Food for Thought: Supporting African American Women’s Computational Algorithmic Thinking in an Intro CS Course

African American women who have little if any experience in computer programming prior to matriculation into college often struggle in introductory CS courses that emphasize programming from the outset. These same students feel underprepared and disadvantaged, oftentimes choosing to withdraw from such courses which contributes to the underrepresentation of African American women in CS. The challenge lies in creating equitable learning environments that bridge students’ everyday experiences to fundamental CS concepts. In this experience report, we introduce the Dessert Wars Challenge, an alternative pedagogical strategy that leverages students’ everyday experiences with food to forge meaningful connections to CS. We examine how African American women’s participation in the Dessert Wars Challenge supports the development of their Computational Algorithmic Thinking (CAT) capabilities, the ability to design, implement, assess and adapt algorithms, and contributes to their retention in a college-level introductory CS course.