The National Science Foundation approved two research grants, totaling almost $2 million, for the University of California Los Angeles and the University of Oregon to study racism and sexism in high school computer science classes, Judicial Watch reported.
UCLA will receive $1.026 million for a project called, “Researching Equity and Antiracist Learning in CS” (REAL-CS), which will focus “on broadening participation for Black, Indigenous, Latinx, and Pacific Islander students, using a lens of intersectionality.”
The University of Oregon will receive $873,999 for the same research project.
In their research, the universities will “address the historical and current racial and gender disparities in participation in high school computer science education.”
The research project will likely devise schemes to shift resources away from European- and Asian-descended males, who traditionally succeed in computer science classes, and toward women and non-whites.
UCLA and Oregon identified three ways to create “systemic change.”
First, they will try to increase “CS educator and school administrator knowledge, capacity, and use of racially and culturally inclusive practices.”
Second, they will refresh “existing ECS curriculum and supplementary curricular materials with antiracist design tenets.”
Third, they will conduct “deep qualitative research across the US that investigates equity-oriented teacher beliefs and practices, administrator beliefs and practices, and the impact of CS learning experiences from student perspectives.”
The REAL-CS program will assist the Exploring Computer Science (ECS) program, which is “committed to democratizing computer science knowledge by increasing learning opportunities at the high school level for all students, with a specific focus on access for traditionally underrepresented students.”
This means more resources and opportunities for female and non-white students.
The NSF said these research projects will ensure non-white students succeed in computer science classes.
“Overall, the key goal of REAL-CS is to create the necessary conditions and capacity in high schools that lead to equitable participation of students of color in high-quality computer science classes,” NSF said in a statement.
