Bits and Bytes summer camp is returning to Eastern Michigan University this summer to encourage middle school girls to participate in computer science by giving them hands-on experience with coding, game development, robotics, and app development.
Bits and Bytes is directed by Krish Narayanan, a professor and department head of computer science at EMU. Narayanan is also the faculty advisor of the EMU Women in Computer Science club, who serve as student mentors and staff of the camp.
Narayanan started the camp in her basement in 2012 with the intent of helping her daughter and friends learn about computer science and programming.
“It started as a half-day camp, but the girls wanted more,” Narayanan said. “So I turned it into a full-day, week-long camp.”
The camp started with five to eight members during the earlier years. Still, Narayanan saw the possibility of the camp growing and applied for a grant from the National Center for Women in Information Technology.
The grant eventually allowed Narayanan to bring the camp to EMU in 2017 for 25 campers.
Bits and Bytes campers working at their computers in a Pray-Harrold classroom.
“Middle school is when girls begin to lose interest in coding and computing in general,” Narayanan said. “So I wanted to address it right there.”
EMU students don’t have to be computer science majors to apply for a staff position, but they need to have previously completed an introductory computer science course, Narayanan said.
“Once they’ve completed the intro-level programming class, and are interested in mentoring and helping girls learn, that is the only requirement,” Narayanan said.
While the program was created to encourage middle school girls in computer science, Narayanan says that the program has benefitted EMU computer science students as well.
“They want to do more,” Narayanan said. “They do their own outreach activities and want to teach.”
One of Narayanan’s previous staff members enjoyed teaching so much that she became a graduate assistant and taught an introductory-level course in the computer science department.
“That’s the kind of interest this creates for them,” Narayanan said.
Prior knowledge about computer science is optional for potential Bits and Bytes campers.
“Some parents and campers are a little apprehensive about it,” said Narayanan. “I make sure they don’t feel bad if they don’t know anything about computer science.”
Based on Narayanan’s self-conducted surveys, roughly 25% of campers say they don’t feel comfortable programming computers or solving technology problems.
The post-survey that Narayanan conducts on the last day of camp displays a majority of the campers feeling comfortable with programming and solving technology problems.
“Predominately, I hear girls come in and say ‘Oh, I thought computer science was hard’ or ‘I thought I needed to be a math whiz to learn computer science’ and they find out none of that is true,” Narayanan said.
Bits and Bytes is currently funded by the Michigan Space Grant Consortium (NASA), making it free of cost aside from a $25 registration fee, and has a capacity of 30 campers.
“I currently have a waitlist for the camp now,” Narayanan said, “If someone registers and doesn’t show up, their spot could’ve gone to a different student, which is why we have the registration fee in place.”
Camps of a similar nature can cost hundreds of dollars according to Narayanan. But the supportive environment of Bits and Bytes is what makes the camp stand out among others, Narayanan said.
“The supportive environment is provided through the Women in Computer Science club members as staff,” Narayanan said. “The staff are helping the girls with problems they have and problems they have dealt with in the past.”
By using a near-peer style of mentoring between staff and campers, Narayanan promotes an encouraging environment.
Bits and Bytes campers work on block coding in a computer lab in Pray-Harrold.
Bits and Bytes introduces campers to different options for solving problems by using block-based coding rather than text coding.
“This is really helpful because the girls are kind of intimidated by the idea of typing up coding,” Narayanan said.
This coding is introduced to campers through game development, robotics, and mobile app development.
Narayanan also emphasizes the use of teamwork throughout the camp by starting campers in pairs and increasing the group sizes as the week progresses.
“Towards the end of the week, the girls will be working on a hackathon project, where they are in groups of five or six,” Narayanan said.
Parental education is also encouraged throughout the camp.
Narayanan requires guardians to pick up their children so that campers can demonstrate projects to their families at the end of the day.
There is also a closing ceremony on the last day in the Pray-Harrold auditorium where family and friends can engage in different events, including a guest lecturer in the computer science industry, a Q&A panel of EMU student staff, and closing remarks from Narayanan herself.
It is hard to keep track of the impact the camp has had on the girls beyond the survey, Narayanan said. But there are moments where the impact is revealed.
A Bits and Bytes camper from the 2017 camp has recently joined EMU as a freshman majoring in computer science.
“That day, I was on cloud nine,” Narayanan said. “I was jumping up and down.”
Another Bits and Bytes camper consulted with Narayanan on which computer science program she should attend, and committed to the Georgia Institute of Technology.
“The cases that I do come to know, make my day,” Narayanan said.
Though Narayanan may not always know what happens after camp, she cherishes the moments that happen during.
“It’s those lightbulb moments that happen,” Narayanan said.
When campers are learning something with a blank stare and then asked to demonstrate on their own, that moment of realization that they know what they are doing is one of Narayanan’s favorite parts of the camp.
“When the girls connect, that's what is amazing,” Narayanan said.
Narayanan plans to continue the Bits and Bytes camp alongside Gigabytes, a summer camp that is aimed toward high school girls at EMU.
Gigabytes will take place during the last week in July.
