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Popular discourses of computing and computer science can often frame the sector and the people within it as highly intelligent yet socially challenged, contributing to stereotypes that can potentially exclude those perceived to lack these skills or characteristics. For young people, such stereotypes can influence their educational and career aspirations, especially if there are discrepancies between their own identity and perceptions of what is desirable for computer science students. Drawing on open-ended questionnaire data from 3235 young people in England (aged 11–16), we collected 9442 keywords that students used to describe their “ideal student” in computer science education. An understanding of these perceptions allows us to recognise the prevailing stereotypes that may be shaping young people’s views and aspirations. In this paper, we employ an innovative large-scale descriptive analysis of the most common words that students use to describe the ideal computer science student, including its differences, if any, by students’ demographic background (e.g. gender, ethnicity, free school meal) and responses to the questionnaire (e.g. aspirations to be a computer scientist). We tentatively identified eight clusters of popular ideal student characteristics, namely being Smart & Clever; Knowledgeable & Interested; Determined & Hardworking; Kind & Helpful; Creative; Independent; Confident; and Collaborative. By examining how students imagine the ideal student in computer science, we gain better understanding of their educational aspirations and choice of study and provide educators with valuable insights to potentially challenge and reshape these perceptions. These insights can inform educational interventions to foster a more inclusive computing education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper proposes a novel index to classify how well UK Computer Science courses articulate cybersecurity-related content through their course/module pages. The aim of this work is to raise awareness among British Universities to pay more attention to include and standardize cybersecurity content in computer science courses. Our results show that 80% of analyzed courses scored 1 or 2-stars on a 5-Stars scale. The results also suggest the need for a formal delivery of cybersecurity content from the first year of the courses and possibly in a collaborative manner with the British Computer Society (BCS). To emphasize cybersecurity education in mitigating security lapses, the analogy is: it is better if most people know how to use a match than to train many fire-fighters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and Context: Though computer science education is marked by a pronounced racial participation gap, there is little research about effective ways that teachers can be supported in creating racially-just and equitable computer science learning opportunities for students. Objectives: This paper examines how teachers engage in learning about race and equity in computer science education during professional development. Method: Drawing from data collected from 94 participants attending a summer week-long Exploring Computer Science workshop, this mixed-methods study revealed how key curricular and instructional features of professional development foster race-conscious discussions and shifts in beliefs and agency around broadening participation in computing. Findings: Given the importance of developing teacher capacity to increase opportunities for students of color in computing classrooms, the findings of this study highlight how intentionally integrating race education in the center of professional development for teachers can support teachers' equity-based beliefs and practices. Implications: Professional development for teachers that seeks to broaden participation in computing is supported by long-term professional learning that explicitly center issues of race and equity in the curriculum. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reduction is one of the key techniques used for problem-solving in computer science. In particular, in the theory of computation and complexity (TCC), mapping and polynomial reductions are used for analysis of decidability and computational complexity of problems, including the core concept of NP-completeness. Reduction is a highly abstract technique that involves revealing close non-trivial connections between problems that often seem to have nothing in common. As a result, proper understanding and application of reduction is a serious challenge for students and a source of numerous misconceptions. The main contribution of this paper is detection of such misconceptions, analysis of their roots, and proposing a way to address them in an undergraduate TCC course. Our observations suggest that the main source of the misconceptions is the false intuitive rule “the bigger is a set/problem, the harder it is to solve”. Accordingly, we developed a series of exercises for proactive prevention of these misconceptions. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

To support teachers to implement Computer Science curricula into classrooms from the very first year of school, teachers, schools and organisations seek quality curriculum resources to support implementation and teacher professional development. Until now, many Computer Science resources and outreach initiatives have targeted K-12 school-age children, with the intention to engage children and increase interest, rather than to formally teach concepts and skills. What is the educational quality of existing Computer Science resources and to what extent are they suitable for classroom learning and teaching? In this paper, an assessment framework is presented to evaluate the quality of online Computer Science resources. Further, a semi-systematic review of available online Computer Science resources was conducted to evaluate resources available for classroom learning and teaching and to identify gaps in resource availability, using the Australian curriculum as a case study analysis. The findings reveal a predominance of quality resources, however, a number of critical gaps were identified. This paper provides recommendations and guidance for the development of new and supplementary resources and future research. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

There is growing appreciation of the importance of understanding the student perspective in Higher Education (HE) at both institutional and international levels. This is particularly important in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics subjects such as Computer Science (CS) and Engineering in which industry needs are high but so are student dropout rates. An important factor to consider is the management of students’ initial expectations of university study and career. This paper reports on a study of CS first-year students’ expectations across three European countries using qualitative data from student surveys and essays. Expectation is examined from both short-term (topics to be studied) and long-term (career goals) perspectives. Tackling these issues will help paint a picture of computing education through students’ eyes and explore their vision of its and their role in society. It will also help educators prepare students more effectively for university study and to improve the student experience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents the usage of Integrated Course Design (ICD) in the design and evaluation of applying agile methodologies within an undergraduate module of study to foster the development of computer science students employability skills. Undergraduate programs of computer science typically follow traditional educational methods which can lead to students unable to connect knowledge learned in class to actual situations and students are often assessed individually, whereas collaborative group projects are more akin to industry practice. The teaching experience reported gives students the opportunity to relate concepts learnt in class to a practical group-based project. Students must meet the requirements of a 'client' who will provide feedback and additional challenges for students while following the Agile framework SCRUM. Positive student feedback and module grades 7.70% higher than the department average over a four year period indicates the teaching structure and assessment presented is an effective method to foster the development of technical and soft skills of undergraduate computer science students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Computer science, like technology in general, is seen as a masculine field and the under-representation of women an intransigent problem. In this paper, we argue that the cultural belief in Australia that computer science is a domain for men results in many girls and women being chased away from that field as part of a border protection campaign by some males – secondary school teachers, boys and men playing games online and young men on campus at university. We draw on American feminist philosopher, Iris Marion Young’s analysis of the ‘five faces’ of oppression to suggest strategies whereby Australian universities could support women in computer science and educate men about respectful behaviour and gender equity. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Computational thinking (CT) is considered as a valuable literacy for all students, and its inclusion in compulsory schooling could increase the numbers of underrepresented students who pursue computing-related careers. Computer Science Unplugged (CSU) had success in making computer science (CS) accessible to K–12 students in outreach settings. Such "unplugged" approaches have the potential to do the same in formal education. This review considers how research findings on unplugged pedagogies might advance CS/CT education priorities, while highlighting areas of unknown and tension. We conducted a search in academic databases using terms +unplugged "computer science" and +unplugged CT, and related terms. We synthesized our review with existing ones to inform the priorities of CS-for-all and CT development. We surfaced CSU's limitations to broaden access for underrepresented students and suggested a remedy. We proposed 10 research questions that fill key gaps to support efforts that provide just access to quality CS/CT education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Computer science education should not be based on short-term developments but on content that is observable in multiple domains of computer science, may be taught at every intellectual level, will be relevant in the longer term, and is related to everyday language and/or thinking. Recently, a catalogue of central concepts for computer science education such as algorithm, computer, and data has been empirically determined. This paper now concentrates on central processes relevant for computer science education. Experts of computer science rated 44 general-education processes regarding four criteria. By using a cluster analysis approach the following central processes for computer science education have been identified: problem solving and problem posing, analyzing, generalizing, finding relationships, classifying, and investigating. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent scholarship in computer science (CS) education shifts from a focus on the technical-cognitive skills of computational thinking to the socio-cultural goal of computational participation, often illustrated as remixing popular media (e.g. music, photos, etc.) in online communities. These activities do enhance the participatory dimensions of CS, but whether they also support broadening the participation of underrepresented youth remains unclear. While online communities that are dedicated to computational participation have existed in the U.S. for over a decade, many communities of color remain underrepresented in CS disciplines. How might CS educators, researchers, and technologists promote culturally responsive forms of computational participation? To answer this question, we propose a culturally responsive framework for computational participation called generative computing. Generative computing approaches CS as a means for strengthening relationships between learning environments and local communities, leveraging culturally relevant sources of wealth generation in technology design and implementation. To explore this concept, we conducted a mixed-methods study with a cosmetology high school program that predominantly serves young African-American women. Through a series of computationally and culturally rich cosmetology projects, we tested our hypothesis that generative computing can enhance connections between Black heritage, CS, and cosmetology while supporting students' academic interests and knowledge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Researchers have been looking into the complexity of computer science (CS) education and tried to apply rigorous and relevant educational research methods to understand and facilitate the learning experience of students. The purpose of this study was to explore college students' conceptions of learning CS to shed light on student learning activities, feelings, contexts, and beliefs about their learning. Draw-a-picture technique was used as an emerging research technique in CS education. Using a modified coding checklist, we analyzed the drawings into 9 categories with 50 sub-categories. College students most frequently expressed computer programming as the learning activity by illustrating syntax and semantics of programming languages in the drawings. Problem-solving constructs like decomposition and abstraction were also recorded along with other tools like diagramming techniques. Gender and prior computer science experience were analyzed as moderators. The results provide a baseline for future research on the topic and preliminary evidence in using the method to discern student learning conceptions in CS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The past five or so years have been marked by a proliferation of educational initiatives, programmes, and toys designed to introduce children to coding and to develop their skills and interest in computer science. This article takes a critical approach to this movement, focusing specifically on ways dominant discourse surrounding the coding movement constructs children, girls, and coding and puts pressure on parents to assist their children in becoming valuable to neoliberal economies. The first part of the article reviews research concerning children and coding, the STEM skills gap, and gender divides in computer science. This part concludes with a discussion of neoliberal ideologies which frame these areas of debate. The second part analyzes 71 news articles published in a six-month period in 2018 that report on coding initiatives and related toys, including Robotics Engineer Barbie™. This part of the article reveals ways these coding initiatives are framed as being essential to the future labour market, as solutions to gender parities in Computer Science fields, and as a way to create confident girls for the future workforce. The article concludes with connections to neoliberal ideologies which frame the role of parenting in the age of digital technologies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and Context: EarSketch was developed as a program to foster persistence in computer science with diverse student populations. Objective: To test the effectiveness of EarSketch in promoting intentions to persist, particularly among female students and under-represented minority students. Method: Meta-analyses, structural equation modeling, multi-level modeling, and qualitative analyses were performed to examine how participation in EarSketch and other factors affect students' intentions to persist in computing. Findings: Students significantly increased their intentions to persist in computing, g =.40[.25,54], but examination within just the five quasi-experimental studies did not result in a significant difference for students in EarSketch compared to students not in EarSketch, g =.08[−.07,.23]. Student attitudes towards computing and the perceived authenticity of the EarSketch environment significantly predicted intentions to persist in computing. Implications: Participation in computer science education can increase students' intentions to persist in programming, and EarSketch is one such program that can aid in these intentions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Recent developments in STEM and computer science education put a strong emphasis on twenty-first-century skills, such as solving authentic problems. These skills typically transcend single disciplines. Thus, problem-solving must be seen as a multidisciplinary challenge, and the corresponding practices and processes need to be described using an integrated framework. Purpose: We present a fine-grained, integrated, and interdisciplinary framework of problem-solving for education in STEM and computer science by cumulatively including ways of problem-solving from all of these domains. Thus, the framework serves as a tool box with a variety of options that are described by steps and processes for students to choose from. The framework can be used to develop competences in problem-solving. Sources of evidence: The framework was developed on the basis of a literature review. We included all prominent ways of domain-specific problem-solving in STEM and computer science, consisting mainly of empirically orientated approaches, such as inquiry in science, and solely theory-orientated approaches, such as proofs in mathematics. Main argument: Since there is an increasing demand for integrated STEM and computer science education when working on natural phenomena and authentic problems, a problem-solving framework exclusively covering the natural sciences or other single domains falls short. Conclusions: Our framework can support both practice and research by providing a common background that relates the ways, steps, processes, and activities of problem-solving in the different domains to one single common reference. In doing so, it can support teachers in explaining the multiple ways in which science problems can be solved and in constructing problems that reflect these numerous ways. STEM and computer science educational research can use the framework to develop competences of problem-solving at a fine-grained level, to construct corresponding assessment tools, and to investigate under what conditions learning progressions can be achieved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstraction, defined in Computer Science (CS) as bracketing unnecessary information from diverse components within a system, serves as a central epistemological axis in CS disciplinary and pedagogical practices. Its impressions can be seen across curricula, syllabi, classroom structures, IT systems; and other dimensions of the epistemic infrastructure of CS (Malazita [Forthcoming]. "Epistemic Infrastructures, the Instrumental Turn, and the Digital Humanities." In Debates in the Digital Humanities: Infrastructures, Institutions at the Interstices, edited by Angel Nieves, Siobhan Senier, and Anne McGrail. University of Minnesota Press). As we will argue in this essay, abstraction in CS serves as an epistemic, cultural, and ideological wall to integrated critical-technical education, rather than as a bridge. Further, this wall is disguised as a bridge: the common language used across CS and the Humanities gives the impression that abstraction can be leveraged as a boundary object (Star [2010]. "This is Not a Boundary Object: Reflections on the Origin of a Concept." Science, Technology, & Human Values 35 (5): 601–617), as a point of connection among conflicting or incommensurable epistemic cultures (Knorr Cetina [1999]. Epistemic Cultures: How the Sciences Make Knowledge. Cambridge: MIT Press). Rather, computational knowledge practices leverage abstraction's homographic-ness, epistemically structuring collaborative efforts in anti-political ways. To illustrate the impacts of abstraction, this essay will introduce 'Critical CS1,' a hybrid pedagogical approach to teaching Computer Science through feminist and critical race theory. However, other components of the epistemic infrastructures of Computer Science, from curricular structure, to IT systems, to classroom culture, to the epistemic practices of coding itself, resisted these intervention efforts, and reproduced marginalizing effects upon students within the course. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores one group's use of action research (AR) and lesson study in three US university-level computer science courses affecting 85 undergraduate computer science and engineering students. It offers an overview of three areas including AR, lesson study, and engineering soft skills. The research group identified a problem: undergraduate engineering student soft skill understanding. The group collaborated to enhance participant engagement with this problem by utilizing one lesson focused on soft skills over three research lesson iterations in three distinct university semesters (2017-2018). Field notes were the main data collection method. Observational field notes were recorded in the three research lesson iterations, and themes from the notes were identified. The group valued peer interactions, and the research lesson adaptations as well as pedagogical changes were based on evidence. Four themes were identified, and participant comments were considered as the lessons became more focused. The research group argues that AR and lesson study are separate and distinct ventures based on this yearlong experience, which is counter to some other literature presented. Implications are large for all stakeholders interested in AR, lesson study, soft skill utilization, conflict management, and participant learning impact. Possibilities for enhanced participant engagement exists with honed lesson pedagogy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We analyse race and gender trends in the Silicon Valley technology industry from 1980 to 2015, with a focus on education, employment and wages in computer science. Racial gaps in representation are more salient among programmers than in the overall technology labour force; in addition, we document a stable or increasing gender gap across all races in computer science. However, these demographic shifts are not always consistent with either a pipeline argument that there are insufficient supplies of potential underrepresented programmers or a wage explanation. Hispanic males, for example, have had increasing rates of computer science degree completions yet decreasing representation in the programmer labour force. On the other hand, White females have had decreasing representation among both degrees and the labour force despite comparatively high wages in the technology sector. The persistent and increasing race and gender gaps suggest that policies to attract underrepresented groups need to be differentiated by the group and may require significant changes in industry culture to increase the representation of these groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the past decade, abroad range of policymakers, corporations, educators, and scholars in the United States have catapulted computer science (CS) education from the sidelines to the center of K-12 public education discourse. While calls for CS education are often framed in terms of national and economic competitiveness, there is a growing interest amongst equity scholars in curricular interventions that directly engage the ethical and sociopolitical issues surrounding CS and its role in society. Yet, less attention has been given to how sociocultural dynamics of classrooms play a mediating role in these spaces. Drawing on video data from an equity-oriented CS classroom, we argue aconflict that arose during design activities was rooted in alack of trust and solidarity between students. Ultimately, we make the case that in addition to curricular innovations, equity efforts in CS education must prioritize the cultivation of positive student relationships. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article suggests that logic puzzles, such as the well-known Tower of Hanoi puzzle, can be used to introduce computer science concepts to mathematics students of all ages. Mathematics teachers introduce their students to computer science concepts that are enacted spontaneously and subconsciously throughout the solution to the Tower of Hanoi puzzle. These concepts include, but are not limited to, conditionals, iteration, and recursion. Lessons, such as the one proposed in this article, are easily implementable in mathematics classrooms and extracurricular programmes as they are good candidates for ‘drop in’ lessons that do not need to fit into any particular place in the typical curriculum sequence. As an example for readers, the author describes how she used the puzzle in her own Number Sense and Logic course during the federally funded Upward Bound Math/Science summer programme for college-intending low-income high school students. The article explains each computer science term with real-life and mathematical examples, applies each term to the Tower of Hanoi puzzle solution, and describes how students connected the terms to their own solutions of the puzzle. It is timely and important to expose mathematics students to computer science concepts. Given the rate at which technology is currently advancing, and our increased dependence on technology in our daily lives, it has become more important than ever for children to be exposed to computer science. Yet, despite the importance of exposing today's children to computer science, many children are not given adequate opportunity to learn computer science in schools. In the United States, for example, most students finish high school without ever taking a computing course. Mathematics lessons, such as the one described in this article, can help to make computer science more accessible to students who may have otherwise had little opportunity to be introduced to these increasingly important concepts. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

While there has been a remarkable interest to make computer science a core K-12 academic subject in the United States, there is a shortage of K-12 computer science teachers to successfully implement computer sciences courses in schools. In order to enhance computer science teacher capacity, training programs have been offered through teacher professional development. In this study, the main goal was to systematically review the studies regarding computer science professional development to understand the scope, context, and effectiveness of these programs in the past decade (2004–2014). Based on 21 journal articles and conference proceedings, this study explored: (1) Type of professional development organization and source of funding, (2) professional development structure and participants, (3) goal of professional development and type of evaluation used, (4) specific computer science concepts and training tools used, (5) and their effectiveness to improve teacher practice and student learning. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Previous studies have shown that students with low knowledge understand and learn better from more cohesive texts, whereas high-knowledge students have been shown to learn better from texts of lower cohesion. This study examines whether high-knowledge readers in computer science benefit from a text of low cohesion. Undergraduate students (n = 65) read one of four versions of a text concerning Local Network Topologies, orthogonally varying local and global cohesion. Participants' comprehension was examined through free-recall measure, text-based, bridging-inference, elaborative-inference, problem-solving questions and a sorting task. The results indicated that high-knowledge readers benefited from the low-cohesion text. The interaction of text cohesion and knowledge was reliable for the sorting activity, for elaborative-inference and for problem-solving questions. Although high-knowledge readers performed better in text-based and in bridging-inference questions with the low-cohesion text, the interaction of text cohesion and knowledge was not reliable. The results suggest a more complex view of when and for whom textual cohesion affects comprehension and consequently learning in computer science. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Project MLeXAI (Machine Learning eXperiences in Artificial Intelligence (AI)) seeks to build a set of reusable course curriculum and hands on laboratory projects for the artificial intelligence classroom. In this article, we describe two game-based projects from the second phase of project MLeXAI: Robot Defense - a simple real-time strategy game and Checkers - a classic turn-based board game. From the instructors' prospective, we examine aspects of design and implementation as well as the challenges and rewards of using the curricula. We explore students' responses to the projects via the results of a common survey. Finally, we compare the student perceptions from the game-based projects to non-game based projects from the first phase of Project MLeXAI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A national web-based survey was administered to 700 undergraduate computer science (CS) programs in the United States as part of a stratified random sample of 797 undergraduate CS programs. The 251 program responses (36% response rate) regarding social and professional issues are presented. This article describes the demographics of the respondents, presents results concerning whether programs teach social and professional issues, how social and professional issues are integrated, perceptions of CS faculty regarding the importance of social and professional issues, pedagogies used to teach social and professional issues, and what specific social and professional topics have been included in the CS curriculum. Additionally, we (a) provide suggestions for CS programs regarding the integration of social and professional issues into the CS curriculum, (b) suggest ways to encourage more social and professional coverage in CS programs, pedagogy, and (c) recommend what social and professional topics should be included in future CS curriculum reports. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Educators in the computing fields are often familiar with the characterization of computing as a combination of theoretical, scientific, and engineering traditions. That distinction is often used to guide the work and disciplinary self-identity of computing professionals. But the distinction is, by no means, an easy one. The three traditions of computing are based on different principles, they have different aims, they employ different methods, and their products are very different. Educators in the field of computing should be aware of the fundamental differences between the traditions of computing so that they can offer their students a truthful and balanced view about computing branches. In this article the three traditions of computing are presented and some of their underlying assumptions, principles, application areas, restrictions, and weaknesses are portrayed. Also, some of the landmark arguments in the debates about the identity of computing disciplines are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A review of the international research literature pertaining to gender and information technology (IT) schooling reveals changing ideas about what constitutes a gender problem. Much of the literature is concerned with gender differences in computer uses and interests and perceived disadvantages accruing to females as a result of these differences. This reflects and contributes to a dominant liberal equity discourse. Growing awareness of the limitations of earlier research, the changing nature of IT schooling, contradictions in students' computer interests and dissatisfaction with simplistic explanations has led, however, to post-structural rethinking and the emergence of a critical discourse. Assumptions of essential differences and deficit ways of thinking are challenged. Persistent gender differences in IT use are explored in their social complexity and the very notion that there is a gender problem is problematised. This presents a different and ultimately more satisfying way of thinking about the problem of gender and IT schooling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We explain certain learning difficulties in computer science education as resulting from a clash between the students' culture as computer users and the professional computing culture. We propose the concept of fertile zones of cultural encounter as a way of overcoming these learning difficulties. This pedagogical approach aims to bridge the gap between cultures by designing interventions that are appreciated by members of both cultures, yet also guide the student to engage in the practices of the professional culture. The learning difficulties are demonstrated by a detailed analysis of episodes taken from an advanced high school computer science course in concurrency. We show that fertile zones of cultural encounter can be successful in significantly improving learning of this subject. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study uses primary empirical data to better understand women's reasons for leaving undergraduate computer science and computer engineering education programs. It draws on social control theory to integrate student perspectives with structural considerations, demonstrating how secondhand knowledge of comparatively infrequent negative experiences achieves substantial immediacy and veracity among women students en masse, thereby contributing to increased attrition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]