Teresa M. Ober, Ying Cheng, Meghan R. Coggins, P. Brenner, Janice Zdankus, Phil Gonsalves, Emmanuel Johnson, T. Urdan
{"title":"Charting a path for growth in middle school students’ attitudes toward computer programming","authors":"Teresa M. Ober, Ying Cheng, Meghan R. Coggins, P. Brenner, Janice Zdankus, Phil Gonsalves, Emmanuel Johnson, T. Urdan","doi":"10.1080/08993408.2022.2134677","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/08993408.2022.2134677","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":45844,"journal":{"name":"Computer Science Education","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2022-11-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46581402","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Students’ expert-like attitudes in calculus and introductory computer science courses with active-learning pedagogy","authors":"Steve Balady, C. Taylor","doi":"10.1080/08993408.2022.2129344","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/08993408.2022.2129344","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":45844,"journal":{"name":"Computer Science Education","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2022-10-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41954466","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Michael Karlin, Anne T. Ottenbreit-Leftwich, Yin-Chan Liao
{"title":"Building a gender-inclusive secondary computer science program: teacher led and stakeholder supported","authors":"Michael Karlin, Anne T. Ottenbreit-Leftwich, Yin-Chan Liao","doi":"10.1080/08993408.2022.2131281","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/08993408.2022.2131281","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Background Despite ongoing calls for prioritizing K-12 computer science (CS) education, an enduring gender gap exists. Objective We explored one high school CS program where female participation was consistently higher than state averages to better understand how the program was developed. Method Using a case study method, data were collected over three-months through interviews, observations, course documents, student reflections, and researcher reflections. Constant comparative analysis was employed to analyze data throughout and following data generation. Findings Recruitment and teacher support were key practices. Recruitment practices included letter writing campaigns and recruiting from introductory CS courses. Teacher support came from counselors, administrators, and other teachers. While the CS program was consistently more gender-inclusive, the focus when building the program had been on supporting all students, not only female students. Implications Recruitment should be active and purposeful, but using academic indicators for targeted recruitment campaigns can limit student exposure. Teachers need support for broadening participation, particularly from counselors and administrators, who must also be aware of what CS is and their role in these efforts. Opportunities for coteaching within CS programs can be beneficial for growth. Overall, broadening participation must be a holistic effort, supported by school-wide stakeholders, not only CS teachers.","PeriodicalId":45844,"journal":{"name":"Computer Science Education","volume":"33 1","pages":"117 - 138"},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2022-10-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48432719","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Editorial","authors":"Brian Dorn, Jan Vahrenhold","doi":"10.1080/08993408.2022.2148962","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/08993408.2022.2148962","url":null,"abstract":"The five articles presented in this issue explore different facets of computational thinking for learners from kindergarten through university. The first article in this issue, authored by de Ruiter and Bers, introduces a new instrument called the Coding Stages Assessment (CSA) and describes their work to establish its reliability and validity. The CSA is an open question assessment leveraging ScratchJr and prompts that are a mixture of verbal reasoning about code examples and coding completion tasks. Coding mastery is rated using the CSA along five theoretical stages: emergent, coding and decoding, fluency, new knowledge, and purposefulness. The current version of the instrument was used in a field test of 118 children between five and eight years old, and validity evidence is presented using classical test theory and item response theory. A key contribution of this work is that it addresses a critical lack of instruments for measuring coding knowledge gains among pre-literate primary school children. Hogenboom, Hermans, and van der Maas continue our focus on assessment instruments for primary school children in the second article of the issue. Their work introduces the web-based Computerized Adaptive Programming Concepts Test (CAPCT) built using the Math Garden system. The CAPCT is made up of over 4400 closed form questions which are dynamically presented to learners based on their prior responses. The authors analyze over 14 million responses from 93,341 Dutch primary school children and show that 75% of the response variance is explainable by item difficulty. This work is another promising approach to accurately measuring the development of programming knowledge among our youngest learners. The authors of the third article in this issue Tabletop games designed to promote computational thinking, Poole, Clarke-Midura, Rasmussen, Shehzad, and Lee turn our attention from the assessment of Computational Thinking to instructional means. In their analysis of tabletop games designed to foster concepts in Computational Thinking, they study code building, code execution, and puzzle games as well as combinations thereof. Their taxonomy and the resulting classification of 24 tabletop games provides researchers and educators with valuable input regarding which game to use with which group of learners to foster a given Computational Thinking construct. Vice versa, the authors derive a set of guidelines for the creation of tabletop games in this domain and suggest further directions for instruction and research. The fourth article in this issue, Experiential serious-game design for development of knowledge of object-oriented programming and computational thinking skills, also focuses on educational gaming. Authors Akkaya and Akpinar study the effects of a serious gaming approach to teaching concepts in object-oriented programming, Computational Thinking, and motivation in general. Using the framing of Experiential Learning, they tasked undergraduate student","PeriodicalId":45844,"journal":{"name":"Computer Science Education","volume":"32 1","pages":"385 - 387"},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2022-10-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46037962","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Theresia Devi Indriasari, Paul Denny, Danielle M Lottridge, Andrew Luxton-Reilly
{"title":"Gamification improves the quality of student peer code review","authors":"Theresia Devi Indriasari, Paul Denny, Danielle M Lottridge, Andrew Luxton-Reilly","doi":"10.1080/08993408.2022.2124094","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/08993408.2022.2124094","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Background and Context Peer code review activities provide well-documented benefits to students in programming courses. Students develop relevant skills through exposure to alternative coding solutions, producing and receiving feedback, and collaboration with peers. Despite these benefits, low student motivation has been identified as one of the challenges leading to poor engagement and substandard review quality. Objective This research investigates gamification as a technique for motivating students to generate high-quality reviews. Method We conduct a randomised controlled study, explore the nature and length of the feedback produced by students, and measure how students perceive the value of the feedback they receive and produce. We manually categorise students’ feedback into several categories adapted from a published taxonomy for student peer review. This categorisation indicates whether the feedback contains actionable advice and identifies strengths and weaknesses in the code. Findings We found that the quality of the feedback differed significantly between experimental and control conditions. Students in the experimental condition wrote longer comments and tended to produce more specific advice for their peers. Implications The findings can assist educators in understanding how the chosen game mechanics can be a potential strategy to motivate students to produce high-quality written feedback in peer code review activities.","PeriodicalId":45844,"journal":{"name":"Computer Science Education","volume":"33 1","pages":"458 - 482"},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2022-09-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47390357","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Kathleen J. Lehman, Kaitlin N. S. Newhouse, S. Sundar, Linda J. Sax
{"title":"Nevertheless, They Persisted: Factors that Promote Persistence for Women and Racially/Ethnically Minoritized Students in Undergraduate Computing","authors":"Kathleen J. Lehman, Kaitlin N. S. Newhouse, S. Sundar, Linda J. Sax","doi":"10.1080/08993408.2022.2086401","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/08993408.2022.2086401","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Background and Context As computing fields aim to both expand and diversify, narrowing representation gaps in undergraduate computing majors requires focus on retaining women and racially/ethnically minoritized students to the point of degree attainment. Objective This study addresses the factors that contribute to persistence in computing majors among undergraduate students who took introductory computing courses during the first two years of college. Method Student survey data from 15 research universities in the United States were used to explore differences in persistence patterns by students’ gender and racial/ethnic identities. Further, we used logistic regression to examine factors that promote persistence in computing majors, with attention to conditional effects by gender and race/ethnicity. Findings Results show that women are less likely than men to persist in computing majors two years following completion of the introductory CS course. Findings suggest that proximal socialization experiences, specifically those related to students’ self-confidence, sense of fit, and in-class experiences, are important to student persistence in computing fields. Implications: The results suggest that peer experiences in computing are central to student persistence in the major. Hence, computing departments can act on these findings by strengthening the community within their majors and fostering positive peer interactions among students.","PeriodicalId":45844,"journal":{"name":"Computer Science Education","volume":"33 1","pages":"260 - 285"},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2022-07-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43385489","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Engaging girls in computer science: gender differences in attitudes and beliefs about learning scratch and python","authors":"Christina Zdawczyk, Keisha Varma","doi":"10.1080/08993408.2022.2095593","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/08993408.2022.2095593","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Background and Context A continued gender disparity has driven a need for effective interventions for recruiting girls to computer science. Prior research has demonstrated that middle school girls hold beliefs and attitudes that keep them from learning computer science, which can be mitigated through classroom design. Objective This study investigated whether programming environment design has a similar effect, to assess the potential utility of block-based programming (Scratch) for recruiting girls to computer science compared to traditional text-based programming (Python). Method One hundred and eighty-seven upper elementary and middle school students were surveyed to understand stereotype concern, sense of belonging, interest, and self-efficacy at baseline and after being shown each programming environment. Findings Results indicated that stereotype concern was high for girls across all three conditions. Significantly more girls than boys showed interest in learning computer science in Scratch compared to Python. Belonging, interest, and self-efficacy were inter-correlated for both genders. Implications Although girls demonstrated low self-efficacy across all conditions, more girls showed interest in learning to program through Scratch. Additionally, both girls and boys demonstrated higher self-efficacy in Scratch than in Python. This suggests that using block-based programming languages may be effective for recruiting girls to study computer science.","PeriodicalId":45844,"journal":{"name":"Computer Science Education","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2022-07-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49554475","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Computational thinking in the Ethiopian secondary school ICT curriculum","authors":"Ermias Abebe Kassa, Enguday Ademe Mekonnen","doi":"10.1080/08993408.2022.2095594","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/08993408.2022.2095594","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Background and Context Computational thinking (CT) is one of the 21st century skills required of graduates joining the workforce. Hence, countries have begun to incorporate CT into their curricula. Objective There is, however, a dearth of research coming from Africa showing the extent of CT’s integration in the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) curriculum. The main objective of this study was to assess the extent to which CT was integrated into Ethiopia’s secondary school (Grades 9–12) information and communication technology (ICT) curriculum. Method The Ethiopian secondary school (ESS) ICT curriculum, as portrayed in the syllabi, textbooks, and teaching guides, served as the data source for the study. The data were then subjected to qualitative thematic analysis in the Atlas.ti environment. Findings Despite the emphasis on ICT literacy, the analysis revealed that CT was incorporated into the curriculum through the use of Logo, Excel, and multimedia projects. The integration could not however be described as “systematic”. Implications The research could provide practitioners and policymakers with evidence to chart a path for the planned integration of CT into the ESS ICT curriculum. Similar studies from K-12 to higher education levels could also benefit from the research.","PeriodicalId":45844,"journal":{"name":"Computer Science Education","volume":"32 1","pages":"502 - 531"},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2022-07-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45432330","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
T. Korhonen, Laura Salo, Noora L. Laakso, Aino Seitamaa, Kati Sormunen, Minna Kukkonen, Heidi Forsström
{"title":"Finnish teachers as adopters of educational innovation: perceptions of programming as a new part of the curriculum","authors":"T. Korhonen, Laura Salo, Noora L. Laakso, Aino Seitamaa, Kati Sormunen, Minna Kukkonen, Heidi Forsström","doi":"10.1080/08993408.2022.2095595","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/08993408.2022.2095595","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Background and context In 2016, programming was introduced as part of the revised National Core Curriculum for Basic Education in Finland. Over five years after implementation there has not been substantial increase in teacher or student competencies in programming. Objective This study explored the perceptions, attitudes, and emotions of Finnish pre-primary, primary and secondary school teachers regarding programming being integrated into the national curriculum at the time when it was first introduced. Method The perceptions of Finnish teachers were surveyed via a questionnaire (N =943) administered at the end of a one-day in-service training. The study used a mixed-methods approach, where responses were examined through content analysis and part of the data was quantified for quantitative analyses. Findings Teachers perceive programming as a new part of the curriculum based on the advantageousness, complexity and compatibility of the innovation and various internal and external factors. Their attitudes towards the integration of programming into the curriculum, which range from negative to positive, relate to their emotions. Implications We propose that it is vital, when planning supportive measures, to take into account the holistic and affective nature of educational change and teachers’ perceptions, various factors, and their dependencies that influence the adoption process.","PeriodicalId":45844,"journal":{"name":"Computer Science Education","volume":"33 1","pages":"94 - 116"},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2022-07-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46153680","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Michael Shindler, Natalia Pinpin, Mia Markovic, Frederick Reiber, Jee Hoon Kim, Giles Pierre Nunez Carlos, M. Dogucu, Mark, Hong, Michael Luu, Brian Anderson, Aaron Cote, Matthew, Ferland, Palak Jain, T. LaBonte, Leena Mathur, Ryan, Moreno, Ryan Sakuma
{"title":"Student misconceptions of dynamic programming: a replication study","authors":"Michael Shindler, Natalia Pinpin, Mia Markovic, Frederick Reiber, Jee Hoon Kim, Giles Pierre Nunez Carlos, M. Dogucu, Mark, Hong, Michael Luu, Brian Anderson, Aaron Cote, Matthew, Ferland, Palak Jain, T. LaBonte, Leena Mathur, Ryan, Moreno, Ryan Sakuma","doi":"10.1080/08993408.2022.2079865","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/08993408.2022.2079865","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Background and Context We replicated and expanded on previous work about how well students learn dynamic programming, a difficult topic for students in algorithms class. Their study interviewed a number of students at one university in a single term. We recruited a larger sample size of students, over several terms, in both large public and private universities as well as liberal arts colleges. Objective Our aim was to investigate whether the results of the previous work generalized to other universities and also to larger groups of students. Method We interviewed students who completed the relevant portions of their algorithms class, asking them to solve problems. We observed the students' problem solving process to glean insight into how students tackle these problems. Findings We found that students generally struggle in three ways, “technique selection,” ”recurrence building,” and “inefficient implementations.” We then explored these themes and specific misconceptions qualitatively. We observed that the misconceptions found by the previous work generalized to the larger sample of students. Implications Our findings demonstrate areas in which students struggle, paving way for better algorithms education by means of identifying areas of common weakness to draw the focus of instructors.","PeriodicalId":45844,"journal":{"name":"Computer Science Education","volume":"32 1","pages":"288 - 312"},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2022-06-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48820345","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}