Engelman, S., McKlin, T., Ericson, B., &
Guzdial, M. (2012). Georgia Computes! RollUp Analysis: Student Summer Camps 2012.

GA COMPUTES!
ROLL-UP ANALYSIS: STUDENT SUMMER CAMPS
2012
Executive Summary. Approximately 1,005 K‐12 students participated in computing summer camps associated with Georgia
Computes! between May and August 2012. The 5‐day summer computing camps consisted of camps held at Georgia Tech and the following Seeded Summer Camp locations:
 Boys & Girls Club of Atlanta
 Columbus State University
 Georgia Gwinnett College
 Georgia Tech, Savannah
 Mercer University
 Spelman College
 Brookwood High School
 Lanier High School
 North Gwinnett High School
 Tri‐Cities High School
 Southwest Atlanta Christian Academy Georgia Computes! provided training and funding, where appropriate, to the above mentioned institutions to host their own summer camps for K‐12 students.
At each camp, surveys were administered on day one (pre) and day five (post) to assess changes in attitudes toward computing. It is hypothesized that participating in summer computing camps increases the following psychosocial constructs: 1. Computing Confidence‐ “I can get good grades in computing.”
2. Computing Enjoyment‐ “Computers are fun.”
3. Computing Importance & Perceived Usefulness of Computing – “I will use computing in many ways throughout my life.”
4. Motivation to Succeed in Computing‐ “When a computing problem arises that I can’t immediately solve, I stick with it until I have the solution.”
5. Computing Identity and Belongingness‐ “I feel like I “belong” in computer science.”
6. Gender Equity‐ “Girls can do just as well as boys in computing.”
7. Intention to Persist‐ “I can see myself working in a computing field.”
8. Creativity‐ “I am able to be expressive and creative while doing computing.” Additionally, content knowledge assessment items were administered at pre and post to students who participated in camps related to Scratch, Alice, or App Inventor. See Appendices A, B and C for more information pertaining to the content knowledge assessments items across these three areas.

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Major Findings
Attitudinal Items
 Overall o Across all students, the computing summer camps statistically significantly increase attitudes from pre to post on 7 of the 8 measured psychosocial constructs. According to the effect sizes (Cohen’s d), the computing camps had a “medium” impact in enhancing students’ attitudes1. The largest impacts were found in the areas of intent to persist, confidence, and belongingness in computing. That is, the computing camps were particularly effective at increasing students’ intent to pursue additional computing, self‐efficacy in doing computing, and sense of belonging in computing.
 Gender o Both male and female students reported statistically significant increases on most constructs (7 out of 8 and
5 out of 8, respectively). Among females, the largest increases were found in the areas of persistence, creativity, and belongingness in computing. Male students’ attitudes increased most on confidence,