ACM Transactions on Computing Education最新文献

{"title":"Let’s have that Conversation: How Limited Epistemological Beliefs Exacerbates Inequities and will Continue to be a Barrier to Broadening Participation","authors":"Monique S. Ross","doi":"https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3578270","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3578270","url":null,"abstract":"<p>A call to the computer science education community to make our values match our actions related to broadening participation through epistemological inclusion.</p>","PeriodicalId":48764,"journal":{"name":"ACM Transactions on Computing Education","volume":"36 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2023-03-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"138516868","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The TACS Model: Understanding Primary School Teachers’ Adoption of Computer Science Pedagogical Content","authors":"Laila El-Hamamsy, Barbara Bruno, Sunny Avry, Frédérique Chessel-Lazzarotto, Jessica Dehler Zufferey, Francesco Mondada","doi":"https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3569587","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3569587","url":null,"abstract":"<p><b>Context.</b> With the introduction of Computer Science (CS) into curricula worldwide, teachers’ adoption of CS pedagogical content is essential to ensure the long-term success of reform initiatives. Continuing Professional Development (CPD) programs play a key role in this process. Unfortunately, adoption is seldom evaluated in CS-CPDs or CPDs in general. The result is a dearth of studies (i) modelling teachers’ adoption of CS pedagogical content or (ii) investigating factors influencing the uptake of this new discipline. Both aspects are crucial to design and characterize successful CPD programs.</p><p><b>Objectives</b>. We thus propose the Teachers’ Adoption of CS (TACS) model to investigate factors influencing the adoption of CS pedagogical content by teachers who are following a mandatory CS-CPD program. More specifically, the model proposes that contextual factors (e.g., age, gender, and general teaching experience), prior factors (e.g., experience, and CS perception), and acceptance factors (e.g., interest, and self-efficacy) may impact teachers’ adoption of CS pedagogical content.</p><p><b>Methods.</b> The study included 180 grades 5 and 6 teachers (students aged 9–11) that were following a mandatory CS-CPD program. The CS-CPD program involved participation in three-day-long sessions distributed over the 2019–2020 academic year. In between sessions, with the support of instructional coaches in the schools, teachers were encouraged, but not required, to adopt the CS pedagogical content. Therefore, during the CPD, and employing surveys based on the TACS model, we evaluated teachers’ adoption of the proposed content and investigated how the different factors influenced it.</p><p><b>Results.</b> At the PD-level, the results indicate that self-efficacy and interest queried during the CS-CPD are indicative of CS pedagogical content adoption. To shed more light on the relationship between these metrics, a more in-depth analysis was conducted with <i>n</i> = 92 teachers whose responses could be matched between sessions. While interest relates to how teachers adopt CS pedagogical content overall, both interest and self-efficacy are necessary to ensure the likelihood of a specific activity being adopted. Finally, individual teacher characteristics appear to impact adoption, with teachers with low experience with Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) requiring onboarding, while middle-aged teachers require convincing to adopt CS pedagogical content.</p><p><b>Conclusion.</b> Three takeaways emerge from the study. First, the analyses confirm the foundation of the TACS model. Second, the findings establish the key role that interest plays in said model. Finally, the results support the relationship between the contextual, prior and acceptance factors on the adoption of primary school CS pedagogical content.</p>","PeriodicalId":48764,"journal":{"name":"ACM Transactions on Computing Education","volume":"36 13","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2023-03-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"138503002","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The Landscape of Computational Thinking Problems for Practice and Assessment","authors":"Radek Pelánek, Tomáš Effenberger","doi":"https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3578269","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3578269","url":null,"abstract":"<p>To provide practice and assessment of computational thinking, we need specific problems students can solve. There are many such problems, but they are hard to find. Learning environments and assessments often use only specific types of problems and thus do not cover computational thinking in its whole scope. We provide an extensive catalog of well-structured computational thinking problem sets together with a systematic encoding of their features. Based on this encoding, we propose a four-level taxonomy that provides an organization of a wide variety of problems. The catalog, taxonomy, and problem features are useful for content authors, designers of learning environments, and researchers studying computational thinking.</p>","PeriodicalId":48764,"journal":{"name":"ACM Transactions on Computing Education","volume":"36 9","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2023-03-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"138503015","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Understanding the Impact of Peer Instruction in CS Principles Teacher Professional Development","authors":"Karla Hamlen Mansour, D. Jackson, L. Bievenue, Adam M. Voight, Nigamanth Sridhar","doi":"10.1145/3585077","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1145/3585077","url":null,"abstract":"In a nationwide initiative to increase computer science Education in K-12, many teachers were recruited to CS teaching positions but without adequate preparation, which can lead to lack of confidence and feelings of isolation [35, 54]. In response to these issues, the purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness of a newly developed summer professional development program with follow-up support with the goal of improving teacher confidence and informing teacher beliefs about computer science. This training featured peer instruction and an emphasis on computer science principles. It took place over three years, and was used to prepare teachers from over 50 schools across a midwestern state. Using Hierarchical Linear Modeling, data analysis from 57 teachers and 871 students showed that teacher confidence and content knowledge increased significantly, and to a greater extent for those who began with the lowest levels of confidence. Students also made significant knowledge gains from before to after taking the class. Student gains were higher for those whose teachers were more confident in their ability to teach computer science.","PeriodicalId":48764,"journal":{"name":"ACM Transactions on Computing Education","volume":"23 1","pages":"1 - 21"},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2023-02-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48457266","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"A Research-Practice Partnership to Introduce Computer Science in Secondary School: Lessons from a Pilot Program","authors":"L. El-Hamamsy, Jean-Philippe Pellet, M. Roberts, H. Kovacs, Barbara Bruno, Jessica Dehler Zufferey, Francesco Mondada","doi":"10.1145/3583779","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1145/3583779","url":null,"abstract":"Context Introducing Computer Science (CS) into formal education can be challenging, notably when considering the numerous stakeholders involved which include the students, teachers, schools, and policy makers. We believe these perspectives should be considered conjointly, which is possible within Research Practice Partnerships (RPPs). RPPs look to bridge research-practice gaps and have seen an increase in the field of education and CS-education. Unfortunately, RPPs are considered to be under-researched, in addition to presenting their own challenges. Objectives To the purpose of assessing how RPPs may support the successful introduction of CS into formal education, we investigate three perspectives (students, teachers, and RPP stakeholders) and their interplay within the context of a multi-institution RPP conducting a pilot program to introduce CS to secondary school students. Methods A mixed methods analysis was employed to triangulate data in a concurrent triangulation design. The data included (i) three surveys distributed over the semester to 106 grade 9 students (ages 12-14), (ii) four teacher-journals, (iii) two interviews and four focus groups with the teachers and representatives of the partner institutions. Findings From the students’ perspective, while their self-efficacy increased, their motivation decreased throughout the semester due to a miss-match between their expectations and the course. The findings also indicate that gender biases and heterogeneity are already present in grade 9. From the teachers’ perspective, co-constructing the study plan, having access to regular support and collaborating within a community of practice when starting to teach CS all facilitated the teachers’ experience. Finally, from the RPP’s perspective the collaboration between stakeholders and having researchers evaluate the program were considered to be key elements in the pilot program. However, there appears to be a research-practice gap, in large part due to limited interactions between researchers and curriculum designers, and researchers and the teachers in the field. Conclusions From the students’ perspective it appears relevant to introduce CS (i) prior to secondary school to address motivation and bias-related issues early on, and (ii) to all students to avoid participation being motivation-, stereotype-, or belief-driven, and risk broadening the gap between students, (iii) all the while being attentive to course format and content to ensure that the course meets students’ expectations and fosters autonomous motivation. From the teachers’ perspective, while the support provided met the teachers’ needs, it is essential to find means of scaling such approaches when looking to deploy CS-curricular reforms to entire administrative regions. Finally, from the RPP’s perspective (i) teachers’ should be given a voice in the RPP to better align with the field, and (ii) researchers’ roles should be reconsidered to move beyond being only evaluators, and tow","PeriodicalId":48764,"journal":{"name":"ACM Transactions on Computing Education","volume":" ","pages":"1 - 31"},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2023-02-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47746199","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Tracing Participation Beyond Computing Careers: How Women Reflect on Their Experiences in Computing Programs","authors":"Melissa Perez, Patricia Garcia","doi":"10.1145/3582564","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1145/3582564","url":null,"abstract":"Norms and values in computing education are constantly changing as dominant narratives about the role of computing in society evolve over time. Within the current evolving landscape of computing education, researchers and practitioners have advocated for ensuring people from all backgrounds, and particularly women, non-binary, and Black, Indigenous, and Latinx people, are able to participate equitably within the field of computing. Yet, the values of computing educational experiences are narrowly framed within career outcomes, such as securing a career in computing, leaving many important experiences and ways of participating in the field out of the picture. To address this, we conducted reflective interviews with women who participated in broadening participation in computing (BPC) programs to understand their perceptions of computing and how it aligns (or not) with what they value about their experiences in computing learning environments. We investigate the following research questions: (1) How do women who participated in BPC programs describe their perceptions of computing? (2) How do those perceptions align or misalign with the program outcomes they valued? The findings from our study call attention to tensions arising from centering “computing careers” in BPC work and highlight the outcomes of participation valued by the women in our study, such as developing communities and relationships, gaining communication skills, and expanding perspectives on skills computer scientists should possess.","PeriodicalId":48764,"journal":{"name":"ACM Transactions on Computing Education","volume":" ","pages":"1 - 23"},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2023-02-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46989479","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Classifying the Characteristics of Effective Continuing Professional Development (CPD) for Computer Science Teachers in the 16-18 Sector","authors":"J. Allison","doi":"10.1145/3582275","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1145/3582275","url":null,"abstract":"As technology and curricula continue to evolve and develop, the prevalence and effectiveness of continuing professional development (CPD) opportunities for computer science teachers is becoming increasingly more important. However, key questions remain about what the characteristics are for effective CPD in this context. Through the presentation of existing literature and the qualitative analysis of interviews with 32 employees from 13 English colleges (n = 14 computer science lecturers, 10 course leaders, and 8 members of senior leadership) this article answers the following question: ‘What are the characteristics of effective continuing professional development for computer science teachers in the 16-18 sector?’ Existing literature indicates how CPD benefits from: (1) knowledge development and application to classroom teaching, (2) self-efficacy development and measurement, (3) observation, feedback and reflection, (4) collaboration and communities of practice, (5) sufficient time, and (6) institution support. Meanwhile, the thematic analysis of interview data led to the creation of five overarching themes: (1) computer science CPD should address various knowledge domains, (2) CPD requires institutional support, (3) CPD should be engaging, (4) computer science CPD should involve a combination of activities, and (5) CPD should be measurable. This qualitative article also presents interview excerpts and contributes to computing education research and practice by presenting a set of thirty guidelines which outlines the characteristics of effective CPD in the context of computer science teachers in the 16-18 sector. These guidelines could be beneficial for both CPD providers and educators in ensuring CPD opportunities are designed more effectively, and with an understanding of both parties’ needs.","PeriodicalId":48764,"journal":{"name":"ACM Transactions on Computing Education","volume":"23 1","pages":"1 - 30"},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2023-01-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41977299","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"A Dialog About the Special Issues on Theory","authors":"Amy J. Ko, Steve Draper, Joseph Maguire, John Pajunen, Matti Tedre, Jane Sinclair, Claudia Szabo","doi":"https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3554982","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3554982","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Several authors of articles in the special issue came together for an asynchronous discussion of the articles, surfacing several tensions and opportunities for future work. This summary of the discussion offers a glimpse into these insights.</p>","PeriodicalId":48764,"journal":{"name":"ACM Transactions on Computing Education","volume":"54 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2023-01-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"138516845","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"A Dialog About the Special Issues on Theory","authors":"Amy J. Ko, Steve Draper, Joseph Maguire, John Pajunen, M. Tedre, J. Sinclair, Claudia Szabo","doi":"10.1145/3554982","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1145/3554982","url":null,"abstract":"Several authors of articles in the special issue came together for an asynchronous discussion of the articles, surfacing several tensions and opportunities for future work. This summary of the discussion offers a glimpse into these insights.","PeriodicalId":48764,"journal":{"name":"ACM Transactions on Computing Education","volume":"23 1","pages":"1 - 5"},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2023-01-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49416662","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Investigating K-12 Computing Education in Four African Countries (Botswana, Kenya, Nigeria, and Uganda)","authors":"Ethel Tshukudu, Sue Sentance, Oluwatoyin Adelakun-Adeyemo, Brenda Nyaringita, Keith Quille, Ziling Zhong","doi":"https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3554924","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3554924","url":null,"abstract":"&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;Motivation.&lt;/b&gt; As K-12 computing education becomes more established throughout the world, there is an increasing focus on accessibility for all, whether in a particular country or setting or in areas of the world that may not yet have computing established. This is primarily articulated as an equity issue. The recently developed &lt;i&gt;capacity for&lt;/i&gt;, &lt;i&gt;access to&lt;/i&gt;, &lt;i&gt;participation in&lt;/i&gt;, and &lt;i&gt;experience of&lt;/i&gt; computer science education (CAPE) Framework is one way of demonstrating stages and dependencies and understanding relative equity, taking into consideration the disparities between sub-populations. While there is existing research that covers the state of computing education and equity issues, it is mostly in high-income countries; there is minimal research in the context of low-middle-income countries like the sub-Saharan African countries.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;Objectives.&lt;/b&gt; The objective of the article is therefore to report on a pilot study investigating the capacity (one of the equity issues), for delivering computing education in four sub-Saharan African countries: Botswana, Kenya, Nigeria and Uganda, countries that are in different geographic regions as well as in different income brackets (low-middle income).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;Method.&lt;/b&gt; In addition to reviewing the capacity issues of curriculum and policy around computing education in each country, we surveyed 58 teachers about the infrastructure, resources, professional development, and curriculum for computing in their country. We used a localized version of the MEasuring TeacheR Enacted Computing Curriculum (METRECC) instrument for this purpose.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;Results.&lt;/b&gt; We analyzed the results through the lens of the CAPE framework at the capacity level. We identified similarities and differences in the data from teachers who completed the original METRECC survey, all of whom were from high-income countries and African teachers. The data revealed statistically significant differences between the two datasets in relation to access to resources and professional development opportunities in computer studies/computer science, with the African teachers experiencing more barriers. Results further showed that African teachers focus less on teaching algorithms and programming than teachers from high-income countries. In addition, we found differences between African countries in the study, reflecting their relative access to IT infrastructure and resources.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;Discussion.&lt;/b&gt; The findings suggest that African countries are still struggling with the lowest level of the CAPE pyramid, &lt;i&gt;Capacity for&lt;/i&gt; as compared to high-income countries. This level is concerned with the availability of resources that support the enactment of a computing curriculum of high quality. The CAPE framework helps map the progression from &lt;i&gt;Capacity for&lt;/i&gt; to &lt;i&gt;Experience of&lt;/i&gt; computer science education as a route to equity, but to support development in low and middle-income countries, it may be helpful to h","PeriodicalId":48764,"journal":{"name":"ACM Transactions on Computing Education","volume":"36 15","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2023-01-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"138503000","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}