Korea International School has won the AP Computer Science Female Diversity Award, in recognition of the school’s effort to bring diversity to a program for advanced computer science.

The College Board, a nonprofit organization established to expand access to higher education, honored the school’s Design and Innovation Department (D&I) for its near equal gender representation in AP computer science principles courses. Other classes in the department also strive to draw more female students.

“This is a KIS achievement,” the school’s AP computer science principles teacher Benny Aulton said. “The school has done an amazing job with diversity, equity, inclusivity and justice initiatives.”

According to KIS, the open concept of the D&I suite generates student interest and schoolwide collaboration. The learning space is open to all students and faculty, allowing them to walk through the learning space where D&I students practice design thinking and develop programming, robotics, engineering and graphic arts skills.

The school also works to make sure all students have access to physical building tools and CAD machinery such as 3D printers and an industrial laser cutter.

The visibility and flexibility of the D&I suite create opportunities for multidisciplinary collaboration and help students make informed decisions about their course enrollment.

The school’s AP computer science teacher Joyce Pereira stressed that the D&I department‘s goal is to expose students to many different tools of design, believing that exploration leads to inspiration and application.

"Computer science is all about meeting human needs," said Ms. Pereira. "Students get that. They see that it’s not just programming, it’s not just technical. It’s about extending and enhancing user experience."

While the D&I suite gives the students under its program a physical space to continue expanding, the KIS design faculty share a host of unique skill sets to meet student interests, routinely mirroring the design thinking process.

“We maintain an expository approach to design and innovation,” Ms. Pereira said. “We offer as many opportunities as possible for students to see and experience design in the world around them.”

By Im Eun-byel (silverstar@heraldcorp.com)