Where\u27s (the) computer science in service-learning?

Service-learning is a form of experiential learning that integrates classroom concepts with related community service. Computer science faculty and students stand to reap great benefit from the integration of service-learning practice and philosophy into curricula. Many faculty are already doing so, yet computer science is not very visible in the service-learning community. Similarly, service-learning is not very visible in the computer science education community. It is imperative for those computer science faculty involved in service-learning to develop, apply and disseminate effective frameworks for integrating service learning into undergraduate computer science curricula so that its benefits may be more fully realized

MyWorld: Testing Female Preferred Gaming Criteria

In this paper we describe research conducted to determine the validity of ten criteria previous research has shown that females enjoy in computer games. These criteria were embodied in a graphical online multiplayer game, MyWorld, which was evaluated by users in order to determine the validity of the embodied criteria. The game itself was a novel idea in which players could add their own images to the virtual world. It was found that seven of the ten criteria are preferred by females and should be incorporated in gender aware games

Predicting and Improving Performance on Introductory Programming Courses (CS1)

This thesis describes a longitudinal study on factors which predict academic success in introductory programming at undergraduate level, including the development of these factors into a fully automated web based system (which predicts students who are at risk of not succeeding early in the introductory programming module) and interventions to address attrition rates on introductory programming courses (CS1). Numerous studies have developed models for predicting success in CS1, however there is little evidence on their ability to generalise or on their use beyond early investigations. In addition, they are seldom followed up with interventions, after struggling students have been identified. The approach overcomes this by providing a web-based real time system, with a prediction model at its core that has been longitudinally developed and revalidated, with recommendations for interventions which educators could implement to support struggling students that have been identified. This thesis makes five fundamental contributions. The first is a revalidation of a prediction model named PreSS. The second contribution is the development of a web-based, real time implementation of the PreSS model, named PreSS#. The third contribution is a large longitudinal, multi-variate, multi-institutional study identifying predictors of performance and analysing machine learning techniques (including deep learning and convolutional neural networks) to further develop the PreSS model. This resulted in a prediction model with approximately 71% accuracy, and over 80% sensitivity, using data from 11 institutions with a sample size of 692 students. The fourth contribution is a study on insights on gender differences in CS1; identifying psychological, background, and performance differences between male and female students to better inform the prediction model and the interventions. The final, fifth contribution, is the development of two interventions that can be implemented early in CS1, once identified by PreSS# to potentially improve student outcomes. The work described in this thesis builds substantially on earlier work, providing valid and reliable insights on gender differences, potential interventions to improve performance and an unsurpassed, generalizable prediction model, developed into a real time web-based system

Learning practices and teaching methods as factors in gender inequity in undergraduate computer science programs.

The primary purpose of this study is to detect student difficulties in adapting to the undergraduate computer science program. The research was conducted in the Department of Computer Science at a medium sized urban university in Ontario. Subjects were 16 students (ten males and six females) from the first to the third year of study and two professors. For this research mixed methods methodologies (QUAL+quan) were used. Qualitative methods were preponderant and were used in order to explore differences and difficulties both genders have in computer science program and modalities to deal with them. Quantitative methods were used to compare and analyze some of the details. Most female students had initial experience in using computers but few of them had previous experience in programming. During the program they were focused more on academic achievements but they were not oriented to developing practical projects and preparing for the realities of work in the IT industry. In relation to teaching, female students were more sensitive to teaching than male students. During the program, anxiety, lack of confidence and underachievement of female students progressed. The research revealed that the majority of males had initial experience in computer programming. During the program, they acquired more confidence and greater experience in programming and had more mature thoughts about the IT career than their female colleagues. Male students were oriented more on achieving real experience. Due to the fact that males were working in different informal settings, this helped them to extend and diversify their experience. Male students were more independent of teacher performances, being more willing to take ownership of learning process, especially in cases when teaching was not effective. Male students easily formed social networks that were able to help them. Female students had better social and communicational skills. However, because they were small in number and lacked initiative and support, they failed to coagulate social networks able to support themselves. Related feminism approaches, the author appreciate that liberal feminism is most likely to succeed in preparing women for a traditionally male dominated workplace. Paper copy at Leddy Library: Theses & Major Papers - Basement, West Bldg. / Call Number: Thesis2006 .S76. Source: Masters Abstracts International, Volume: 45-01, page: 0045. Thesis (M.Ed.)--University of Windsor (Canada), 2006

Seminal Barriers to Female High School Students’ Choice of Information Technology as a Career Alternative

The under-representation of women in the IT profession is a well-known Information Systems phenomenon. Unlike the other sciences and mathematics, where the percentage of women receiving bachelor’s degrees has increased over the past two decades, the percentage of women obtaining degrees in technology has decreased. Information Technology started strong in 1984 with 37.06% women receiving bachelor’s degrees; however, 2004 brought a decrease to a low of 25.05%, near the level of three decades earlier. The consequences of this under-representation include non-diverse IT solutions, a predicted IT workforce shortage, and the United States losing its ability to participate as a fervent technological contributor in a global arena. Despite the importance of this issue, previous research has yielded isolated and often conflicting results. Past researchers have concentrated on small subsets rather than examining the complete breadth of barriers to the recruitment and retention of women in the IT field. This research consisted of seven major activities. First, a four-staged IT Career Lifecycle model was developed which advances the work of prior research. Second, it was determined that the specific scope and focus of this research would consist of Stage I of the IT Career Lifecycle model at a point where high school girls are considering college majors. Third, a literature review was conducted to establish a comprehensive list of Stage I barriers that have been identified by previous researchers. Fourth, a second new model was established that identifies and classifies all of the Stage I barriers identified by the literature. As part of this model’s development process, fourteen barriers were analyzed, summarized, and categorized into three sources: the girls, the IT community, and the societal influencers. Fifth, fourteen hypotheses were developed to validate the Stage I Barriers Model. Sixth, a survey was conducted to validate the Stage I model, determine the most prevalent barriers, identify new barriers, and capture the attitudes and perceptions of high school girls regarding the IT profession and its workers. The survey was administered to 417 female junior and senior girls in four high schools in the Chicago metropolitan area. Seventh, the Stage I model was reconstructed to incorporate the knowledge gained from the survey. Thus, through the process of this research, the reconstructed Barrier Model was grounded in research literature and validated through the “real world” view of high school girls’ attitudes, perceptions, and interests in computers and IT careers. Although the goal of the survey was to examine barriers to high school girls’ entry into the Information Technology field of study, findings went beyond that, falling into three main categories: barriers, enablers, and predictors. As expected, some of the findings identified significant barriers that were incorporated into a reconstructed Barrier Model. However, some results uncovered factors that were clearly, not identified as barriers by the participants. Consequently, some originally proposed barriers were reclassified as enablers and others as predictors of IT majors. Still other factors were recognized as having the potential to be classified in more than one way, barriers, enablers, or predictors. Since the original scope of the research incorporated barriers only, a framework did not exist to capture significant findings on enablers or predictors. Therefore, two additional models were developed, the IT Career Enabler and the IT Career Predictor. Additionally, this research created a new Pre-College IT Career framework to contain the three models, embracing factors that may influence high school girls in their potential pursuit of IT careers

MOOC-idel osalemise motiivide soolised erinevused MOOC-i "Programmeerimisest maalähedaselt" näitel

http://www.ester.ee/record=b4688501*es

L’incidence de l’utilisation de l’ordinateur à des fins personnelles sur la motivation et l’engagement scolaire

Le but du présent projet de thèse est d’étudier le lien entre les habitudes à l’endroit des technologies de l’information et de la communication (TIC) et la motivation à apprendre. Bien que l’utilisation de l’ordinateur en contexte scolaire ait été étudiée en profondeur au cours des dernières années, la majorité des études présentent la même perspective : elles examinent l’effet de l’utilisation des technologies à l’école sur le rendement et la motivation scolaire des élèves. Cependant, on connaît mal l’effet de l’utilisation des technologies à des fins personnelles sur le vécu scolaire. Il apparait que les élèves n’ont pas tous les mêmes opportunités en ce qui a trait à l’utilisation des TIC et n’acquièrent donc pas tous les mêmes compétences dans ce domaine. Quelques recherches se sont intéressées aux effets de l’ordinateur (sa présence et son utilisation à la maison) sur le rendement à l’école. Bien qu’en majorité, les auteurs s’entendent sur les bénéfices que pourrait générer l’ordinateur, ils restent prudents sur les rapports de cause à effet (Beltran, Das et Fairlie, 2008; OCDE, 2006). Nous avons voulu aborder la question différemment : déterminer les possibles liens entre les habitudes d’utilisation de l’ordinateur à des fins personnelles et la motivation à apprendre à l’école. À cet égard, la motivation pour les sciences a été retenue puisque cette matière scolaire fait souvent appel à des compétences associées à l’utilisation des TIC. Pour répondre à nos objectifs, 331 élèves du cours ordinaire de sciences et technologie au premier cycle du secondaire ont remplis un questionnaire autorapporté, composé de sept échelles motivationnelles et d’un questionnaire lié à l’utilisation des TIC. Nous avons d’abord dégagé des profils d’utilisateurs à partir des différentes utilisations de l’ordinateur. Ensuite, nous avons examiné ces profils en lien avec leurs caractéristiques motivationnelles (le sentiment de compétence, l’anxiété, l’intérêt et les buts d’accomplissement) et l’engagement pour le cours de sciences. Finalement, nous avons déterminé la valeur prédictive de l’utilisation de l’ordinateur sur les variables motivationnelles retenues. Nos résultats montrent que l’utilisation personnelle des TIC ne se fait pas nécessairement au détriment de l’école. Nous avons trouvé que les élèves qui utilisent davantage les TIC dans leurs temps libres, et ce, avec des utilisations diversifiées, ont des caractéristiques motivationnelles plus positives. Toutefois, nous constatons que le type d’usage est lié à un effet médiateur positif ou négatif sur la motivation à apprendre. Les élèves qui limitent leurs utilisations de l’ordinateur à la communication et aux jeux ont des caractéristiques motivationnelles plus négatives que ceux avec des utilisations variées. Les usages centrés sur la communication semblent être ceux qui sont le plus susceptibles d’être liés négativement à la motivation à apprendre alors que ceux orientés vers les usages à caractère intellectuel s’avèrent plus positifs. Les résultats suggèrent que la clé ne réside pas dans le temps d'utilisation mais plutôt dans l'utilisation judicieuse de ce temps. En favorisant des usages à caractère intellectuel, tout en laissant des temps libres aux jeunes, nous augmentons leurs chances de développer de bonnes habitudes technologiques qui seront essentielles dans la société de demain.This thesis’ subject was to study the relationship between the personal uses of computers and motivational attitudes in science. Even though computer uses in educational context have been extensively studied in recent years, the bulk of the research was focused on describing the impact of computer activities and utilizations at school on achievement and motivation in different subject matter. However, little is known about the impact of personal uses of computer on school experience. Moreover, despite an increase of households with computers, not every child has the same opportunity to use them. These children do not develop their computer literacy outside school, and this phenomenon could have an effect on academic related tasks. Some studies have focused on the effect of computers (their presence and use) on academic performance. Although they are unanimous about the positive impact of computers, researchers remain cautious in their conclusions (Beltran et al., 2008; OCDE, 2006). They stress that a direct cause to effect relation is not easy to establish. Moreover, those studies mainly examined school achievement. We wanted to address the issue differently: to determine the relation between personal computer uses and motivation at school. For this purpose, motivation in sciences was chosen. This subject matter often requires skills associated with ICT and computers. To do so, 331 students from public high schools in the Montreal area, in the regular sciences classes in 7th and 8th grade were selected. They completed a questionnaire composed of 7 motivational scales and several ICT usages questions. To meet our objectives, we established ICT profiles, based on personal uses of computer. With those profiles, we examined differences within motivational characteristics (competence beliefs, anxiety, interest and achievement goals) and commitment for the sciences courses. Our results show that time spent on personal computer use does not necessarily have a negative impact on school. We found that students who frequently use computers in their spare time, with a variety of usage, have more positive motivational characteristics. However, by delving deeper in our results, we found that the type of uses could be linked to positive or negative inducing effects on the motivation to learn. Indeed, students who use computers mostly for communication and playing games have less motivation that student with more various usages. Moreover, communication uses seem to be the most problematic type of usage while uses with intellectual nature have a more positive effect. Our study found that having a computer at home is not a synonym of frequent usage by young people. Our results suggest that the key to motivational success is the use made of the time spent in front of the computer not only the time spent. By encouraging uses of intellectual nature, we increase chances of developing positive technological habits that will be essential in tomorrow’s society

A molecular and cellular characterisation of the effects of neonicotinoid pesticides on the brain of the pollinator Bombus terrestris.

Bombus terrestris (L.) is one of the most important native and commercial pollinator species worldwide. Along with other pollinators their populations are in decline due to a multifactorial phenomenon that includes the extensive use of neonicotinoid insecticides. Thus, the characterisation and understanding of neonicotinoid effects on bees at the molecular level is essential to mitigate the risks of their use in the environment. This study initially characterised the brain proteomes of bumblebees in response to aging prior to assessing changes at the behavioural, cellular and molecular level as a response to neonicotinoid exposure. We demonstrated the highly catalytic nature of the developing bumblebee brain and how energy and carbohydrate metabolism increase in response to aging, while genetic information processes are downregulated. By considering differences in mode of action and mode of exposure to the neonicotinoids clothianidin and imidacloprid, the effects of acute and chronic oral exposure on bumblebee workers were determined. Neonicotinoids differentially impair energy metabolism and structural processes in the brain suggesting possible divergence of insecticide mode of action. Clothianidin and imidacloprid triggered different behavioural responses and toxicity in bees, with the former causing hyperactivity and the latter, temporal paralysis. Imidacloprid is less toxic to bumblebees and the brain physiology is differentially affected depending on chemical, dose or mode of exposure selected. The levels of the synapse associated protein synapsin increased in bumblebee brains for imidacloprid-exposed bees only, and functional annotation analysis of differential expressed proteins indicated impairment of intracellular transport, energy metabolism, translational activity, purines and pyrimidines metabolism, endocytic and exocytic activity and synaptic functioning as a whole. The pathways affected by neonicotinoid exposure vary depending on chemical and mode of exposure, which complicates the identification of biomarkers of neonicotinoid exposure in bumblebees. In addition, neonicotinoid metabolism in bees is poorly understood and these chemicals can accumulate in the bee body, which potentially contributes to long term toxicity. Overall the results presented in this thesis demonstrate individual and distinct ways by which neonicotinoids influence neuronal communication and provide novel insights into molecular aspects of bee health, through highlighting the pathways affected by aging and pesticide use on this important pollinator species