A Hands-On Approach to Teaching Parallel and Heterogeneous Computing

In this paper, we present our experiences teaching heterogeneous and parallel computing to high-school students through hands-on activities leveraging the Nvidia Jetson Nano devices and Google Colab platform. We designed activity modules and developed software applications to improve students’ understanding of heterogeneous and parallel computing concepts. We also present the feedback we received from the students, and analyze the effectiveness of our proposed modules and techniques. The findings highlight the importance of using a hands-on and activity-based approach to introduce students to the practical aspects of parallel and heterogeneous computing. Furthermore, we discuss key insights we gained from the two summer workshop experiences and present potential improvements for future iterations of the proposed activities.