Category: Publication

We just published results from a 2-year study investigating how teachers teaching the AP CS Principles course for the first time used our online PD materials, PD4CS. Our results showed that the teaching and computing background of teachers had a significant impact on the teachers’ need for and use of online PD material. More specifically, novice CS teachers needed and used PD for developing their pedagogical content knowledge (PCK). Non-CS teachers needed and used PD materials emphasizing content knowledge. Experienced CS teachers believed they had little need for PD even though they were teaching a new course. Our study makes three recommendations for designing effective online PD for CS teachers: match PD to teachers’ background, align PD with the course curriculum, and use effective motivational design to enhance teacher engagement. You can find the full paper here

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We have a new chapter in the Handbook of Information Technology in Primary and Secondary Education, in which we discuss how computer science efforts to increase the role of computing in schools gives us a unique opportunity to expand computing education research. Specifically, we have laid out directions for future research around computer science teacher development and factors that influence student learning in computer science. However, we argue that computer education researchers needs to move beyond experimental design as the standard for methodological rigor and value other theoretical perspectives and approaches. Here is a link to the chapter

Reference: Yadav, A., Sands, P., Good, J., & Lishinski, A. (2018). Computer science and computational thinking in the curriculum: Research and practice. In. J. Voogt, G. Knezek, R Christensen, & K-W Lai (Eds.). Handbook of Information Technology in Primary and Secondary Education. Springer International Handbooks of Education. Springer, Cham. DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-53803-7_6-1

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The video below provides an overview of our article in Communications of the ACM on the need for teacher educators and computer scientists to collaborate together to ensure future teachers are prepared to integrate computational thinking in their classrooms.

We have a publication in the Journal of Media Literacy Education to shed light on the critical need for media literacy given the recent focus on “fake news” and misinformation online. As digital stories through blogs, videos, or social networks have become the main form of communication, we argue that the line between facts and fiction can often become blurry. As a results students might find it difficult to distinguish between reality and fantasy in online spaces, which can have important consequences in their lives. Using contemporary examples from news stories, fanfiction, advertising, and radicalization, we outline the features, affordances, and real-life implications of digital stories. As a result, we provide recommendations for educators to create awareness and empower students about digital storytelling practices. Read more..

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In a study published in Computer Science Education, we examined teachers’ perspectives about teaching computer science, challenges they face in the classroom, and areas they believe are needed for them to be successful in the classroom. Teachers in our study highlighted a number of challenges beginning computer science teachers face and discussed professional development needs they feel would have helped them adapt to the classroom. Teachers reported that during the rst few years they them- selves did not either have adequate content knowledge or pedagogical knowledge to teach computer science. Teachers with a formal background in teaching often didn’t have the CS content knowledge needed to teach CS. On the other hand, teachers with industry experi- ence in programming did not have any teaching background to e ectively deliver CS lessons. Read more..

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Alex Lishinski, Jon Good, and I presented two papers at International Computing Educational Research Conference in Melbourne, Australia.

In the first paper “Learning to Program: Gender Differences and Interactive Effects of Students’ Motivation, Goals and Self-Efficacy on Performance“, Alex will present results from an empirical on examining CS1 students along dimensions of self-regulated learning, and exploring the relationships between these dimensions and course outcomes. 346 students in an introductory programming course completed measures to assess their self-efficacy, metacognitive self-regulation, intrinsic goal orientation, extrinsic goal orientation, performance on code writing assignments, and performance on multiple choice exams. A path analysis model was created, and the results of the model showed that the best predictor of student exam and project performance in CS1 was self-efficacy. Furthermore, the results of the study exhibited evidence for a reciprocal self-efficacy “feedback loop” in which student self-efficacy beliefs influence their course performance which later influences their self-efficacy beliefs which influence later performance. A correlation analysis also demonstrated interesting results by gender. While both genders experienced the self-efficacy feedback loop process, in which self-efficacy beliefs become more accurate, this process appears to happen more quickly with female students than with male students. This suggests that female students internalize performance feedback more quickly than do male students. These results are interesting because they show the importance of self-efficacy in the learning process and that self-efficacy is not a static student characteristic, but one that is continually changing, and in different ways for different groups of students.

In the second paper “Methodological Rigor and Theoretical Foundations of CS Education Research“, Jon will present a literature review of recent CS Education publications. The paper details the results of a literature review of papers from the journal Computer Science Education and the proceedings of the ICER conference from the years 2012-2015. The review focuses on two main elements of the research presented in these papers. First, papers were examined for the extent to which they made use of theoretical frameworks from outside of computer science education, in particular, from education, psychology, and other social sciences. Second, the papers were examined for the rigor of methodological approaches using a number of indicators. The study found that, compared to previous research, recent publications in computer science education are making greater use of theory from outside the CS ED field, but the particular methodological approaches being used are no more rigorous than in results from a decade earlier.

We used qualitative interviews for an in-depth examination of student perceptions on the use of cases in a mechanical engineering course. Specifically, we examined what aspects of case studies students found to be beneficial and what aspects they found to be challenging.  The interviews produced a rich set of qualitative data, which suggested that students found cases to be beneficial with regards to allowing them to see real world application of course concepts. Students also reported some challenging aspects of learning from cases, such as frustrations with the ill-structured nature of cases and the inefficient use of class time when using cases. Read More..

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