The case study is a widely used methodology among qualitative researchers irrespective of their philosophical orientation. While positivist and interpretive philosophies are the two most popular research philosophies across diverse research fields, critical realism offers a third alternative. Critical realism is a research philosophy that assumes…

As we take advantage of new technologies that allow us to streamline the coding process of large qualitative datasets, we must consider whether human cognitive bias may introduce statistical bias in the process. Our research group analyzes large sets of student responses by developing computer models that are trained using human-coded responses…

With the Maker movement increasingly adopted across K-12 schools and non-formal makerspaces, students are being given more opportunities to engage in Making activities using tools such as robots, electronics, arts, and crafts. Making activities are thought to help students develop twenty-first-century skills, especially communication and…

Various similarity measures for source code have been proposed, many rely on edit- or tree-distance. To support a lecturer in quickly assessing live or online exercises with respect to "approaches taken by the students," we compare source code on a more abstract, semantic level. Even if novice student's solutions follow the same idea,…

We investigate encoder-decoder GRU networks with attention mechanism for solving a diverse array of elementary math problems with mathematical symbolic structures. We quantitatively measure performances of recurrent models on a given question type using a test set of unseen problems with a binary scoring and partial credit system. From our…

We are currently in a century of data where massive amount of data are collected and processed every day, and machine learning plays a critical role in automatically processing the data and mining useful information from it for making decisions. Despite the wide and successful applications of machine learning in different fields, the robustness of…

Effective collaboration and teamwork skills are critical in high-risk sectors, as deficiencies in these areas can result in injuries and risk of death. To foster the growth of these vital skills, immersive learning spaces have been created to simulate real-world scenarios, enabling students to safely improve their teamwork abilities. In such…

Researchers in second language (L2) and education domain use different statistical methods to assess their constructs of interest. Many L2 constructs emerge from elements/parts, i.e., the elements "define" and "form" the construct and not the other way around. These constructs are referred to as emergent variables (also called…

Economics has become increasingly empirical and, alongside this shift, has come more demand for improved transparency and reproducibility in empirical economic research. In this article, we distribute a survey to almost 1500 economics faculty from the top 161 liberal arts colleges with an economics major (according to U.S. News & World Report)…

Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) is transforming education, with assessment design emerging as a crucial area of innovation, particularly in computer science (CS) education. Effective assessment is critical for evaluating student competencies and guiding learning processes, yet traditional practices face significant challenges in CS…

Learning fractions is essential for academic and daily life success. A critical first step in acquiring fractions is learning to transcode them (e.g., writing ½ when hearing "one half"). However, little is known about how students master fraction transcoding. We addressed this gap by assessing fraction writing in two groups of Brazilian…

We examine three coding bootcamps offered by LaunchCode (LC101, Women+, and CodeCamp) to understand if tailored structures within coding bootcamp programs--designed for underrepresented groups in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM)--lead to increased program persistence for women, underrepresented minorities, and low-income…

Background: Moments of failure during learning present a wide range of opportunities for growth. However, experimental research and meta reviews focused on failure and learning tend to target singular valued learning processes, such as efficient fixes or transfer of conceptual understanding. These analytical decisions conflict with research…

This study critically reviews sixteen empirical studies that investigate the various difficulties that primary school students encounter while learning programming through educational games. Specifically, the challenges that students face in understanding basic programming concepts and the game elements that contribute to these difficulties, as…

The SQL-Explore Learning Module detailed in this teaching tip provides an opportunity for students to apply database course knowledge beyond solving traditional pre-determined Structured Query Language (SQL) coding questions. In this unique constructivist activity using the apropos 5E Instructional Model, students explore tables to locate data…