July 20, 2018 | UHCL Staff
In today’s technology-centered world, finding people with excellent computer coding skills is a priority for many employers. The U.S. Bureau of Labor and Statistics reports that by 2022, more than 1.3 million job openings will require computer science skills, and many of them will be filled by employees with learning disabilities. That’s why Jana Willis, professor of instructional design and technology at University of Houston-Clear Lake, responded to an invitation to Texas public institutions from the Texas Workforce Commission to create summer camps in science, technology, engineering and mathematics called Explore STEM, aimed at developmentally disabled students aged 14-22.
“I worked with area vocational rehabilitation counselors who market these camps and send referrals,” Willis said. “Because the TWC contract pays for it, the camps are free to the kids.” In June, 10 students with autism participated in the “Coding and Game Development” camp, to be followed in July with “3D Modeling and Engineering,” and “Cyber Security and Robotics” in August.
“These kids are extremely intelligent and have great vocabularies,” Willis said. “The intent of these camps is to show these kids potential career paths in which they can use their talents. Their level of computer literacy is exceptional, and they’re very knowledgeable about the intricacies of video gaming.”
She was impressed with their level of attention to detail and their ability to perform logical processing skills. “They’re really incredible,” she said.
Each day, students in the camp participated in a presentation given by an expert. “(UH-Clear Lake Assistant Professor of Software Engineering) Soma Datta came on the last day of the Coding and Game Development camp to do a demonstration with the students using some math manipulatives that she developed for students.”
Datta used the students in the group as a focus group of sorts, to see if the blocks helped students associate math with computing. “First, I gave them small math problems, like finding the sum of two numbers,” Datta said. “”They had to arrange the cubes to show the steps and the logic. The last problem was a big equation that they solved pretty quickly.”
Datta said that students were solving problems using the R programming language for statistical computing. “First they arranged the cubes logically and in small steps. Then they typed what they had on the cubes into the R interpreter to get the answer. They all seemed to think it was a lot of fun,” she said.
“Kids get a visual representation of problems and learn computer coding at the same time,” Willis said. “They see relevance in games and careers in computer science.”
Santa Fe High School senior Jacob Hoff has been working with the students in the Explore STEM camps because he enjoys helping disabled people. “My grandmother is in a wheelchair and it makes me feel good to help her. I love to volunteer,” Hoff said. “Even though these students have a disability, they’re still really smart. Not everyone can see that, but they are. Some people can’t see beyond the disability, but all these kids are so smart.”
