More Like this

1. The Pathway to Achieving Classroom Equity: Computational and Critical Thinking through Storytelling and 3D Models

   do Amaral, Barbara; Windchief, Sweeney (March 2019, Educational research)

   Alignment with the Montana Indian Education for All (IEFA) Act, tenets of Tribal Critical Race Theory (TribalCrit) (Brayboy, 2006) and the 7 Essential Understandings, results in the effective integration of Computer Science and Storytelling into the classroom. Teacher disposition and pedagogies that reflect current education transformation trends are also discussed. 

   more » « less
2. When Wrong is Right: The Instructional Power of Multiple Conceptions

   https://doi.org/10.1145/3446871.3469750  

   Margulieux, Lauren; Denny, Paul; Cunningham, Kathryn; Deutsch, Michael; Shapiro, Benjamin R. (August 2021, Proceedings of the Sixteenth Annual Conference on International Computing Education Research)

   For many decades, educational communities, including computing education, have debated the value of telling students what they need to know (i.e., direct instruction) compared to guiding them to construct knowledge themselves (i.e., constructivism). Comparisons of these two instructional approaches have inconsistent results. Direct instruction can be more efficient for short-term performance but worse for retention and transfer. Constructivism can produce better retention and transfer, but this outcome is unreliable. To contribute to this debate, we propose a new theory to better explain these research results. Our theory, multiple conceptions theory, states that learners develop better conceptual knowledge when they are guided to compare multiple conceptions of a concept during instruction. To examine the validity of this theory, we used this lens to evaluate the literature for eight instructional techniques that guide learners to compare multiple conceptions, four from direct instruction (i.e., test-enhanced learning, erroneous examples, analogical reasoning, and refutation texts) and four from constructivism (i.e., productive failure, ambitious pedagogy, problem-based learning, and inquiry learning). We specifically searched for variations in the techniques that made them more or less successful, the mechanisms responsible, and how those mechanisms promote conceptual knowledge, which is critical for retention and transfer. To make the paper directly applicable to education, we propose instructional design principles based on the mechanisms that we identified. Moreover, we illustrate the theory by examining instructional techniques commonly used in computing education that compare multiple conceptions. Finally, we propose ways in which this theory can advance our instruction in computing and how computing education researchers can advance this general education theory. 

   more » « less
3. Using a Critical Incident-Centered Transition Theory Framework to Explore Engineering Education Research Faculty Transitions.

   Coso Strong, A.; Smith-Orr, C.; Bodnar, C.; Lee, W.; Faber, C.; and McCave, E. (January 2018, ASEE annual conference & exposition proceedings)

   This methods paper describes the integration of critical incident techniques and Schlossberg’s Transition Theory to create “incident timelines” that allow researchers to explore the transition of early career engineering education researchers into new faculty positions. In this methods paper, we demonstrate the usefulness of this approach by discussing the systematic development of our incident timeline analysis. We illustrate the methodological choices made to: 1) explore a diverse set of transitions into faculty positions, 2) identify critical events that impact these transitions, and 3) examine connections between events and strategies over time and across faculty members’ transitions. Explorations of emerging and systematically developed methodologies will continue to expand the range of approaches available for use in engineering education research and further the community’s ability to examine complex phenomena. 

   more » « less
4. Translating Theory on Color-blind Racism to an Engineering Education Context: Illustrations from the Field of Engineering Education

   Pawley, A. L.; Mejia, J. A.; Revelo, R. A (June 2018, ASEE annual conference & exposition proceedings)

   Researchers across the engineering education research spectrum are investigating engineering and engineering education’s persistent racial homogeneity. Administrators and instructors alike talk about how they want their classrooms to be more racially diverse, and yet despite the herculean efforts of “minority in engineering” programs and the like, the needle has moved little. In this position paper, we describe a theoretical lens developed in critical race theory that has so far had little influence in engineering education to thinking about race although we consider it to have ample affordances. This lens is a theoretical framework developed by sociologist Eduardo Bonilla-Silva called “color-blind racism,” and comprises 4 frames: abstract liberalism, cultural racism, naturalization, and minimization of racism. Because the author team sees great value in understanding how cultural values and practices associated with a US experience of Whiteness have been built into U.S. engineering education, we offer here an articulation of these frames, and illustrate each frame through a curated set of stories drawn from our experiences as K-12 students, as undergraduate engineering students, and as engineering faculty at Predominantly White Institutions (PWIs) and Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs). We note some limitations of the color-blind racism theory as we have applied it, offer some practical applications of the theory to consider, and issue a call to action for both engineering education researchers and engineering instructors. 

   more » « less
5. On Use of Theory in Computing Education Research

   https://doi.org/10.1145/3230977.3230992  

   Nelson, Greg L.; Ko, Andrew J. (January 2018, ACM International Computing Education Research Conference)

   A primary goal of computing education research is to discover designs that produce better learning of computing. In this pursuit, we have increasingly drawn upon theories from learning science and education research, recognizing the potential benefits of optimizing our search for better designs by leveraging the predictions of general theories of learning. In this paper, we contribute an argument that theory can also inhibit our community's search for better designs. We present three inhibitions: 1) our desire to both advance explanatory theory and advance design splits our attention, which prevents us from excelling at both; 2) our emphasis on applying and refining general theories of learning is done at the expense of domain-specific theories of computer science knowledge, and 3) our use of theory as a critical lens in peer review prevents the publication of designs that may accelerate design progress. We present several recommendations for how to improve our use of theory, viewing it as just one of many sources of design insight in pursuit of improving learning of computing. 

   more » « less