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: Source code plagiarism is a common occurrence in undergraduate computer science education. Many source code plagiarism detection tools have been proposed to address this problem. However, such tools do not identify plagiarism, nor suggest what assignment submissions are suspicious of plagiarism. Source code plagiarism…

Background and Context: The Domain-Specific Programming (DSP) platforms EarSketch and TunePad are being used widely in schools for coding novices. Existing studies on both platforms have mainly concentrated on attitudinal changes, leaving a gap in the literature. Objective: The purpose of this research was to advance our understanding of two…

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: 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: Historically, women have been underrepresented in computer science. To address this gender gap, researchers advocate for high-quality computer science programs for early childhood. Objectives: This study examines gender differences in coding performance before and after implementing a 24-lesson visual programming curriculum…

Background and Context: automated feedback for programming assignments has great potential in promoting just-in-time learning, but there has been little work investigating the design of feedback in this context. Objective: to investigate the impacts of different designs of automated feedback on student learning at a fine-grained level, and how…

Background and Context: We explored how learning trajectories (LTs) might be used to design variables instruction. Objective: We aimed to develop an LT for variables and use it to guide curriculum development for fourth graders working in Scratch in an integrated mathematics+CS curriculum. Method: We synthesized learning goals (LGs) and levels of…

Background and Context: Reports suggest plagiarism is a common occurrence in universities. While plagiarism detection mechanisms exist for textual artifacts, this is less so for non-code related ones such as software design artifacts like models, metamodels or model transformations. Objective: To provide an efficient mechanism for the detection of…

Background and Context: Assessing team members' indivdiual contributions to software development projects poses a key problem for computing instructors. While instructors typically rely on subjective assessments, objective assessments could provide a more robust picture. To explore this possibility, In a 2020 paper, Buffardi presented a…

This article reminds readers of the benefits that use cases bring to the software development process. Use cases, as featured in the UML (Unified Modeling Language), are contrasted with the much terser "user stories" favoured by agile methods. With their normal and alternative flows, and extending and included behaviours, use cases…

Background and Context: In spite of the decades spent developing software visualization (SV), doubts still remain regarding their effectiveness. Furthermore, student engagement plays an important role in improving SV effectiveness as it is correlated with many positive academic outcomes. It has been shown that the existing SV has failed to engage…

Background and Context: Researchers and practitioners have begun to incorporate collaboration in programming because of its reported instructional and professional benefits. However, younger students need guidance on how to collaborate in environments that require substantial interpersonal interaction and negotiation. Previous research indicates…

Background: As teachers work to broaden the participation of racially and ethnically underrepresented groups in computer science (CS), culturally responsive computing (CRC) becomes more pertinent to formal settings. Objective: Yet, equity-oriented literature offers limited guidance for developing deep forms of CRC in the classroom. In response, we…

Background and Context: GitHub has been recently used in Software Engineering (SE) classes to facilitate collaboration in student team projects as well as help teachers to evaluate the contributions of their students more objectively. Objective: We explore the benefits and drawbacks of using GitHub as a means for team collaboration and performance…