Computational thinking (CT) involves breaking a problem into smaller components and solving it using algorithmic thinking and abstraction. CT is no longer exclusively for computer scientists but for everyone. While CT does not necessarily require programming, learning programming to enhance CT skills at a young age can help shape the next generation of children with knowledge that can help them succeed in our technological world. In order to produce teachers who are able to incorporate programming and CT into their future classrooms, we created an introductory Computer Science course (CS0) targeting future K-8 STEM teachers yet open to any student to enroll and learn computer science. We used a mixed-methods approach, examining both quantitative and qualitative data based on self-reported surveys, classroom artifacts, and focus groups from four semesters of data. We found that after taking the course, students’ self-efficacy in CT increased and while education students initially had lower confidence in their computing abilities than computer science students in the course, by the end of the semester there were no differences in their perceived and actual coding abilities when compared with computer science students. Furthermore, education students had many ideas on how to incorporate similar projects into their own future classrooms.
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Learning Loops: A Replication Study Illuminates Impact of HS Courses
A recent study about the effectiveness of subgoal labeling in an introductory computer science programming course both supported previous research and produced some puzzling results. In this study, we replicate the experiment with a different student population to determine if the results are repeatable. We also gave the experimental task to students in a follow-on course to explore if they had indeed mastered the programming concept. We found that the previous puzzling results were repeated. In addition, for the novice programmers, we found a statistically significant difference in performance based on whether the student had previous programming courses in high school. However, this performance difference disappears in a follow-on course after all students have taken an introductory computer science programming course. The results of this study have implications for how quickly students are evaluated for mastery of knowledge and how we group students in introductory programming courses.
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- Award ID(s):
- 1712231
- PAR ID:
- 10301529
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Proceedings of the twelfth annual International Conference on International Computing Education Research (ICER '16)
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 221 to 230
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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