“I told you this last time, right?”: Re-visiting narratives of STEM education

The stories we tell ourselves and others - both as individuals and as a community - reflect how we make sense of our lives. Our work using narrative methods has explored how university graduates make sense of their learning experiences and how these fit within their wider learning trajectories. In this paper, we discuss work we conducted with a group of a dozen students who, when first interviewed, were in the second half of their undergraduate education at Olin College of Engineering. All twelve participants were re-interviewed four years later, after they had graduated, using the same narrative protocol that asked them to describe their learning 'life' as if it was a book, and to identify and describe individual chapters of their experience. The pairs of interviews were analysed with respect to their form and their content. In regard to form, a classification of these repeated stories is derived. Thematic analysis of the content examines a) how students come to study and practice computing and b) the continuing, and changing influence of a university education over time, as students construct an individual sense of coherence

Improving Computational Thinking with Spatial Skills Development in Primary School

Spatial skills frequently correlate with many measures of computing success, and indeed with wider STEM achievement. Spatial skills training has also been shown to improve computing outcomes at multiple institutions of higher education with first-year university students. However, there is a good chance that even though we can improve the spatial skills of undergraduate students to help them succeed at computing, many students will have already opted-out of computing learning pathways in school due to poor spatial skills. Using a spatialised maths curriculum, we intend to improve the spatial skills of primary school children aged 8–9 and investigate the effect on their computational thinking. With this poster, we would like to share our work so that others can consider deploying similar programmes, and to hear feedback from the CS education community on what other aspects and factors we should consider

Identifying SQL misconceptions of novices: findings from a think-aloud study

SQL is the most commonly taught database query language. While previous research has investigated the errors made by novices during SQL query formulation, the underlying causes for these errors have remained unexplored. Understanding the basic misconceptions held by novices which lead to these errors would help improve how we teach query languages to our students. In this paper we aim to identify the misconceptions that might be the causes of documented SQL errors that novices make. To this end, we conducted a qualitative think-aloud study to gather information on the thinking process of university students while solving query formulation problems. With the queries in hand, we analyzed the underlying causes for the errors made by our participants. In this paper we present the identified SQL misconceptions organized into four top-level categories: misconceptions based in previous course knowledge, generalization-based misconceptions, language-based misconceptions, and misconceptions due to an incomplete or incorrect mental model. A deep exploration of misconceptions can uncover gaps in instruction. By drawing attention to these, we aim to improve SQL education.Algorithms and the Foundations of Software technolog

Investigating the Relationship Between Spatial Skills and Computer Science

The relationship between spatial skills training and computer science learning is unclear. Reported experiments provide tantalising, though not convincing, evidence that training a programming student's spatial skills may accelerate the development of their programming skills. Given the well-documented challenge of learning to program, such acceleration would be welcomed. Despite the experimental results, no attempt has been made to develop a model of how a linkage between spatial skills and computer science ability might operate, hampering the development of a sound research programme to investigate the issue further. This paper surveys the literature on spatial skills and investigates the various underlying cognitive skills involved. It poses a theoretical model for the relationship between computer science ability and spatial skills, exploring ways in which the cognitive processes involved in each overlap, and hence may influence one another. An experiment shows that spatial skills typically increase as the level of academic achievement in computer science increases. Overall, this work provides a substantial foundation for, and encouragement to develop, a major research programme investigating precisely how spatial skills training influences computer science learning, and hence whether computer science education could be significantly improved

Introductory programming in higher education: A systematic literature review

A systematic literature review was performed on 33 papers obtained from the ACM, IEEE and Sciencedirect databases, in order to understand in depth, the introductory programming discipline (CS1) in higher education. Recently published works have been covered, providing an overview of the teaching-learning process of introductory programming and enabling to find out whether the research developed by universities worldwide is in line with the proposals made by ACM/IEEE-CS group for computer courses, regarding the transition to the competency-based model. The results show that the new techniques/technologies currently used in software development, as an example of agile methodology, has influenced the teaching-learning process of CS1 together with methods such as visual programming and e-learning. The analyzed papers discuss the importance of developing not only technical, but also social skills, corroborating that methodologies used in introductory programming courses need to focus on preparing students for an increasingly competitive market, associating new skills with technical aspects.This work is supported by CIEd – Research Centre on Education, Institute of Education, University of Minh

Learning with Robotics in Primary Education? A Means of Stimulating Computational Thinking

La tecnología ha transformado el escenario social incorporando estrategias, técnicas y métodos para obtener procesos educativos más significativos. Una de las principales iniciativas que se promueve es el fortalecimiento de habilidades y competencias sobre programación y pensamiento computacional. Este artículo evidencia el efecto de un programa formativo utilizando robótica educativa en la adquisición de habilidades de pensamiento computacional y programación en niños de corta edad. El diseño de la investigación es de tipo cuasi-experimental, con medidas pretest y postest, con grupo experimental y control. La muestra la integran 46 estudiantes del primer curso de Educación Primaria, con edades entre 6 y 7 años, pertenecientes a un centro educativo español. El pensamiento computacional se mide a través de las dimensiones: pensamiento algorítmico-secuencias, abstracción-patrones y depuración. Las actividades de aprendizaje utilizadas en las sesiones de intervención fueron una adaptación de las acciones formativas propuestas en el programa de estudio en robótica “TangibleK”. Los resultados obtenidos muestran efectos positivos en relación con el desempeño alcanzado por los participantes en las actividades desarrolladas. Lo que manifiesta un efecto significativo en el fortalecimiento de habilidades vinculadas al pensamiento computacional. Las diferencias encontradas entre las medidas pretest y postest del grupo experimental son estadísticamente significativas y superiores a las que presenta el grupo control. De esta forma se concluye que los participantes del programa formativo en robótica y programación obtienen un mayor avance en las tres dimensiones de la competencia computacional explorada. Technology has transformed the social scenario by incorporating strategies, techniques and methods to obtain more significant educational processes. The main initiative promoted is the strengthening of skills and competencies in programming and computational thinking. This article evidences the effect of a training program on educational robotics on the acquisition of computational thinking and programming skills in young children. The research design is quasi-experimental, with pretest and post-test measures, with an experimental and control group. The sample of participants consists of 46 students of the first year of Primary Education, with age between 6 and 7 years, belonging to a Spanish educational centre. Computational thinking is measured through the dimensions: algorithmic thinking sequences, abstraction-patterns and debugging. The learning activities used in the intervention sessions were an adaptation of the training actions proposed in the robotics study program “TangibleK”. The results obtained in this study reveal positive effects concerning the performance achieved by the participants in the activities carried out. This indicates a significant effect on the strengthening of skills linked to computational thinking.  The differences found between the pretest and post-test measures of the experimental group are statistically significant and superior to those presented by the control group. In this way, it was concluded that the participants of the training program in robotics and programming obtain a more significant advance in the three dimensions of the computational competence explored

A Human-Centric System for Symbolic Reasoning About Code

While testing and tracing on specific input values are useful starting points for students to understand program behavior, ultimately students need to be able to reason rigorously and logically about the correctness of their code on all inputs without having to run the code. Symbolic reasoning is reasoning abstractly about code using arbitrary symbolic input values, as opposed to specific concrete inputs. The overarching goal of this research is to help students learn symbolic reasoning, beginning with code containing simple assertions as a foundation and proceeding to code involving data abstractions and loop invariants. Toward achieving this goal, this research has employed multiple experiments across five years at three institutions: a large, public university, an HBCU (Historically Black Colleges and Universities), and an HSI (Hispanic Serving Institution). A total of 862 students participated across all variations of the study. Interactive, online tools can enhance student learning because they can provide targeted help that would be prohibitively expensive without automation. The research experiments employ two such symbolic reasoning tools that had been developed earlier and a newly designed human-centric reasoning system (HCRS). The HCRS is a first step in building a generalized tutor that achieves a level of resolution necessary to identify difficulties and suggest appropriate interventions. The experiments show the value of tools in pinpointing and classifying difficulties in learning symbolic reasoning, as well as in learning design-by-contract assertions and applying them to develop loop invariants for code involving objects. Statistically significant results include the following. Students are able to learn symbolic reasoning with the aid of instruction and an online tool. Motivation improves student perception and attitude towards symbolic reasoning. Tool usage improves student performance on symbolic reasoning, their explanations of the larger purpose of code segments, and self-efficacy for all subpopulations

Software Analytics to Support Students in Object-Oriented Programming Tasks: An Empirical Study

The computing education community has shown a long-time interest in how to analyze the Object-Oriented (OO) source code developed by students to provide them with useful formative tips. Instructors need to understand the student's difficulties to provide precise feedback on most frequent mistakes and to shape, design and effectively drive the course. This paper proposes and evaluates an approach allowing to analyze student's source code and to automatically generate feedback about the more common violations of the produced code. The approach is implemented through a cloud-based tool allowing to monitor how students use language constructs based on the analysis of the most common violations of the Object-Oriented paradigm in the student source code. Moreover, the tool supports the generation of reports about student's mistakes and misconceptions that can be used to improve the students' education. The paper reports the results of a quasi-experiment performed in a class of a CS1 course to investigate the effects of the provided reports in terms of coding ability (concerning the correctness and the quality of the produced source code). Results show that after the course the treatment group obtained higher scores and produced better source code than the control group following the feedback provided by the teachers

Introducing Computational Thinking in K-12 Education: Historical, Epistemological, Pedagogical, Cognitive, and Affective Aspects

Introduction of scientific and cultural aspects of Computer Science (CS) (called "Computational Thinking" - CT) in K-12 education is fundamental. We focus on three crucial areas. 1. Historical, philosophical, and pedagogical aspects. What are the big ideas of CS we must teach? What are the historical and pedagogical contexts in which CT emerged, and why are relevant? What is the relationship between learning theories (e.g., constructivism) and teaching approaches (e.g., plugged and unplugged)? 2. Cognitive aspects. What is the sentiment of generalist teachers not trained to teach CS? What misconceptions do they hold about concepts like CT and "coding"? 3. Affective and motivational aspects. What is the impact of personal beliefs about intelligence (mindset) and about CS ability? What the role of teaching approaches? This research has been conducted both through historical and philosophical argumentation, and through quantitative and qualitative studies (both on nationwide samples and small significant ones), in particular through the lens of (often exaggerated) claims about transfer from CS to other skills. Four important claims are substantiated. 1. CS should be introduced in K-12 as a tool to understand and act in our digital world, and to use the power of computation for meaningful learning. CT is the conceptual sediment of that learning. We designed a curriculum proposal in this direction. 2. The expressions CT (useful to distantiate from digital literacy) and "coding" can cause misconceptions among teachers, who focus mainly on transfer to general thinking skills. Both disciplinary and pedagogical teacher training is hence needed. 3. Some plugged and unplugged teaching tools have intrinsic constructivist characteristics that can facilitate CS learning, as shown with proposed activities. 4. Growth mindset is not automatically fostered by CS, while not studying CS can foster fixed beliefs. Growth mindset can be fostered by creative computing, leveraging on its constructivist aspects

Game-Based Learning, Gamification in Education and Serious Games

The aim of this book is to present and discuss new advances in serious games to show how they could enhance the effectiveness and outreach of education, advertising, social awareness, health, policies, etc. We present their use in structured learning activities, not only with a focus on game-based learning, but also on the use of game elements and game design techniques to gamify the learning process. The published contributions really demonstrate the wide scope of application of game-based approaches in terms of purpose, target groups, technologies and domains and one aspect they have in common is that they provide evidence of how effective serious games, game-based learning and gamification can be