Effective in-class activities for middle school outreach programs

In the summer of 2007, we established the Utah State University Computer Science Outreach Laboratory as a partnership with a local K-8 school. One major advantage of this outreach program is that we are able to interact with all students in the target grades, not only those who are already interested in computers, as would happen with a computer club or other extracurricular program. This paper presents a sampling of the periodic in-class activities led by University faculty members and volunteer students. Through these activities participants have the opportunity to learn about a variety of computing topics. The core goal of this program is to increase the interest levels in computing among these young students. While the long-term effects are not immediately apparent, surveys of participating students indicate that activities are making a valuable impact. This is supported through our personal observations of, and interactions with, the student participants.