Background and Context: To educate students about programming plagiarism and collusion, we introduced an approach that automatically reports how similar a submitted program is to others. However, as most students receive similar feedback, those who engage in plagiarism and collusion might feel inadequately warned. Objective: When students are…

Background and Context: We explore the potential for understanding the processes involved in students' programming based on studying their behaviour and dialogue with each other and "conversations" with their programs. Objective: Our aim is to explore how a perspective of inquiry can be used as a point of departure for insights into how…

Background and Context: Students learning the C programming language struggle to debug, and to understand the runtime behaviour of, their programs. Objective: We examine a tool that combines several novice-focused error detection, program visualization, and debugging techniques, to investigate which features students use in real study sessions,…

Background and Context: This study looks at computational thinking (CT) assessment of programming artifacts within the context of CT integrated with science education through computational modeling. Objective: The goal is to explore methodologies for assessment of student-constructed computational models through two lenses: functionality and…

Background and context: Transfer is a process where students apply their learning to different contexts. This process includes using their knowledge to solve problems with similar complexity, and in new contexts. In the context of programming, transfer also includes being able to understand and use different programming languages. Objective: This…

Background: Conceptual models are an essential phase in software design, but they can create confusion and reduced performance for students in Database Design courses. Objective: A novel Relational Data Model Validation Tool (MVTool) was developed and tested to determine (1) if students who use MVTool perform better than those who do not, and (2)…

Background and Context: The relationship between novices' first programming language and their future achievement has drawn increasing interest owing to recent efforts to expand K-12 computing education. This article contributes to this topic by analyzing data from a retrospective study of more than 10,000 undergraduates enrolled in introductory…

Background and Context: Computational Thinking (CT) has been recently integrated into new and revised Digital Technologies content (DTC) in the Technology learning area of the New Zealand School Curriculum. Objective: To aid this change, this research examined how CT supports learning outcomes in both music and programming with the Sonic Pi…

Background and Context: Despite the increasing implementation of coding in early curricula, there are few valid and reliable assessments of coding abilities for young children. This impedes studying learning outcomes and the development and evaluation of curricula. Objective: Developing and validating a new instrument for assessing young…

Background and Context: Encouraging undergraduate programming students to think more about their software development processes is challenging. Most programming courses focus on coding skill development and mastering programming language features; subsequently software development processes (e.g. planning, code commenting, and error debugging) are…

Background and Context: In this theory paper, we explore the concept of translanguaging from bilingual education, and its implications for teaching and learning programming and computing in especially computer science (CS) for all initiatives. Objective: We use translanguaging to examine how programming is and isn't like using human languages. We…

Programming is an essential skill that many computing students are expected to master. However, programming can be difficult to learn. Successfully interpreting compiler error messages (CEMs) is crucial for correcting errors and progressing toward success in programming. Yet these messages are often difficult to understand and pose a barrier to…

Programming is recognised as one of seven grand challenges in computing education and attracts much attention in computing education research. Most research in the area concerns teaching methods, educational technology and student understanding/misconceptions. Typically, evaluation of learning outcome takes place during or immediately following…

Modern robots, like today's smartphones, are complex devices with intricate software systems. Introductory robot programming courses must evolve to reflect this reality, by teaching students to make use of the sophisticated tools their robots provide rather than reimplementing basic algorithms. This paper focuses on teaching with Tekkotsu, an open…

Object-oriented programming is seen as a difficult skill to master. There is considerable debate about the most appropriate way to introduce novice programmers to object-oriented concepts. Is it possible to uncover what the critical aspects or features are that enhance the learning of object-oriented programming? Practitioners have differing…