Learning to program has long been known to be a difficult task, requiring a student to develop both fluency in the syntax and grammar of a formal programming language and learn the problem-solving approaches and techniques of computational thinking. The successful teaching strategies of the past have involved maintaining small teacher-student…

Computer use has become a fact of life, especially for children, many of whom were forced to switch to online learning during the COVID-19 pandemic and resorted to digital hobbies as a safety measure. Further the amount of time children spend on computers, as well as the number of different computer devices that pervade our post-pandemic society…

The field of computer science education currently lacks consistency in access, equity, and inclusion for students in historically marginalized groups, particularly students with disabilities. At the same time, research demonstrates a need for high-quality teacher professional development to support the inclusion of students with disabilities in…

Information Retrieval (IR) is one of the most evolving research fields and has drawn extensive attention in recent years. Because of its empirical nature, the advance of the IR field is closely related to the development of various toolkits. While the traditional IR toolkit mainly provides a platform to evaluate the effectiveness of retrieval…

Learning the syntax, semantics, and concepts behind software engineering can be a challenging task for many individuals. This paper examines the Alice 3 software, a three-dimensional visual environment for teaching programming concepts, to determine if it is an effective tool for improving student achievement, raising self-efficacy, and engaging…

This thesis is about a design process for creating "educationally relevant" tools. I submit that the key to creating tools that are educationally relevant is to focus on ensuring a high degree of alignment between the designed tool and the broader educational context into which the tool will be integrated. The thesis presents methods and processes…

The purpose of this dissertation was to gain new insight into video game playing, exposure, and preferences as well as perceptions toward success with computers between students in computer related disciplines (CRD) and students in non computer related disciplines (NCRD). Perceptions toward success with computers were measured using a slightly…

In this study, I investigate the digital literacy practices of adult immigrants, and their relationship with transnational processes and practices. Specifically, I focus on their conditions of access to information and communication technologies (ICTs) in their life trajectories, their conditions of learning in a community center, and their…

Girls and women continue to be underrepresented in high school Advanced Placement computer science courses, undergraduate and graduate computer science programs at colleges and universities, and engineering programs and related careers. This is not to suggest that public schools train students to fulfill specific job needs, yet it is evident that…

Among educational researchers and practitioners, there is a growing interest in employing computer games for pedagogical purposes. The present research integrated a technology education class and a science class where 5th graders learned about environmental issues by designing games that involved environmental concepts. The purposes of this study…