During young adolescence, many youth develop strong identities in relation to science, technology, engineering and mathematics with computing (STEM + C). One way to design for student engagement in STEM + C is to create project-based units that leverage students' interests. We created one such unit, called the "smart greenhouse project".…

Theorists and educators increasingly highlight the importance of computational thinking in STEM education. While various scaffolding strategies describe how to best support this skillset (i.e., paired programming, worked examples), less research has focused on the design and development of these digital tools. One way to support computational…

Background: With the increasing interdisciplinarity between computer science (CS) and other fields, a growing number of non-CS students are embracing programming. However, there is a gap in research concerning differences in programming learning between CS and non-CS students. Previous studies predominantly relied on outcome-based assessments,…