Despite recent high interest among researchers and practitioners in learning programming, even the most dedicated learners can struggle to find motivation for studying and practicing programming. Therefore, in recent years, several strategies (e.g., educational games, flipped classrooms, and visual programming languages) have been employed to…

Self-regulation of learning (SRL) is an essential ability for academic success in multiple educational contexts, including programming education. However, understanding how students regulate themselves during programming learning is still limited. This exploratory research aimed to investigate the regulatory strategies externalized by 51 students…

Computer Science (CS) Unplugged activities are designed to engage students with CS concepts. It is an active learning approach combining physical interaction with visual representation. This research article investigates the impact of CS Unplugged on students' understanding of the bubble sort algorithm. Algorithm visualization, traditionally…

Use of theory within a field of research provides the foundation for designing effective research programs and establishing a deeper understanding of the results obtained. This, together with the emergence of domain-specific theory, is often taken as an indicator of the maturity of any research area. This article explores the development and…

One of the most commonly cited theories in computing education research is cognitive load theory (CLT), which explains how learning is affected by the bottleneck of human working memory and how teaching may work around that limitation. The theory has evolved over a number of decades, addressing shortcomings in earlier versions; other issues remain…

As emerging technologies are rapidly advancing as part of our societies and everyday life, it is crucial to include and empower all students in learning about computing and advanced technologies. These include technical capabilities of algorithms, such as the use of AI, that enable novel interactions between humans and their environment and give…

This study examined the effects of worked examples with different explanation types and novices' motivation on cognitive load, and how this subsequently influenced their programming problem-solving performance. Given the study's emphasis on both instructional approaches and learner motivation, the Cognitive Theory of Multimedia Learning served as…

Service learning, a high-impact pedagogy, involves integrating academic outcomes with service to the community. The success of service learning experiences depends on the development of mutually reciprocal relationships between students, instructors, and community partners, ensuring equitable benefits for all stakeholders. To explore how…

Background and Context. Computing is considered a fundamental skill for civic engagement, self-expression, and employment opportunity. Despite this, there exist significant equity gaps in post-secondary computing enrollment and retention. Specifically, in the California State University (CSU) system, which serves close to half a million…

Metacognition and self-regulation are important skills for successful learning and have been discussed and researched extensively in the general education literature for several decades. More recently, there has been growing interest in understanding how metacognitive and self-regulatory skills contribute to student success in the context of…

The 1980s and 1990s saw a robust connection between computer science education and cognitive psychology as researchers worked to understand how students learn to program. More recently, academic disciplines such as science and engineering have begun drawing on cognitive psychology research and theories of learning to create instructional materials…

Student-directed projects--projects in which students have individual control over what they create and how to create it--are a promising practice for supporting the development of conceptual understanding and personal interest in K-12 computer science classrooms. In this article, we explore a central (and perhaps counterintuitive) design…

There continues to be an increase in enrollments in various computing programs at academic institutions due to many job opportunities available in the information, communication, and technology sectors. This enrollment surge has presented several challenges in many Computer Science (CS), Information Technology (IT), and Software Engineering (SE)…

To provide practice and assessment of computational thinking, we need specific problems students can solve. There are many such problems, but they are hard to find. Learning environments and assessments often use only specific types of problems and thus do not cover computational thinking in its whole scope. We provide an extensive catalog of…

As initiatives on AI education in K-12 learning contexts continues to evolve, researchers have developed curricula among other resources to promote AI across grade levels. Yet, there is a need for more effort regarding curriculum, tools, and pedagogy, as well as assessment techniques to popularize AI at the middle school level. Drawing on prior…