 on the AP CSA and AP CSP exam than Black and Hispanic males.

Exam	M	F	Hisp M	Hisp F	Black M	Black F
CSA	68%	65%	48%	37%	39%	32%
CSP	72%	69%	57%	49%	42%	38%
Biology	67%	58%	46%	34%	34%	30%
Calc AB	60%	54%	43%	35%	34%	30%
Eng Lit	47%	48%	28%	28%	19%	21%
Art	82%	91%	75%	84%	71%	82%
US Hist	61%	52%	39%	29%	29%	26%

The Black female pass rate varies quite a bit.  Arkansas had 21 Black female students take the AP CSA exam and only one pass it, which is a pass rate of 4.76%. Connecticut had 4 of 6 Black female students pass the AP CSA exam, which is a pass rate of 66.67%. In 16 states, no Black female student took the AP CSA exam (Alaska, Hawaii, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Maine, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oregon, South Dakota, Utah, Vermont, and Wyoming).  Only 7 states had more than 10 Black female students pass the AP CSA exam (California 13/36, Maryland 15/59, Virginia 16/54, New Jersey 19/48, Georgia 22/56, New York 26/77, and Texas 28/64). 

Only 10 states had more than 10 Hispanic females pass the AP CSA exam (Ohio 12/13, Georgia 13/29, Washington 15/23, Virginia 31/55, Illinois 33/60, New Jersey 34/72, New York 45/153, Florida 71/152, Texas 107/355, and California 146/453). 

All states had students take the AP CSA exam, but the number of exams per 100,000 of population varied from 43 (New Jersey) to 0.2 (South Dakota).  All states had students take the AP CSP exam, but the number of exams per 100,000 of population varied quite a bit from 59 (Maryland) to 1 (Kansas and Montana).

The ten states with the highest number of exams per 100,000 of population:

	AP CSA			AP CSP
1	New Jersey	43	1	Maryland	59
2	Virginia	39	2	Florida	41
3	Maryland	36	3	Connecticut	36
4	Massachusetts	35	4	California	35
5	Wash D.C.	31	5	Rhode Island	34
6	California	30	6	Alabama	33
7	Connecticut	30	7	New Jersey	31
8	Washington	29	8	New York	30
9	Texas	25	9	Georgia	29
10	Illinois	25	10	Massachusetts	28

In four states, no Black students took the AP CSA exam: Kansas, Montana, North Dakota, and South Dakota.  In 12 states, in which at least one Black student took the exam, no Black student passed the exam: Hawaii (4) Utah (4), Iowa (3), Maine (2), Alaska (1), Nebraska (1), New Hampshire (1), New Mexico (1), Vermont (1), West Virginia (1), and Wyoming (1). 

The states with the highest number of Black students taking the AP CS exams. 

	AP CSA			AP CSP
1	Texas	228	1	Florida	866
2	Maryland	217	2	New York	758
3	New York	211	3	Maryland	478
4	Georgia	178	4	Georgia	325
5	Virginia	174	5	California	312
6	California	167	6	Texas	254
7	Florida	140	7	Alabama	216
8	New Jersey	133	8	Massachusetts	179
9	North Carolina	97	9	North Carolina	144
10	Massachusetts	84	10	Virginia	139

In three states, no Hispanic students took the AP CSA exam: Wyoming, Mississippi, and South Dakota.  In seven states, in which at least one Hispanic student took the exam, no Hispanic student passed the AP CSA exam: Kansas (4), West Virginia (3), Maine (3), Alaska (1), North Dakota (1), Vermont (1), and Montana (1). 

The states with the highest number of Hispanic students taking the AP CS exams.

	AP CSA			AP CSP
1	California	1740	1	California	4247
2	Texas	1487	2	Florida	2651
3	Florida	734	3	Texas	1526
4	New-York	481	4	New-York	1168
5	New-Jersey	354	5	Illinois	637
6	Illinois	277	6	New-Jersey	396
7	Virginia	240	7	Georgia	334
8	Georgia	165	8	Maryland	281
9	Maryland	150	9	Nevada	248
10	Massachusetts	144	10	Colorado	224

Thanks for joining me!

Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter. — Izaak Walton

I am an assistant professor in the School of Information at the University of Michigan. I have been woking in computing education research since 2004. I was at Georgia Tech as a research scientist from 2006 to 2018. I have run teacher professional development, created computing summer camps for 4th – 12+ graders, ran competitions, ran weekend workshops with youth serving organizations, and written books (both paper and ebooks). I have worked on two ebooks for Advanced Placement Computer Science: one for AP CSP at http://tinyurl.com/StudentCSP-newand one for AP CSA at http://tinyurl.com/JavaReview-new

I have been working on mixed-up code problems, which are also called Parsons problems. The correct code to solve a problem is provided, but the code is broken into blocks and mixed-up. The learner must select blocks and put them in the correct order.