Dr. Paul A. G. Sivilotti
Associate Professor
Computer Science and Engineering

Introducing Middle School Girls to Fault Tolerant Computing

Introduction

In the summer of 2002, we developed a workshop activity for introducing middle-school children to fault-tolerant distributed computing. In subsequent years, we conducted the activity about 8 times for more than 200 students.

The activity requires approximately 3 hours to complete.

Overview

The activity is structured as three separate units. Each unit is about 1 hour long and consists of a traditional lecture component, followed by a kinesthetic learning activity. The three units are:

1. Programming and Software Engineering
2. Parallel Programming
3. Self-stabilizing Distributed Algorithms

An overview of this workshop was presented at SIGCSE 2003, on Feb 22, 2003. This paper describes the structure and content of the workshop activity, as well as specific suggestions for running the activity successfully.

• Paper in proceedings [ text ] [ bibtex ]
• Presentation at conference [ slides ] [ handout ]

Resources

If you are interested in adapting all or part of this workshop activity for your own purpose, you may find the following resources helpful.

• Slides for lecture component
  • middle-school level (all 3 components) [ slides ] [ handout ]
  • high-school level (fault-tolerance only) [ slides ] [ handout ]
• Brief 1-page synopsis of kinesthetic learning activities for each unit
  • Software Engineering: "Mars Pathfinder" [ handout ]
  • Parallel Programming: "Parallel Programs are Fast" [ handout ]
  • Self-stabilizing Distributed Algorithms: "Programs that Heal Themselves" [ handout ]
• Pages for recording state in token ring algorithms [ handout ]
• Mindstorm code for following grid lines [ lsc ]
• Tone bars can be ordered from music instrument retailers, in particular those that supply materials for elementary and middle school music education programs.