Literature and Computational Thinking: They Do Compute!

Purpose & objective

Northern Illinois University's STEM Read explores STEM through popular fiction books. We create games, lesson plans, and other open educational resources that you can use to hook ravenous and reluctant learners. This year, we’re exploring computational thinking and pathways to cyber careers with great books like M.T. Anderson’s Feed, Ernest Cline’s Ready Player One, and Kate Hannigan’s The Detective’s Assistant. Come play some of our latest challenges and see how you can use amazing books to hack into the hearts and minds of even the hardest to reach students.

Northern Illinois University’s STEM Read helps readers increase their knowledge of STEM concepts and their enthusiasm for reading and learning while integrating the language arts, math, and new science standards. We select popular fiction books with a basis in science, technology, engineering, or math. Then we work with experts to create and deliver live events, videos, and online games and resources that explore the science behind the fiction. In the past year, our program has impacted thousands of people both online and throughout the region.
Our most impactful events are interactive field trips that allow students to visit NIU, meet a best-selling author, learn from math, science, and technology experts, and participate in live-action, real-world STEM challenges based on a popular book. During this session, STEM Read will introduce educators to our unique philosophy on introducing STEM concepts aligned to the new standards through popular fiction and engage students in a mind-blowing STEM-based activity.

Participants will
- work collaboratively to complete challenges designed to promote computational thinking,
- explore the NIU STEM Read Philosophy,
- discuss strategies for implementation.

Outline

-Overview of STEM Read and our resources (10 min)
-Hacking the Feed (10 min)
- Cyber Security Challenge based on M.T. Anderson's Feed (10 min)
-To Feed or Not to Feed - Ethics and Art Challenge (10 min)
-Resources and Tips for Book-Based Challenges (10 min)
- Q&A (10 min)

Supporting research

http://www.educationworld.com/a_curr/science-fiction-stem-engagement-technology.shtml
Avraamidou, Lucy, and Jonathan Osborne. "The role of narrative in communicating science." International Journal of Science Education 31.12 (2009): 1683-1707.
Glynn, Shawn M., and K. Denise Muth. "Reading and writing to learn science: Achieving scientific literacy." Journal of research in science teaching 31.9 (1994): 1057-1073.
Dubeck, Leroy W., et al. "Science fiction aids science teaching." The Physics Teacher 28.5 (1990): 316-318.
https://www.edutopia.org/blog/stem-and-writing-super-combination-heather-wolpert-gawron
Gee, Elisabeth, Kelly Tran, Earl Aguilera, Casper Harteveld, Gillian Smith, Jacqueline Barnes, Yetunde Folajimi, Carolee Stewart-Gardiner, and Stephanie Eordanidis. "Using Games to Teach Computer Science Concepts."