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…

Pair programming is an effective instructional format in programming education for adolescents. Within pair programming, three potential gender combinations may arise: Boy-Boy (BB), Girl-Girl (GG), and Boy-Girl (BG). This study explores the impact of different gender pairings on the programming self-efficacy and collaborative attitudes of…

Courses in computer science curricula often involve group programming assignments. Instructors are required to take several decisions on assignment setup and monitoring, team formation policies, and grading systems. Group programming projects provide unique monitoring opportunities due to the availability of both product and process data, as well…

Active and collaborative learning has shown considerable promise for improving student outcomes and reducing group disparities. As one common form of collaborative learning, pair programming is an adapted work practice implemented widely in higher education computing programs. In the classroom setting, it typically involves two computer science…

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)…

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…

Hackathons, the time-bound collaborative project-based computer science competitions increasingly popular with computer science students, are one of the largest-scale innovations in computing education of the past decade. This research examined three hackathons and 46,500 surveys to find that educational benefits were unequal between genders in…

Summer internships present an opportunity for Computer Science (CS) students to expand and test their skills in "the real world." These multi-faceted experiences call on students to use technical tools and critical thinking in collaboration with others to solve problems. There are many opportunities for learning and growth: which of…