Increasing the Interest of Elementary Age Students in Computer Science though Day Camps

Computer Science and related majors have seen a decrease in enrollment across the country in recent years. While there are several theories behind why this may be the case, as educators in many areas of computing and information technology, this is a trend we should attempt to reverse. While it is true that many children are "computer literate", their knowledge of subjects actually relating to the computing sciences is often limited. The authors feel that exposing younger children (those of elementary school age) to computing topics may help to increase their interest in these subjects as they mature. Thus, they may be more likely to choose computing majors when they go to college. At the start of the 2003-2004 academic year, the officers of the authors' local ACM (Association for Computing Machinery) student chapter "brain stormed" for ideas as to how they could expand the visibility of their organization on campus and in the surrounding community. Several of their group members had worked in the past with regional and national organizations that provide educational science camps for gifted youth. It was decided that a similar event could be conducted on the authors' campus for local elementary and middle school age children. This paper discusses the specifics of the camps, including the content of the courses and how they were advertised in the community. [For complete proceedings, see ED490093.]