Case Studies 

USC’s Kinder to College Program 

 OVERVIEW

In 2021, Frost STEAM Labs launched a STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art, and mathematics) enrichment coding club with the University of California’s Kinder to College program. The program ran for nine weeks and supported up to 45 students in 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade who learned computer science principles by building computer games with game loops, variables, if/else conditionals, functions, and collision detection. 

The students were lower-income LAUSD (Los Angeles Unified School District) Hispanic students. The younger students learned computer science principles and created drag-and-drop games using Scratch, a commonly-used programming teaching tool that utilizes a building-block approach to facilitate logical thinking. The older students created games using a popular JavaScript library.  They were all taught curricula designed by Frost STEAM Labs’s founder, Ronnie Frost.

The program included:

  • Live coding sessions

  • Multi-disciplinary instruction that helped students define and solve real-world problems

  • Differentiated learning

  • Project-based assignments

RESULTS 

The STEAM enrichment coding club was considered a success by the Kinder to College program director and staff. Due to the student’s excitement about the program, Frost STEAM Labs was hired for additional coding clubs. 

Student Survey Results:

  • 94% of students wanted to continue learning about computer science 

  • 94% of students thought their instructor made learning computer science fun and engaging

  • 100% of students agreed or strongly agreed that they learned a lot in the coding clubs 

  • 100% of students agreed or strongly agreed that they liked most of their coding assignments

  • When asked what we could change about the coding clubs, we received the following pieces of feedback about changing the curriculum, both of which are reflective of most of the feedback: 

    • “It is perfect the way it is.”

    • I don’t think you should [change it] because it’s REALLY fun for example you learn new things and one day I or anybody that does coding can make games or scratch projects

    • “It is good for me thank you”