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In this work, we examine whether repeated participation in an after-school computing program influenced student learning of computational thinking concepts, practices, and perspectives. We also examine gender differences in learning outcomes. The program was developed through a school–university partnership. Data were collected from 138 students over a 2.5-year period. Data sources included pre–post content assessments of computational concepts related to programming in addition to computational artifacts and interviews with a purposeful sample of 12 participants. Quantitative data were analyzed using statistical methods to identify gains in pre- and post-learning of computational thinking concepts and examine potential gender differences. Interview data were analyzed qualitatively. Results indicated that students made significant gains in their learning of computational thinking concepts and that gains persisted over time. Results also revealed differences in learning of computational thinking concepts among boys and girls both at the beginning and end of the program. Finally, results from student interviews provided insights into the development of computational thinking practices and perspectives over time. Results have implications for the design of after-school computing programs that help broaden participation in computing.
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Girls Immersed in Robotics Learning
Girls Immersed in Robotics Learning engages middle school Latina girls in computer science and co-robotics with an immersive narrative of helping a Puerto Rico community recover from a hurricane. We are developing GaleForce, a Unity virtual robotics game where students can learn to code virtual robots and drones using a block-based programming language, and have collected data from a week-long workshop with a group of 9, mostly Latinx, 4th and 5th graders. Students showed gains from 13% - 50% in interest in pre/post surveys, and gains in scores ranging from 11% to 39% on content in pre/post assessments. Preliminary backend learning analytics results indicate that the students consistently used the 3D virtual world of San Juan as their point of reference for programming and wrote programs that focused on direction and distance, but did not use more advanced loops, conditionals and black boxed blocks. These results support a developmental approach to teaching programming, focusing first on concrete referents for program construction.
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- Award ID(s):
- 1830179
- PAR ID:
- 10387942
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- SIGCSE 2022: Proceedings of the 53rd ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education
- Volume:
- 2
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 1055 to 1055
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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- Free Publicly Accessible Full Text
-
Accepted Manuscript1.0
- Conference Paper:
- https://doi.org/10.1145/3478432.3499238
