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Instructors in computer science classes often need to decide between having students use real programming tools to provide practical experience and presenting them with simpler educational interfaces to reduce their cognitive load. Our work investigates the trade-offs between these approaches, by comparing student learning from two offerings of an introductory Python class across several community colleges in the U.S. In the first offering ($N = 219$), students used a real IDE (Visual Studio Code) throughout the entire course. In the second offering ($N = 166$), students used a simplified in-browser code editor, with no setup, for the first three modules and transitioned to Visual Studio Code in the subsequent modules. Our results showed that the second offering led to better learning than the first offering in the first three modules with the in-browser code editor. Moreover, students in both offerings performed similarly in a subsequent module in which they performed local development with Visual Studio Code, suggesting that the ability to use a real IDE was not harmed by the initial use of the in-browser code editor. In addition, we found that students in both offerings improved in their levels of self-efficacy with the course's learning objectives at the end of the class. Finally, we identified that the revisions made in the second offering benefited full-time students more than part-time students. We conclude with a discussion of the trade-offs between employing realistic programming tools and simplified coding environments, as well as suggestions for making introductory computer science classes more effective and accessible.
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A Tangible Block Editor for the Scratch Programming Language
We describe a tangible block editor for the educational programming language Scratch that allows blind and visually impaired (BVI) students to learn computer programming concepts alongside their sighted peers in mainstream classrooms. In this late breaking work, we provide a description of the design that incorporates many of the key elements of the Scratch visual code editor that promote engagement and lower hurdles to programming. The environment allows a BVI student to work collaboratively with other BVI and sighted students, being accessible to all. Key elements of the design include: the use of magnets and local shape to ensure only blocks with valid syntax can be connected, the allowance of nested expressions through expansion of code structures with telescoping tubing, and a channel grid work surface that provides structure to aid students working with the much narrower field of view of haptics, as compared to vision.
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- Award ID(s):
- 1742242
- PAR ID:
- 10293098
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- CHI '21
- Issue:
- 449
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 1 to 6
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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- Free Publicly Accessible Full Text
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Accepted Manuscript1.0
- Conference Paper:
- https://doi.org/10.1145/3411763.3451833
