Background and Context: Hour of Code is one of the largest educational campaigns implemented. It exposes millions of learners, to an hour of computer science fundamentals. With such a large impact, a large number of research articles have been published on the topic. This research ranges from reports of experiments testing the efficacy of Hour of…

Objective: This study explores postgraduate students' perceptions of the modified team-based learning instructional approach used to teach it and the extent to which the Bootcamp course improves their practical skills. Method: In the beginning, participants (n = 185) were asked to rate their practical experience on the taught topics. At the end…

Background and Context: During online learning, it is essential to provide instructional guidance to support learning. However, guidance can be given in different forms and quantities. Thus, one important challenge is to provide the right amount and type of instructional guidance. Objective: The aim of the study is to investigate types of guidance…

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: 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: Historically underrepresented youth in computer science persistently experience barriers making it difficult to see themselves in the computer science field including computer science programs and curricula with consistent stereotypical references focused on competition, individualism, and male-associated topics…

Background and Context: Subgoal labeled worked examples have been extensively researched, but the research has been reported piecemeal. This paper aggregates data from three studies, including data previously unreported, to holistically examine the effect of subgoal labeled worked examples across three student populations and across different…

Background and Context: Recursion in binary trees has proven to be a hard topic. There was not much research on enhancing student understanding of this topic. Objective: We present a tutorial to enhance learning through practice of recursive operations in binary trees, as it is typically taught post-CS2. Method: We identified the misconceptions…

Background and Context: Computational Thinking (CT) is a skill all students should learn. This requires using inclusive approaches to teach CT to a wide spectrum of students. However, strategies for teaching CT to students with exceptionalities are not well studied. Objective: This study draws on lessons learned in two fourth-grade classrooms --…

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: Flipped classrooms are becoming more widely adopted across engineering higher education contexts. In degree programs where enrollment is increasing and undergraduate curricula are packed with content, pedagogies that allow more time for actively participate in classroom activities are being highly sought after to aid in…

We report on an intervention in which informal programming labs were switched to a weekly machine-evaluated test for a second year Data Structures and Algorithms module. Using the online HackerRank system, we investigated whether greater constructive alignment between course content and the exam would result in lower failure rates. After…

Hundreds of articles have been published on the topics of teaching and learning recursion, yet fewer than 50 of them have published research results. This article surveys the computing education research literature and presents findings on challenges students encounter in learning recursion, mental models students develop as they learn recursion,…

Background and Context: Vygotsky's sociocultural theory emphasises the importance of language, mediation, and the transfer of skills and knowledge from the social into the cognitive plane. This perspective has influenced the development of PRIMM (Predict, Run, Investigate, Modify, Make), a structured approach to teaching programming. Objective:…

Motivation and metacognition are strongly intertwined, with learners high in self-efficacy more likely to use a variety of self-regulatory learning strategies, as well as to persist longer on challenging tasks. The aim of the research was to improve the learner's focus on the process and experience of problem-solving while using an Intelligent…