Research has shown that e-learning games do not have the same level of appeal to girls, as they do to boys; particularly in the crucial 11-14 age group. In the United Kingdom, this is typically when they start to make subject choices that impact their future studies and careers. Given the shortage of females who choose computer science as a…

The growth in the Latino population counts for half of the national population growth in the U.S, and that growth continues. Nevertheless, the gap in post-secondary educational attainment for Latinos is wide compared to whites and other non-Hispanics. Fewer Latino males are enrolling in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics…

Although there is a great demand for graduates in computing fields, companies frequently struggle to find enough workers. They may also grapple with obtaining racial, ethnic, and gender diversity in representation. It has been suggested that the hiring process further contributes to these inequities. This study examined undergraduate computing…

The Ministry of Education in Saudi Arabia implemented a new computer science curriculum in 2008. There was speculation that many computer science teachers did not possess sufficient knowledge of computational thinking needed to teach this subject. To investigate this topic, a quantitative research study was conducted with 55 male computer science…

Objectives: At the K-12 level, "CS for All" initiatives across the country strive to increase equitable access to and participation in computer science (CS). However, there are many open questions about the implementation and effectiveness of these initiatives, including the extent to which exposing young people to CS early on can shape…

In this study we focus our research on the case analysis of an eleven-year-old boy and his close relationship with technology, specifically robotics. The methodology of the study is experimental in nature, with the aim of improving the subject's attention span through robotics, thereby favouring his educational process and, consequently, his…

In this study, we designed and applied physical computing lessons for elementary 6th-grade students based on the software education guidelines in the Korean 2015 Revised National Curriculum (Ministry of Education, 2015a). The participants of this study were ten 6th-grade students of an elementary school in Gyeonggi-do province in Korea. The…

This work emanates from a previous study examining the experiences of male final year students in computing degree programmes that focused on their perceptions as students where they had few, if any, female classmates. This empirical work consisted of focus groups, with the findings outlined here drawn from two groups that were homogeneous with…

This study aimed to investigate how the use of a smartphone clicker app by a group of 390 Saudi Arabian male undergraduate students would impact their learning performance while participating in a computer science class. The smartphone clicker app was used by the students during peer group discussions and to respond to teacher questions. A…

The aim of this study was to design, implement and evaluate the programming process for gifted students and offer suggestions to teachers and researchers. For this purpose, 5 gifted students were provided programming activities for ten weeks. Scratch was used in the programming training process. The qualitative data was collected by observation,…

Aim/Purpose: Our research focuses on a unique group of students who study computer science (CS): ultra-orthodox Jewish men. Their previous education is based mostly on studying Talmud and hence they lacked a conventional high-school education. Our research goal was to examine whether their prior education is merely a barrier to their CS studies or…

To address a need for a more computationally literate population, we need to better understand the processes by which students engage with computer science. We thus designed a pilot study to explore how students come to identify with computer science. Specifically, how does engaging in making and take-apart activities impact students' sense of…

In line with the growing interest in extending the diversity of CS students, we examined the performance of a unique group of students studying an introductory course in Digital logic: ultraorthodox Jewish men, whose previous education was based mostly on studying Talmud and who lacked a conventional high-school education. We used questions from…

In 2014, The Urban Education Collaborative at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte hosted its first biennial International Conference on Urban Education (ICUE) in Montego Bay, Jamaica. In 2016, the second hosting of the conference took place in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Additionally, in 2018, the third hosting of the conference took place in…

This dissertation presents the design, development and short-term evaluation of an embodied conversational agent designed to mentor human users. An embodied conversational agent (ECA) was created and programmed to mentor African American computer science majors on their decision to pursue graduate study in computing. Before constructing the ECA,…