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This paper articulates an approach to incorporating instructor feedback in design-based research. Throughout the process of designing and implementing curriculum to support middle school students' debugging practices in a summer computer science workshop, our research and practice team utilized instructor-generated conjecture maps as boundary objects, providing insight into the instructors' reflections on their classroom teaching. We develop an analytic tool for categorizing instructors' reflections on their conjecture maps, attending specifically to how instructors push back on design choices, whether by envisioning new mediating processes, introducing new connections, discussing new design features, articulating confusion/uncertainty, and/or presenting hopes and predictions. The tool is then applied to seven instructors' daily reflections over the course of four weeks of instruction, focused on three conjecture maps. Overall, the paper documents a range of tensions that instructors encounter when aiming to provide sustained debugging support to students and introduces a tool for understanding the detailed ways that instructors critique design conjectures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The words "Programming is the second literacy" were coined more than 40 years ago [13], but never came to life. The paper develops and details that old slogan by proposing that the mainstream mathematics education in schools should merge with education in computer science/programming. Of course, this means a deep structural reform of school mathematics education. We are not talking about adapting the 20th century mathematics to the 21st century—as it outlined in [10, 19], we mean the 21st century mathematics education for the 21st century mathematics. To the best of our knowledge, this paper is perhaps the first known attempt to start a proper feasibility study for this reform. The scope of the paper does not allow us to touch the delicate socio-political (and financial) sides of the reform, we are looking only at general curricular and didactic aspects and possible directions of the reform. In particular, we indicate approaches to development of a Domain Specifiic Language (DSL) as a basis for all programming aspects of a new course. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Computer programming is a skill of increasing importance in scientific and technological fields. However, in introductory computer science (CS1) courses in higher education, approximately one in every three students fails. A common reason is that students are overwhelmed by an accelerated and inflexible pace of learning that jeopardizes success. Accordingly, in the computer science education literature it has been suggested that the pedagogical philosophy of 'mastery learning,' which supports students progressing at their own pace, can improve academic outcomes of CS1 courses. Nevertheless, few extended mastery learning implementations in CS1 have been documented in the literature, and there is a lack of guidance and best practices to foster its adoption. In this paper, we present a four-year action research study in which a modular mastery-based CS1 course was designed, evaluated and improved in successive iterations with cohorts of engineering freshmen in a Latin American research university (N = 959). In the first year of the intervention, only 19.3% of students passed the course in their first semester attempting it. In successive iterations, the instructional design, teaching and learning activities, course content, and course management were iteratively improved such that by the fourth year of offering 77.1% of students passed the course in their first semester. Over this period, course attrition was reduced from 25.0% to 3.8% of the cohort, and students' mean time spent in the course decreased from 23.2 weeks (SD = 7.38) to 14.9 (SD = 3.64). Results indicate that modularization for mastery learning is a viable approach for improving academic results in a CS1 course. Practical considerations towards successful implementation of this approach are presented and discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper develops a method for the construction and evaluation of cognitive models to support students in their problem-solving skills during robotics in school, aiming to build a basis for an implementation of a tutoring system in the future. Two Wizard-of-Oz studies were conducted, one in the classroom and one in the lab. Based on the cognitive model, the human wizards gave support to 20 students working in pairs. The studies were video recorded and a qualitative analysis was conducted. This qualitative research approach is described in detail. The evaluation of the studies showed that students reacted mostly positively to the wizards. We also uncovered ways in which students' problem-solving skills could be improved. Based on the evaluation and observations of the Wizard-of-Oz studies, the paper proposes a design for a future robotics skills tutoring system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article offers Ancestral Computing for Sustainability (ACS) to dismantle the logics of settler colonialism that affect accessibility, identities, and epistemologies of computer science education (CSE). ACS centers Indigenous epistemologies in researching CSE across four public universities in the United States. This paper describes Ancestral Computing for Sustainability and explores reflections of two students engaging as researchers in ACS inquiry. Drawing on Indigenous methodologies and Participatory Action Research, they share their reflections as co-researchers in ACS through storywork. These critical reflections include their relationship to computing, observations of the interdependent work within ACS, ethics and sustainability, and their experiences within the focus groups. The article ends with recommendations for furthering ACS as a decolonial approach that centers Indigenous epistemologies in CSE. Recommendations for CSE education include Ancestral Knowledge Systems and adding sustainability as a topic within computing education pathways and building student-faculty relationships based on trust is recommended to foster students' academic and personal growth within CSE education and research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Improving code while preserving its functionality is a common task in the hi-tech industry. Yet students have difficulties improving an algorithm's run-time complexity by an order of magnitude. The paper focuses on assessing students' abilities in this area. We designed a Structure of the Observed Learning Outcome (SOLO) taxonomy, using software quality factors, to assess students' cognitive ability while improving complexity. The research was conducted with college students studying for their bachelor's degree in engineering. We established a classification based on their solutions for a given task. Later, we used the same task to validate our classification with another group of engineering students. We then compared the previous average grades of the second group of students with their SOLO levels. The results show that the higher the students' previous average grades, the greater the probability that their solutions would be classified at higher taxonomic levels. These results indicate that our SOLO classification is indeed accurate. The paper presents our novel SOLO taxonomic levels for tasks improving run-time complexity and offers several suggestions to assist students and enhance the teaching process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The pervasiveness of Computer Science (CS) in today's digital society and the extensive use of computational methods in other sciences call for its introduction in the school curriculum. Hence, Computer Science Education is becoming more and more relevant. In CS K-12 education, computational thinking (CT) is one of the abused buzzwords: different stakeholders (media, educators, politicians) give it different meanings, some more oriented to CS, others more linked to its interdisciplinary value. The expression was introduced by two leading researchers, Jeannette Wing (in 2006) and Seymour Papert (much early, in 1980), each of them stressing different aspects of a common theme. This paper will use a historical approach to review, discuss, and put in context these first two educational and epistemological approaches to CT. We will relate them to today's context and evaluate what aspects are still relevant for CS K-12 education. Of the two, particular interest is devoted to "Papert's CT," which is the lesser-known and the lesser-studied. We will conclude that "Wing's CT" and "Papert's CT," when correctly understood, are both relevant to today's computer science education. From Wing, we should retain computer science's centrality, CT being the (scientific and cultural) substratum of the technical competencies. Under this interpretation, CT is a lens and a set of categories for understanding the algorithmic fabric of today's world. From Papert, we should retain the constructionist idea that only a social and affective involvement of students into the technical content will make programming an interdisciplinary tool for learning (also) other disciplines. We will also discuss the often quoted (and often unverified) claim that CT automatically "transfers" to other broad 21st century skills. Our analysis will be relevant for educators and scholars to recognize and avoid misconceptions and build on the two core roots of CT. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we describe the design, development, and implementation of a curriculum based on teaching computer science using an industry-standard game-design software: Unity 3D. We discuss the theoretical underpinnings of our instructional design process and steps we have taken to introduce complexity and maintain student motivation. We discuss the challenges of this implementation and possible solutions and detail the additional steps related to teacher professional development, which is a key element for success of new and innovative curricular implementations such as ours. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The need for a knowledge-based society has perpetuated an increasing demand for higher education around the globe. Recently, there has been an increase in the demand for Computer Science professionals due to the rise in the use of ICT in the business, health and education sector. The enrollment numbers in Computer Science undergraduate programmes are usually high, but unfortunately, many of these students drop out from or abscond these programmes, leading to a shortage of Computer Science professionals in the job market. One way to diminish if not completely eradicate this problem is to identify students who are at risk of dropping out and provide them with special intervention programmes that will help them to remain in their programmes till graduation. In this paper, data mining techniques were used to build predictive models that can identify student dropout in Computer Science programmes, more specifically focusing on freshmen attrition since a significant number of dropout occurs in the first year of university studies. The predictive models were built for three stages of the first academic year using five classification algorithms which were Random Forest, Decision Tree, Naïve Bayes, Logistic Regression, and K-Nearest Neighbour. The models used past five years of institutional data stored in university's repositories. Results show that the Naïve Bayes model performed better in stage 1 with an AUC of 0.6132 but in stages 2 and 3, the overall performance of the Logsitic Regression models were better with an AUC of 0.7523 and 0.8902, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Culturally-relevant computing has been discussed as a way to promote K-12 Computer Science education and address ongoing challenges related to diversity, equity, and inclusion. What is not well understood about the practice of culturally-relevant computing, however, is how to bring together existing cultural frameworks and Computer Science curricula effectively. To help address this area, focus group interviews were conducted with ten (n = 10) in-service Computer Science teachers working in the multicultural context of Hawai'i. The focus group sessions were designed to reveal teachers' perceptions of the principles and processes involved in designing and implementing culturally-relevant CS lessons and resources. Results revealed a number of key themes, including important variations in the practitioners' philosophical and operational approaches to culturally-relevant computing. The paper ends with a detailed discussion of the findings and their implications for designers, practitioners, and researchers working in Computer Science education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Implementing computer science education in an elementary classroom is at the forefront of computing education. Nevertheless, the literature on K-12 Computer Science (CS) education offers limited guidance for developing elementary CS curricula that lead to multiple career paths through project-based learning. Particularly, more research is needed on culturally responsive elementary school computing that leverages students' cultural references to create a more equitable CS education that acknowledges one's identity, culture, or background in the curriculum planning. This paper offers an approach for designing culturally responsive computing for upper elementary students from a highly diverse, low socio-economic school district using a research-practice approach. The approach can be adapted for other schools that face unique diversity and curricular challenges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Current research surrounding online computer science education emphasizes the need for high-quality professional development opportunities. However, there is a gap in research in the inclusion of online computer science educators to identify needs and strategies that make the online computer science courses effective. Through a Research-to-Practice Partnership (RPP), this paper examines the instructional strategies and recommendations from online Computer Science teachers. This study seeks to better understand (1) What design, facilitation, and assessment strategies do teachers use to teach programming online? and (2) What recommendations do teachers have for those interested in teaching programming online? The feedback teachers provided during the study assisted in identifying the current needs in online AP Computer Science. The participants suggested additional ways the RPP could support teachers in strengthening their practice, which has assisted in the production of high-quality professional development to support novice teachers entering the field of Computer Science. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This work underscores how CS education necessitates a I two-pronged approach i , where new CS teachers are trained from the existing in-service teaching population while also designing and deploying effective teacher education programmes that will suitably and effectively prepare the next generations of teachers ab initio in CS education. Crucial to ensuring that CS education develops and grows in a foundationally inclusive way, where diversity is represented throughout the design of CS education will be to empower underrepresented groups to engage with Computer Science. In 2024, this innovative teacher education programme will graduate Ireland's first cohort of teachers who have completed a 4-year honours, denominated undergraduate teacher education degree to teach the Computer Science specification. [Extracted from the article]

This paper presents a game-design workshop built around a digital art installation featuring video games displayed over a real-world skyscraper to stimulate students' interest in computer science and a study testing its short-term effects on improving middle school students' computational thinking (CT) skills and attitudes towards computing. Following a STEAM approach, the workshop aimed to engage participants in age-appropriate activities that focus on CT skills through the lens of creating their own game. A web-based game design interface that allows students to code and play games as simulated on a skyscraper was developed to support the workshop's core activities. The web environment also featured step-by-step tutorials and fully functional games to promote the accessibility of the learning materials for a diverse body of students and educators around the globe. The results of the study indicated that the workshop helped students improve their CT skills and differentially influence their attitudes towards computing. In particular, the workshop experience led students from underserved community districts to lower their attitude ratings, whereas the reverse pattern was observed for students from more affluent districts. The workshop reportedly informed students' perception of computing as a profession and their appreciation of the analytical effort required for developing functional games. Qualitative analysis of artifact-based interviews indicated that students could begin to make abstractions and devise algorithms by associating variables through conditional statements while solving problems related to game development. Interview analysis also revealed that students took pride in the effort that they made during the workshop. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Unplugged activities as a low-cost solution to foster computational thinking (CT) skills seem to be a trend in recent years. However, current evidence of the effectiveness of unplugged activities in promoting students' CT skills has been inconsistent. To understand the potential of unplugged activities on computational thinking skills, a systematic review and meta-analysis were conducted. Our review of 49 studies examined the influence of unplugged activities to improve students' CT skills in K–12 education between 2006 and 2022. The literature review showed that studies on CT skills were mainly (81.64%) conducted in computer science and STEM education, with board and card games being the most common unplugged activities for fostering CT skills in K–12 education. CT diagnostic tools (36.37%) were frequently used as assessment tools. A follow-up meta-analysis of 13 studies with 16 effect sizes showed a generally large overall effect size (Hedges's g = 1.028, 95% CI [0.641, 1.415], p < 0.001) for the use of unplugged activities in promoting students' CT skills. The analysis of several moderator variables (i.e., grade level, class size, intervention duration, and learning tools) and their possible effects on CT skills indicated that unplugged activities are a promising instructional strategy for enhancing students' CT skills. Taken together, the results highlight the affordances of unplugged pedagogy for promoting CT skills in K–12 education. Recommendations for policies, practice, and research are provided accordingly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The final issue of TechTrends for 2023 features two columns and ten original papers that focus on the use of educational technologies to enhance teaching and learning. The articles cover topics such as artificial intelligence (AI), analytics, personalized learning, and broadening access to computer science education. One paper discusses a virtual librarian chatbot that uses IBM Watson to provide customized assistance to library users, while another explores an automated classroom analytics system called TEACHActive. The issue showcases emerging AI technologies and their potential applications in education, as well as learner-focused approaches enabled by education technology. The findings presented in this issue have implications for the design of responsive learning environments that prepare all students for future success. [Extracted from the article]

In this article, we present a conceptual framework for teaching computer science (CS) to address the unique challenges faced by marginalized groups. The framework is grounded in feminist standpoint theory and describes three key practitioner-focused areas aimed at broadening participation and increasing participation in CS education (CSEd). These principles are 1) Creating dialogic and dialectical relationships with the CS community, 2) Embracing intersectionality in CSEd, and 3) Framing CS education as a lived experience. It also offers a distinct perspective in that it is concerned with how both sides of the dialogue (i.e., the oppressed and the oppressor) grow and change in relation to one another. The strategies, along with the framework detailed in this paper, provide scholars and educators with new avenues for unpacking underrepresentation in CSEd and potential methods to address it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Policy emphases on early childhood and elementary computer science education have led to the development of many developmentally appropriate computer science and robotics tools, pedagogies, and high-quality curricula. One example is the integrated Coding as Another Language pedagogy for coding, literacy, and social and emotional learning. The pedagogy was initially developed for students in kindergarten and early elementary school and has not previously been aligned to prekindergarten learning frameworks or used in the prekindergarten setting. In this paper, we describe a pilot program if the CAL pedagogy could be successfully used for the prekindergarten setting. The study used a design-based method to adapt the Coding as Another Language curriculum for the prekindergarten setting and a mixed-methods protocol to evaluate the program at a preschool site serving children experiencing homelessness in classrooms that are part of the local school district’s universal prekindergarten program. Students were assessed using the Coding Stages Assessment of coding knowledge and the TechCheck-PreK assessment of computational thinking. Teachers completed semi-structured interviews over the course of the project. Teachers reported overall positive experiences teaching the curriculum including for English language learners, although some reported challenges integrating the curricula in their bilingual classrooms. Children participating in the program significantly improved on their coding knowledge by 4.60 points on the Coding Stages Assessment, p < .0001. These findings suggest that the Coding as Another Language pedagogy can be successfully integrated with preschool learning frameworks and implemented in preschool classrooms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The dilemma of sustaining civilization's continued growth while improving the quality of life becomes increasingly pressing as the population rises and its demands and aspirations expand. Engineers are needed worldwide to find ways to put knowledge into practice in order to solve the problem of sustainability. Even if their curriculum is already overburdened, it is critical to introduce sustainability themes into material science lectures. This paper focuses on how easy it is to teach materials sustainability in material science classrooms using the sustainability component of SolidWorks, a computer-aided design program. The study presents the software capabilities and the settings that have to be done for sustainability analysis and the results shown by the software. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using games in education has the potential to increase students' motivation and engagement in the learning process, gathering long-lasting practical knowledge. Expanding interest in implementing a game-based approach in computer science education highlights the need for a comprehensive overview of the literature research. This scoping review aims to provide insight into current trends and identify research gaps and potential research topics concerning game-based learning in computer science. Using standard methodology for scoping review, we identified 113 articles from four digital libraries published between 2017 and 2021. Those articles were analyzed concerning the educational level, type of the game, computer science topic covered by the game, pedagogical strategies, and purpose for implementing this approach in different educational levels. The results show that the number of research articles has increased through the years, confirming the importance of implementing a game-based approach in computer science. Different kinds of games, using different technology, concerning different computer science topics are presented in the research. The obtained results indicate that there is no standardized game or standardized methodology that can be used for the creation of an educational game for computer science education. Analyzed articles mainly implement a game-based approach using learning by playing, and no significant focus is given to the effectiveness of learning by designing a game as a pedagogical strategy. Moreover, the approach is mainly implemented for developing computational thinking or programming skills, highlighting the need for its implementation in other topics beyond programming. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Distance education programs have become the preferred option for most higher education institutions to continue teaching during the COVID-19 pandemic, but the effectiveness of some online courses, especially those engineering courses with experimentation activities, remains disputed. The main challenge is fostering collaborative problem solving skills for novice students as online collaboration increases their cognitive load. This research thus tapped into novice engineering students' cognitive load to develop a more granular, multimodal view of how cognitive load influences student performance in collaborative problem solving during virtual experimentation activities. The findings of this research provided significant implications for the future design and implementation of virtual laboratories in computer science engineering education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article replicates a prior study of student perceptions of captions in a specialized learning context to understand the extent to which captions are useful for students learning specialized vocabulary. It describes the results of a conceptual replication (Christensen et al., Technology, Knowledge and Learning, 2021) of a nationwide study by Linder (2016) that surveyed undergraduate students regarding their use and perceptions of closed captions and transcripts. In Linder (2016). Student Uses and Perceptions of Closed Captions and Transcripts: Results from a national study. Oregon State University Ecampus Research Unit.) study, a broad range of undergraduate student populations reported that they used closed captions and transcripts as a learning aid to help with accuracy, comprehension, retention, and engagement. This study surveys a smaller group of graduate students in legal education whose academic challenges include mastering a highly specific terminology. Experimental studies have provided evidence that closed captions can help students learn challenging new vocabulary in areas such as foreign language Winke et al. Language Learning & Technology, 14(1), 65–86 (2010) and science (Marino et al., Journal of Computers in Mathematics and Science Teaching 29:31–49, 2010). This article reports on student perceptions of the helpfulness of captions and transcripts, why they found them helpful or not, and how they used them to support their learning. Results indicate that provided captions and transcripts were accurate, students found them helpful with understanding instructors, concentrating, comprehending lectures, learning new vocabulary, and note-taking. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As schools endeavor to provide all students with access to computational thinking and computer science, the hackathon emerges as a competitive and high-energy event that uses authentic problems to motivate learners to engage in the domain of computing. This article presents the design case of a hackathon for teenagers as enacted over five iterations by faculty and staff at a Southeastern public university in the United States. Given a problem in the local community, participating teenagers collaborated in a mentor-supported environment to design, develop, and communicate software-based solutions. Using trustworthiness from naturalistic inquiry as a guiding approach to build the design case, our methods draw on multiple data sources, peer debriefing, member checks, and thick description. This design case contributes detailed descriptions and design rationales related to the youth hackathon's evolving features. It provides all levels of designers with useful pedagogical and logistical resources to support efforts to enact hackathons in novel settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, we present an educational reform we implemented a few years ago to respond to a marked drop in the success of students entering higher education in computer science. The main objective of our reform is to adapt the teaching methods of Generation X-Y to Generation Y-Z or more. To do this, we propose two approaches. First, to make learning more active, stimulating and empowering. Second, to make learning more individualized in a context of a large group of students with an optimization of the teacher's time. We first present an analysis of the probable reasons for the lower level of students and the specific issues encountered by both students and teachers. Then, we detail how we implemented these solutions in the form of an original e-learning platform based on two back-end tools able to manage large number of students: an efficient real-time auto-corrector of source codes and a very robust anti-plagiarism software based on computer distance information theory. Finally, we present the results obtained after an experimentation of 8 years. These results are put into perspective by an analysis of 15 years of qualitative and quantitative indicators carried out on hundreds of students each year. The analysis shows that the technical skills and the involvement of students are improved even in groups of several hundreds of students. Computer science teachers wishing to quickly and concretely develop the involvement of their students can rely on these tried and tested key levers and solutions presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID-19 pandemic has been challenging for college faculty, with evidence that it has the potential to exacerbate pre-pandemic gender inequities in work demands (Tugend, 2020). The impact of the pandemic may be particularly difficult for women in male-dominated STEM fields such as computer science that pose additional challenges and had high attrition rates among women faculty pre-pandemic (NSF, 2019; Weisgram & Diekman, 2017). The present study examined the mechanisms through which gender may have implications for changes in turnover intentions due to the pandemic among computer science faculty, with a focus on changes in work-family conflict and workplace attitudes. A total of 317 tenure-line and non-tenure line computer science faculty across the U.S. (54.26% women, 49.84% tenured) completed a survey that included items examining whether the pandemic changed work-family conflict, work-related attitudes (job satisfaction, sense of belonging, burnout), and turnover intentions. Results of analyses indicated that identifying as a woman indirectly predicted larger increases in turnover intentions due to the pandemic, through increased work-family conflict, burnout at work, and decreased feelings of job satisfaction. The results suggest that the pandemic has the potential to increase women's attrition from computer science faculty positions, further exacerbating their underrepresentation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The need for computer science (CS) education, especially computer network education, is increasing. However, the challenges of teaching students with diverse backgrounds and engaging them in hands-on activities to apply theories into practices exist in CS education. The study addressed the challenges by using project-based learning (PBL) and flipped teaching approaches to cover both theoretical and hands-on learning aspects in CS education. This study aims to demonstrate the design and development journey of a CS course and examine whether using PBL, hands-on activities, and flipped teaching approaches improves students' learning. The design-based research study was conducted in an undergraduate CS course from 2014 to 2020 at a midwestern university. The design and development trajectory in the six years were described. The descriptive statistics were used to analyze the trends of the course evaluation results, and ANOVA were conducted to examine whether the evaluation differs from each semester. The results indicated that using PBL, hands-on activities, and flipped teaching increased students' learning motivation and their perceptions of their learning. Combining PBL and flipped teaching appropriately can enhance students' learning motivation and perceived learning in CS education, but further research is needed to examine how each individual intervention influence students' learning motivation and learning outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Programming and automation continue to evolve rapidly and advance the capabilities of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields. However, physical computing (the integration of programming and interactive physical devices) integrated within biomedical contexts remains an area of limited focus in secondary STEM education programs. As this is an emerging area, many educators may not be well prepared to teach physical computing concepts within authentic biomedical contexts. This shortcoming provided the rationale for this study, to examine if professional development (PD) had a noticeable influence on high school science and technology and engineering (T&E) teachers' (1) perceptions of teaching biomedical and computational thinking (CT) concepts and (2) plans to integrate physical computing within the context of authentic biomedical engineering challenges. The findings revealed a significant difference in the amount of biomedical and CT concepts that teachers planned to implement as a result of the PD. Using a modified version of the Science Teaching Efficacy Belief Instrument (STEBI-A) Riggs and Enochs in Science Education,74(6), 625–637 (1990), analyses revealed significant gains in teachers' self-efficacy toward teaching both biomedical and CT concepts from the PD. Further analyses revealed that teachers reported increases in their perceived knowledge of biomedical and CT concepts and a significant increase in their intent to collaborate with a science or T&E educator outside of their content area. This study provides implications for researchers and educators to integrate more biomedical and physical computing instruction at the secondary education level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the rapid development of artificial intelligence (AI), the demand for K-12 computer science (CS) education continues to grow. However, there has long been a lack of trained CS teachers. To promote the AI teaching competency of CS teachers, a professional development (PD) program based on the technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPACK) framework was intentionally designed in this research. A quasi-experimental design with a 25-day (75-h) intervention was conducted among 40 in-service CS teachers to examine its impact on AI teaching competency, including AI knowledge, AI teaching skills, and AI teaching self-efficacy. The quantitative data were collected via a pretest and posttest, and qualitative data were collected via artifact analysis and semistructured interviews. The results indicated that the TPACK-based PD program a) significantly improved CS teachers' AI knowledge, especially in representation and reasoning, interaction, and social impact; b) developed CS teachers' AI teaching skills, including their AI lesson plan ability and AI programming skills; and c) significantly improved CS teachers' AI teaching self-efficacy, both in AI teaching efficacy beliefs and AI teaching outcome expectancy. These findings revealed the effectiveness of the TPACK-based PD program in improving the AI teaching competency of K-12 CS teachers and could help to expand the design of effective PD for CS teachers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Game based-learning have been widely promoted to overcome the difficulties encountered by beginners to learn programming. However, there are many issues to address for the implementation of game-based learning. Indeed, game-based learning is not limited to adding game elements such as rewards to a learning situation, but it rather consists of transforming the learning situation so that it becomes playful. This work contributes to computer science education research, especially to game design for learning programming. We design a novel environment dedicated to learning object-oriented programming for beginners called Progo. It is based on a metaphor of a three-dimensional (3D) construction and animation game. We present an a priori analysis of the Progo environment on the basis of a didactic transposition framework. The framework highlights the ludicisation and metaphorisation process by which educational content is integrated into the game. This allows for the analysis of the transformation of the computing knowledge by the game design, and to verify whether analogies are maintained between the knowledge and what the learner should experience through play. This work contributes to a framework for the integration of educational content during learning game design. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this convergent mixed-methods study was to evaluate the effect of educational robotics on pre-service teachers' programming comprehension and motivation. Computer science is increasingly being integrated into K-8 curricula. However, a shortage of teachers trained to teach basic computer science concepts remains unresolved. This study thus utilized educational robotics as "mindtools" to teach programming concepts to pre-service teachers. Data were obtained through a pre-post comprehension assessment, a pre-post motivation survey, field notes, and individual interviews. The findings of this study indicated that pre-service teachers' comprehension of programming concepts and motivation related to programming can be improved through educational robotics to statistically significant levels. Design implications on integrating educational robotics into pre-service teacher programming instruction are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Novice programmers, who have yet to form effective mental models of the domain, often experience high cognitive load, low confidence, and high anxiety, negatively affecting learning and retention rates. These cognitive and affective limitations pose an instructional challenge. This study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of a whole-task instructional approach compared with a part-task instructional approach for novices learning to program from a cognitive and affective perspective. A fully randomized between-subjects controlled experiment was designed, including two online instructional conditions (whole-task vs. part-task). The whole-task condition followed the Task-Centered Instructional Strategy and included explicit instruction in the context of whole tasks. The part-task condition followed a part-task instructional strategy and included the same explicit instruction, yet in the context of objectives and topic-related tasks. Based on Bandura's triadic model (Bandura, Social foundations of thought and action: A social cognitive theory, Prentice-Hall, 1986), we propose a conceptual model, which we used to hypothesize that the Task-Centered Instructional Strategy may be more effective for novices learning to program. Sixty-five students with no programming experience volunteered to participate in the study and were randomly assigned to one of the conditions. Participants in the whole-task condition performed significantly better on the near and far transfer posttests. In accordance with our model, confidence and cognitive load during learning were found to be significant partial mediators of the effect of instructional strategy on performance. Overall, we found that the task-centered instructional strategy, combining explicit instruction with whole-tasks, is effective for addressing the cognitive and affective considerations relevant to novices in computer science education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to teach Computational Thinking (CT) skills to young students, Block-Based Programming Environments (BBPEs) are integrated into secondary school computer science (CS) education curricula. As a CT skill, abstraction is one of the prominent skills, which is difficult to enhance and measure. Researchers developed some scales for measuring abstraction in BBPEs; however, it is still quite difficult to measure abstraction and understand students' abstraction behaviors. The aim of this study is to suggest tasks that could help enhance students' abstraction skills while teaching CT via block-based programming. In addition, a rubric to score the students' abstraction behaviors in the problem solving process was created and validated. A framework with regard to the definitions of abstraction skill was adopted and the way to isolate it from other CT-skills was proposed. As a result, pattern recognition, generalizing, decomposition, focusing and eliminating were defined as indicators of abstraction in the problem solving process via BBPEs. The study also informed computer science educators about the relations between teaching CT via BBPEs, affordances of BBPEs and nature of abstraction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study adopted a meta-analysis to explore the effectiveness of unplugged activities (UA) and programming exercises (PE) teaching approaches on computational thinking (CT) education. Through a two-stage literature collection and selection process, 29 articles were included in the meta-analysis, 31 independent effect sizes (16 of UA and 15 of PE) from these articles were used, and a total of 2,764 participants were involved in these studies. CMA software version 3.3 was used to analyze the collected data. The result of the meta-analysis showed that both the UA and PE teaching approaches are useful in cultivating students' CT. Besides, the effect of the PE teaching approach is better than the UA teaching approach in CT education. Moreover, we analyzed the effect of moderator variables (grade level, interdisciplinary course, and experiments duration) on the relationship between UA or PE and CT education. The results showed that the effects of UA teaching approach in CT education was stronger (a) for primary school students than for secondary school students, (b) in interdisciplinary courses than in computer science courses, (c) with long duration teaching experiments than with medium and short duration teaching experiments. However, these effects are not significant. The effects of the PE teaching approach in CT education were stronger (a) for secondary school students than for primary school students, (b) in interdisciplinary courses than in computer science courses, (c) with short duration teaching experiments than with long and medium duration teaching experiments. These effects are not significant either. Therefore, we suggest that (1) the UA teaching approach should be used more for primary school students, while the PE teaching approach should be used more for secondary students; (2) CT education should be integrated into other subjects through UA and PE teaching approaches, and (3) the UA teaching approach requires more teaching time than the PE teaching approach does in CT education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The unexamined power and prejudice embedded within technologies and societies has led to direct harm to individuals of color, minoritized groups, and the US ideal of a multi-racial democracy. Rather than an accident of AI or a "glitch" of the system, these inequities highlight the invisible and oppressive architecture – a "New Jim Code" (Benjamin, 2019) – encoded into the bones of the technology. At the same time, computer science education has grown considerably over the last decade. We ask how can educators address embedded injustice within the K-12 CS education? Using information asymmetry (Hippel, 2005) as a conceptual framing, we argue for the need to address racialized and patriarchal biases through curricular design and teaching in CS. We argue for a participatory and community centered approach to CS curricula which facilitates community co-designed CS, centers criticality, and fosters civic education within CS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The need to expand computer science learning for all students has led to an increase in professional development (PD) opportunities for teachers. The Covid-19 pandemic, however, necessitated changes in well-established PD programs and a shift to virtual delivery. In this work, we describe our transition to a virtual PD institute, including the topics and design principles guiding the institute. We also examine how participation in the virtual PD institute influenced teacher outcomes. Data were collected from two cohorts of teachers. Data sources included surveys (N=30), lesson plans (N=22), and interviews (N=17) from a purposeful sample of participants. Findings gleaned from quantitative and qualitative analysis suggest an increase in teachers' knowledge and self-efficacy while highlighting the affordances of virtual PD most valued by teachers. Findings have implications for research and practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is critical to teach all learners to program and think through programming. But to do so requires that early childhood teacher candidates learn to teach computer science. This in turn requires novel pedagogy that can both help such teachers learn the needed skills, but also provide a model for their future teaching. In this study, we examined how early childhood teacher candidates learned to program and debug blockbased code with and without scaffolding. We aimed to see how approaches to debugging vary between early childhood teacher candidates who were provided debugging scaffolds during block-based programming and those who were not. This qualitative case study focused on 13 undergraduates majoring in early childhood education. Data sources included video recording during debugging, semi-structured interviews, and (in the case of those who used scaffolding) scaffold responses. Research team members coded data independently and then came to consensus. With hypothesisdriven scaffolds, participants persisted longer. Use of scaffolds enabled the instructor to allow struggle without immediate help for participants. Collaborative reasoning was observed among the scaffolded participants whereas the participants without scaffolds often debugged alone. Regardless of scaffolds, participants often engaged in embodied debugging and also used trial and error. This study provides evidence that one can find success debugging even when engaging in trial and error. This implies that attempting to prevent trial and error may be counterproductive in some contexts. Rather, computer science educators may be advised to promote productive struggle. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigated how a computer science (CS) problem-based curriculum impacted elementary students' CS learning and attitudes. Four sixth-grade teachers and 200 of their students participated in the study. Researchers developed a CS curriculum in collaboration with the teachers, which consisted of two main units: (1) an introduction to block-based coding and (2) a problem-based learning (PBL) applied coding project. Overall, students significantly improved their knowledge of CT concepts after the introductory block-based coding lessons and retained that knowledge after completing the PBL activities approximately three months later. Results suggest that Event and Parallelism were challenging concepts for most of the students, whereas Loop and Sequence were easily grasped by most of the students. Further analysis based on prior knowledge levels revealed that the high-prior knowledge (HK) group outperformed the low-prior knowledge (LK) group on every measure. However, LK narrowed the gap of CT concepts after the introductory block-based coding lessons. Students also communicated relatively positive attitudes towards CS at the conclusion of the PBL unit. These results provide support for further exploring the integration of inquiry-oriented instructional strategies such as PBL to support CS instruction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Unplugged programming is proved to be an effective means to foster the learner-centered programming learning. In addition to the final tests, learners' programming knowledge, skills, and capacities are primarily demonstrated throughout the programming process, particularly in the situation when they encounter challenges and problems. However, few studies examine how learners engage in the programming processes and to what extent unplugged programming fosters learning. This research used a quasi-experimental design to investigate two instructional modes in China's secondary education, namely, the instructor-directed lecturing and the learner-centered unplugged programming. Based on an analytical framework, this research used mixed methods to compare learners' knowledge, behaviors, and attitudes under these two instructional modes. Results: The research results revealed discrepancies between two instructional modes. First, learners in the unplugged programming class achieved significantly higher scores on the programming knowledge assessment, compared to learners in the traditional lecturing class. Second, compared to the traditional lecturing class, learners in the unplugged programming class had higher test scores of the computational thinking skills, particularly on the cooperativity dimension. Next, discrepancies of in-class behaviors showed that learners in the unplugged programming class had frequent behaviors of listening to the instructor's instructions and discussing with peers, while learners in the instructor-directed class had frequent behaviors of listening to instructor, taking notes, and irrelevant activities. Learners' self-reported attitudes in the unplugged programming indicated a higher level of confidence than learners in the traditional lecturing class. Overall, this research revealed that the learner-centered unplugged programming had potential to improve learners' programming knowledge, behaviors, and attitudes compared to the traditional instructor-directed lecturing of programming. Conclusions: As a feasible and easy-to-use instructional activity in computer science education, unplugged programming is encouraged to be integrated in formal education to increase learners' programming interests, motivations, and qualities. This quasi-experimental research compared learners' programming knowledge, behaviors, and attitudes under two instructional modes. The results revealed critical discrepancies between two instructional modes on learners' knowledge gains, in-class behaviors, and changes of attitudes towards programming. Pedagogical and analytical implications were provided for future instructional design and learning analytics of computer programming education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the value that cultural experts bring to efforts to broaden the participation of racially minoritized youth in US computer science, there has been little research on supporting their knowledge of computing. This is a missed opportunity to explore the diffusion of computing knowledge across local community contexts where underrepresented youth of color spend time. To address this gap, we present one strategy for promoting cultural experts' early engagement with code, culturally responsive debugging: using culturally situated expertise and knowledge to debug code. We analyzed qualitative data from a professional development workshop for cultural experts to evaluate this strategy. Our findings have implications for broadening participation efforts and supporting non-programmers' knowledge of code. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Educational Robotics (ER) has the potential to provide significant benefits to education, provided an increase in outreach by transitioning from the extra-curricular initiatives in which ER has thrived to formal education. As Computer Science (CS) Education is undergoing curricular reforms worldwide, the present study addresses the case of a Digital Education reform that included ER as a means to teach core CS concepts. Approximately 350 teachers from the first four grades of primary school participated in a mandatory two-year continuing professional development (CPD) program. The first year of the program was dedicated to CS and introduced teachers to CS Unplugged (CSU) and Robotics Unplugged (RU) activities. As such, we analyse the interplay between these activities and focus on teachers' voluntary adoption of the proposed content in classrooms. This is complemented by an analysis of their perception and recommendation of ER. The findings highlight three main points. Firstly, ER benefits from the integration in the CS CPD, as this provides the necessary traction to introduce ER into teacher practices (the teachers freely devoted 2275 h to ER activities in their classrooms, over two years). Secondly, the presence of ER activities in the CS-CPD allows a higher proportion of teachers to adopt the CS content, as there are teachers that favour one type of activity over the other. Finally, the globally positive perception of ER registered in this study is relevant for two reasons: teachers were not voluntarily participating in the CPD, and results did not differ between pioneers and novices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gamification—the use of game elements in serious contexts, has been prevalent to enhance users' motivation and engagement in difficult activities. In the literature related to higher education, the use of gamification has emerged as a new pedagogical approach in order to improve students' learning behaviors. On the other hand, traditional education research suggested that working in groups can enhance students' learning behaviors. However, no study has been found in the literature that investigates these two distinct concepts in education domain. Therefore, this research aims to explore the effect of different group sizes and gamification on students' learning behaviors. For this purpose, the study has explored the comparison between gamification and traditional classroom settings on students' learning behavior with different group sizes: individual, small group, and large group settings. Further, the comparison of students' learning behaviors in gamification environment within different group settings over time has also been investigated in this research. The analysis suggests that different group sizes can have varying impacts on students' perception of the course in gamification environment over time. Moreover, it was observed that group size only affects students' interest, comparison, and discouragement in gamification environment, but does not affect their effort, perceived choice, perceived competence, tension, or motivation. Also, it was found that gamification does not affect the perceived competence of students in any of the group settings. These results can be useful in future decisions about the optimal classroom size, group activities, and group sizes in other activities in larger classrooms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]