Communal learning versus individual learning: An exploratory convergent parallel mixed-method study to describe how young African American novice programmers learn computational thinking skills in an informal learning environment (original) (raw)

Teaching Computer Programming to Diverse Students: A Comparative, Mixed-Methods, Classroom Research Study

2018

Lack of motivation and interest is a serious obstacle to students’ learning computing skills. A need exists for a knowledge base on effective pedagogy and curricula to teach computer programming. This paper presents results from research evaluating a six-year project designed to teach complex concepts in computer programming collaboratively, while supporting students to continue developing their computer thinking and related coding skills individually. Utilizing a quasi-experimental, mixed methods design, the pedagogical approaches and methods were assessed in two contrasting groups of students with different socioeconomic status, gender, and age composition. Analyses of quantitative data from Likert-scale surveys and an evaluation rubric, combined with qualitative data from reflective writing exercises and semi-structured interviews yielded convincing evidence of the project’s success at both teaching and inspiring students. Keywords—Computational thinking, computing education, com...

Scratch programming and remix culture: Gender differences in interaction and motivation for pre-adolescents

Georgetown University-Graduate School of Arts & Sciences, 2013

Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) disciplines have become a ubiquitous curriculum focus for American educators and children’s entertainment producers, but are the ways in which children are introduced STEM truly engaging? This study set out to explore factors that affect a positive learning experience with STEM and the ways in which children are creating interactive content. In this study, girls and boys from 9-12 years of age worked as partners to produce original and remixed digital works of art using Scratch. Each participant in this study had four Scratch lessons. There were six classes of students (two from each grade: fourth, fifth, and sixth) and each class had one Scratch session per week. In total, the experimenter ran 24 instructional sessions for 98 participating students. What it means to be a digital game designer today is an ever-expanding construct because of the rise of kid-generated content and the popularity of remix. The relationship between gamers...

“CodePlus”—Measuring Short-Term Efficacy in a Non-Formal, All-Female CS Outreach Programme

ACM Transactions on Computing Education, 2020

The provision of all-female computer science outreach programmes is a common strategy used to foster greater interest in the subject for high school aged girls. Based on key factors that affect girls’ interest in computer science (CS), outreach programmes often share much in their approach. Nonetheless, there is criticism from a research perspective concerning how programmes evaluate their efficacy, and how the role of pedagogy is under-explored. This article describes the design of CodePlus, a non-formal CS outreach programme based in an Irish University, Trinity College Dublin, and the methods by which the programme is evaluated. This article aims to contribute to this area by reporting on a social constructivist pedagogical model for all-female CS outreach activities, evaluated with a structured research approach. The results from the large sample size ( n =856) are positive, with participants showing statistically significant changes in key attitudinal and intentional variables ...

The effect of simulation games on learning computer programming: A comparative study on high school students’ learning performance by assessing computational problem-solving strategies

Computer games are quickly gaining momentum by enabling new approaches to teaching and learning experience for programming courses in K-12 curriculum. However, it remains unclear if the game interface and elements created by using three-dimensional (3D) virtual worlds combined with visual programming languages or a visual programming environment can affect students’ learning performance. This quasi-experimental study presents evidence about how a game can assist boys and girls to gain a greater understanding on skills related to CT for developing, implementing and transforming their solution plans into code based on their computational problem-solving strategies. A total of fifty (n=50) high school students who volunteered to participate in this study divided into a control group (n=25) and an experimental (n=25) group that used Scratch and OpenSim with the Scratch4SL palette, respectively to propose their solutions for the same problem-solving tasks via a simulation game. The study findings indicate substantial differences and important points of view about students’ learning performance by assessing their computational problem-solving strategies. Students from the experimental group performed significantly better both in measures of problem-solving and algorithmic thinking. Mean scores on post-questionnaires from the experimental group revealed improvements higher than their control group counterparts in two aspects. First, students of the former group created more complete computational instructions with rules to be specified and delivered the learning goals. Second, students of the same group proposed and applied more correct computational concepts and practices in code. Finally, this study discusses the implications for designing learning experiences using OpenSim with Scratch4SL.

Girls in IT: The Facts

2012

Girls in IT: The Facts is a synthesis of the existing literature on increasing girls’ participation in computing. Sponsored by NCWIT’s K-12 Alliance, it aims to bring together this latest research so that readers can gain a clearer and more coherent picture of 1) the current state of affairs for girls in computing, 2) the key barriers to increasing girls’ participation in these fields, and 3) promising practices for addressing these barriers.

Computational thinking in primary education: a systematic literature review

Research on Education and Media

This study presents a 13-year (2006–2018) systematic literature review related to the way that computational thinking (CT) has grown in elementary level education students (K-6) with the intention to: (a) present an overview of the educational context/setting where CT has been implemented, (b) identify the learning context that CT is used in education, (c) highlight the ways of assessment/measurement of CT and present the learning outcomes for students who engage in CT educational activities. A set of criteria were specified to select appropriate studies for inclusion in the review. A thorough search in ten large electronic databases, meeting the inclusion criteria, revealed 53 studies on CT in primary education. The results of the study revealed a variety of educational and learning contexts that CT has been integrated. The majority of studies use the framework of programming for both plugged and unplugged activities in order to cultivate students’ CT-skills, while the main interes...

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