Emerging Scholars Program—A PLTL-CS Program That Increases Recruitment and Retention of Women in the Major

The Emerging Scholars Program (ESP) in Computer Science is a Peer Led Team Learning (PLTL) approach to bringing undergraduates new to the discipline together with peer mentors to work on computational problems, and to expose them to the broad array of disciplines within computer science. This program demonstrates that computer science is necessarily a collaborative activity that focuses more on problem solving and algorithmic thinking than on programming. In spring 2012 the computer science department at an urban research university university completed the 9th iteration of ESP, with 104 women and 36 men completing the program. Our evaluation data indicates that ESP increased enrollment in the computer science major. 47% of students who took ESP along with the introduction to computer programming course at the university study site during this study majored in computer science. In addition, survey results indicated that a large majority of students intended to take another computer science course, were enthusiastic about the program, and found the workshop topics exciting and engaging. Participants reported that they learned more about computer science in ESP, and would recommend ESP to others

Development of Interactive E-Workbook Based on Peer-Led Team Learning on Collaboration Skills and Critical Thinking in Basic Chemistry Concept

Many students struggle to understand chemistry because it is abstract, conceptual, and involves numerous mathematical operations. Collaboration skills are needed for students to develop collaborative and critical thinking as part of 21st century life skills. This study aims to develop an interactive e-workbook based on PLTL (Peer-Led Team Learning) that meets the criteria of being valid, practical, and effective against collaboration and critical thinking skills. This research is an ADDIE-based development research with analysis, design, development, implementation, and evaluation stages. Limited trials were conducted on students in basic chemistry classes. The validation results show that e-workbook is valid, practical, and effective. The results of limited trial showed that collaboration skills improved in the good category with average score is 75%, and critical thinking skills improved in the medium category with average score is 0.33. It shows that the interactive e-workbook based on the PLTL model can improve collaboration and critical thinking skills and can be used to solve problems in group discussions with the help of an expert leader

Development of Interactive E-Workbook Based on Peer-Led Team Learning on Collaboration Skills and Critical Thinking in Basic Chemistry Concept

Many students struggle to understand chemistry because it is abstract, conceptual, and involves numerous mathematical operations. Collaboration skills are needed for students to develop collaborative and critical thinking as part of 21st century life skills. This study aims to develop an interactive e-workbook based on PLTL (Peer-Led Team Learning) that meets the criteria of being valid, practical, and effective against collaboration and critical thinking skills. This research is an ADDIE-based development research with analysis, design, development, implementation, and evaluation stages. Limited trials were conducted on students in basic chemistry classes. The validation results show that e-workbook is valid, practical, and effective. The results of limited trial showed that collaboration skills improved in the good category with average score is 75%, and critical thinking skills improved in the medium category with average score is 0.33. It shows that the interactive e-workbook based on the PLTL model can improve collaboration and critical thinking skills and can be used to solve problems in group discussions with the help of an expert leader

The efficacy of homogeneous groups in enhancing individual learning

One possible enhancement to improving both the teaching and the learning process is an appropriate design of a learning environment. Collaborative learning, if appropriately used, has been one such tool that has been known to benefit learners. An issue that needs to be addressed, and one that can affect individual learning is the nature of the group composition in a collaborative environment. This paper analyzes the results of an experiment that was conducted on a module in a computer science degree course. The study sought to find the relevance of group composition to the amount of individual student learning. The underlying pedagogical approach for this activity is a collaborative learning experience through team work using heterogeneous and homogeneous groups.The analysis reveals a significant improvement in individual student performance in the year the groups were made homogenous. Keywords: collaborative learning, improving classroom teaching, pedagogical issues, teaching/learning strategies, computer science education

An Exploration of Student Reasoning about Undergraduate Computer Science Concepts: An Active Learning Technique to Address Misconceptions

Computer science (CS) is a popular but often challenging major for undergraduates. As the importance of computing in the US and world economies continues to grow, the demand for successful CS majors grows accordingly. However, retention rates are low, particularly for under-represented groups such as women and racial minorities. Computing education researchers have begun to investigate causes and explore interventions to improve the success of CS students, from K-12 through higher education. In the undergraduate CS context, for example; student difficulties with pointers, functions, loops, and control flow have been observed. We and others have utilized student responses to multiple choice questions aimed at determining misconceptions, engaged in retroactive examination of code samples and design artifacts, and conducted interviews in an attempt to understand the nature of these problems. Interventions to address these problems often apply evidenced-based active learning techniques in CS classrooms as a way to engage students and improve learning.In this work, I employ a human-centered approach, one in which the focus of data collection is on the student thought processes as evidenced in their speech and writing. I seek to determine what students are thinking not only through what can be surmised in retrospect from the artifacts they create, but also to gain insight into their thoughts as they engage in the design, implementation,and analysis of those artifacts and as they reflect on those processes and artifacts shortly after. For my dissertation work, I have conducted four studies: 1. a conceptual assessment survey asking students to “Please explain your reasoning” after each answer to code tracing/execution questions followed by task-based interviews with a smaller, different group of students 2. a “coding in the wild” think aloud study that recorded the screen and audio of students as they implemented a simple program and explained their thought process 3. interview analyses of student design diagrams/documentation in a software engineering course, tasking students to explain their designs and comparing what they believed they had designed with what is actually shown from their submitted documentation. These first three studies were formative, leading to some key insights including the benefits students can gain from feedback, students’ tendencies to avoid complexity when programming or encountering concepts they do not fully grasp, the nature of student struggles with the planning stages of problem solving, and insight into the fragile understanding of some key CS concepts that students form. I leverage the benefits of feedback with guided prompts using the misconceptions uncovered in my formative studies to conduct a final, evaluative study. This study seeks to evaluate the benefits that can be gained from a guided feedback intervention for learning introductory programming concepts and compare those benefits and the effort and resource costs associated with each variation, comparing the costs and benefits associated with two forms of feedback. The first is an active learning technique I developed and deem misconception-based feedback (MBF), which has peers working in pairs use prompts based on misconceptions to guide their discussion of a recently completed coding assignment. The second is a human autograder (HAG) group acting as a control. HAG simulates typical autograders, supplying test cases and correct solutions, but utilizes a human stand-in for a computer. In both conditions, one student uses provided prompts to guide the discussion. The other student responds/interacts with their code based on the prompts. I captured screen and audio recordings of these discussions. Participants completed conceptual pre-tests and post-tests that asked them to explain their reasoning. I hypothesized that the MBF intervention will offer avaluable way to increase learning, address misconceptions, and get students more engaged that will be feasible in CS courses of any size and have benefits over the HAG intervention. Results show that for questions involving parameter passing with regards to pass by reference versus pass by value semantics, particularly with pointers, there were significant improvements in learning outcomes for the MBF group but not the HAG group

Widening the Pipeline: Identifying Practices and Structures That Effectively Recruit and Retain African-American Females in Undergraduate Computer Science Programs at Historically Black Colleges and Universities

The underrepresentation of women and women of color in the disciplines of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) is of little surprise to those of us who have kept abreast of the statistical data supporting this phenomenon. In order for the United States (U.S.) to remain “economically and globally competitive” (Ong, 2011, p. 32), it needs to increase its “advanced domestic science and technology workforce” (Ong, 2011, p.32). Perhaps, it is not a coincidence that the majority of students attending U.S. colleges are female, and the number of minority students entering college is on the rise. However, when one looks at the number of women of color entering college and the number of whom are pursuing a STEM degree, there is a significant decrease. Furthermore, the pipeline is even narrower for women pursuing computer science (CS) degrees. This exploratory qualitative study was focused on one historically Black university located in the southeast region of the U.S. This study utilized a grounded theory qualitative inquiry approach to identify practices and strategies utilized by the historically Black colleges and universities (HBCU) to effectively recruit and retain undergraduate African-American women in its CS program. The findings suggest the importance of K-12 experiences, supportive relationships among students and faculty, industry partnerships, and relevant and challenging experiences

Retention of Female Minority Students in Bachelor STEM Degree Programs: An Exploratory Study of Five Cohorts

Minority female students are under-represented in computer-related fields such as computer science, information systems, and computer engineering. Yet, minority female students are also under-represented in computer-related degree programs (Botella et al. 2019). This group of students faces unique challenges that can discourage them from continuing with a computer-related degree (Varma 2003). These challenges include a lack of writing and degree readiness skills such as mathematical and computational thinking skills (Varma 2003). Minority female students are also faced with economic challenges and family commitments which can hinder or discourage them from continuing in a degree program (Varma 2003). In addition, minority females lack female role models in academics and industry. They are influenced by the stereotypical belief that white males dominate the computer field and that certain groups do not belong in the computer field (Asai 2020). These prejudices and stereotypes can be reinforced in the home, and as a result, many minority females are not encouraged or supported to pursue or to continue in computer-related degree programs (Botella et al. 2019). The effects of these challenges are seen in the Computer Systems Technology Bachelor Degree Program of a major technical college in New York City. In this program, minority females make up a very small percentage of the overall students. In addition, compared to the white male students and the non-minority female students in the same program, the minority female students are far more likely to leave the program without graduating. This study aims to analyze retention data for minority female students (Hispanic, African American, Native American, Pacific Islander) in the Computer Systems Technology Bachelor Degree Program of a major technical college in New York City. The data gathered is from five consecutive cohort years (2014-2018) and is compared and contrasted to retention data for male and non-minority female students in the same degree program and the same five consecutive cohort years. Study findings emphasize the breadth and width of the retention narrative for these minority female students. The study, the first in a series of studies, identifies a roadmap for retention improvement and an implementation plan for supportive actions to increase retention of minority female students in the Computer Systems Technology Bachelor Degree Program

A COMPARISON OF FIRST-SEMESTER ORGANIC CHEMISTRY STUDENTS’ EXPERIENCES AND MASTERY OF CURVED-ARROW FORMALISM IN FACE-TO-FACE AND CYBER PEER-LED TEAM LEARNING

The cyber Peer-Led Team Learning (cPLTL) workshops are a synchronous online adaptation of the educational intervention PLTL, in which students, under the guidance of undergraduate peer facilitators, collaboratively solve problems in small groups. The purpose of this parallel convergent mixed methods study was to assess the impact of implementing cPLTL in an organic chemistry course on students’ workshop experiences, performance, and development of curved arrow formalism skills. Statistical analyses revealed comparable attendance rates, distribution of course grades, and achievement on American Chemical Society First-semester Organic Chemistry Exams. However, plotting workshop grades by AB, C, and DFW grade groupings revealed that PLTL students earned more successful grades than their cPLTL counterparts. Utilization of a new curved arrow formalism analytic framework for coding student interview artifacts revealed that cPLTL students were statistically less likely to successfully draw the product suggested by the curved arrows than their PLTL classmates. Both PLTL and cPLTL students exhibited a comparable incidence of relational to instrumental learning approaches. Similarly, both PLTL and cPLTL students were more likely to exhibit a common Scheme for Problem-Solving in Organic Chemistry (SPOC) than having dialogue that could be characterized by Toulmin’s Argumentation scheme. Lastly, implications for faculty are suggested, including: developing more explicit connections concept, mode, and reasoning components of understanding curved arrow formalism for organic chemistry students; optimizing graphical collaborative learning activities for online learners; and developing online students’ sense of community