Raechel Wallker. 2023. Systemic Justice Capstone Project: Enabling Students to Mitigate Systemic Oppression Through Data Activism. In Proceedings of the 54th ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education V. 2 (SIGCSE 2023). Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, 1237. https://doi.org/10.1145/3545947.3573293

Abstract

There is a small percentage of African Americans in the computing field because they lack opportunities to participate in data science programs, particularly in ways that empower their community. Current computing curricula do not teach students how to leverage their technical skills in service of projects that are more authentic and relevant to African American students. I introduce the first high school data activism curriculum, which contains a systemic justice capstone project. The capstone emphasizes the importance of understanding the history and intersectionality of a unique problem just as much as the rigorous data science skills to create prolonged change. My thematic analysis shows that the students were able to apply their data science and social justice skills to a project that mitigates systemic oppression.