The Game2Learn Lab at NC State University values broadening participation in computing and helping all students become literate in 21st-century computing skills including programming, AI, Data Analytics, and computing for social good. Our unpaid high school internship program allows high school students to embed themselves within our research lab environment helping K-12 teachers develop Snap!-based educational tools and games for use in their classrooms. Each summer, over 20 local high school students participate in a 6-week internship program designed to hone their computing skills and see how computing is used to help solve socially relevant problems. In 2019, interns partnered with over 50 high school and middle school teachers in Science, Math, English Language Arts, and Social Studies in order to create coding infused activities to be used in active classrooms during the upcoming school year. In summer 2020, this program was successfully transitioned into an online program which allowed 30 interns to create over 100 computing-infused activities for teachers. Through this program, we also conduct research on how to best provide computer science learning experiences through internships and support the creation of computer science curriculum.

Drawing on the expertise of award-winning US educators in Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Math and Learning Management System applications, Dr. Cateté has partnered with Mothering Across Continents to bring Seymore Papert's Constructionist Learning to secondary students in Rwanda through the Pivot Academy Program. Pivot Academy focuses on giving students the chance to learn through project-based learning, including low-cost demonstrations and tablet-based experiments. This three prong program incorporates teacher professional development, student learning, and accessible lessons for reinforcement learning aligned with the country's mandated national STEM curriculum and IB standards. NC State students can participate in this program through a Rwanda Alternative Spring Break trip co-hosted by the Women & Minorities in Engineering program.

The CS research focus is socially relevant computing and analytics including serious games, interface design, critical infrastructures, novice programming environments, intelligent tutoring systems, machine learning, and data analytics. The RET immerses 14 participants (8 in-service, 3 pre-service, 3 REU) in a vibrant community in teams of 4-5 to contribute to ongoing research. Plans for developing curricular modules linked to the research experiences include workshops on equitable and culturally relevant CS curricula, and intensive workshops with peer feedback for development of modules. Plans for sharing modules with K-12 teachers include teacher presentations and sharing in national digital libraries. Activities include orientation, mentor training, weekly workshops, 2 research/curricula presentations/RET. Our objective is to create a collaborative culture, promote individual research contributions, and create culturally responsive and inclusive curricular modules.Teachers to be recruited include high school STEM/CS teachers serving schools with significant representation from underrepresented groups, through NC Dept. of Public Instruction. We will recruit pre-service teachers from NCSU College of Education and other education departments, and CS REUs from STARS Computing Corps. The intended impact on participating teachers is to increase their CS knowledge, efficacy, research and presentation skills; and to increase retention and engagement of their students. The intended impact on broadening participation of underrepresented groups in CS is to create high levels of student engagement particularly for females, African-Americans/Blacks, Hispanics/Latinx and new knowledge about CS and careers. Plans for academic-year follow-up and outreach activities and dissemination include RET Teams and mentors support teachers in classroom implementation; pre-service teachers observing classes; and two workshops to reinforce pedagogical and research knowledge gained.

The Socially Relevant Computing and Analytics REU Site at NC State University immerses a diverse group of undergraduates in a vibrant research community of faculty and graduate students working on cutting-edge socially relevant and analytic programming,improving learning and healthcare outcomes, educational technologies, and diverse forms of interaction with and through computers. The SRCA REU at NC State recruits broadly, but focuses on providing opportunities for students from underrepresented groups with limited research opportunities through the STARS Computing Corps. The project's focus on relevant cutting edge technologies is a proven focus that can improve retention for minoritized students and women.