Computer science proficiency continues to grow in importance, while the number of students entering computer science-related fields declines. Many rich programming environments have been created to motivate student interest and expertise in computer science. In the current study, we investigated whether a recently created environment, Robot…

The current practice of traditional in-class lecture for learning computer science (CS) in the high schools of Taiwan is in need of revamping. Teachers instruct on the use of commercial software instead of teaching CS concepts to students. The lack of more suitable teaching materials and limited classroom time are the main reasons for the…

This article will detail efforts to broaden participation in computing in urban schools through a comprehensive reform effort of curricular development, teacher professional development, and policy changes. Beginning with an account of the curricular development of "Exploring Computer Science", we will describe the inquiry-based research…

Students with a semester or more of instruction often display remarkable naivety about the language that they have been studying and often prove unable to manage simple programming problems. The main purpose of this study was to create a set of problem-plan-program types for the BASIC programming language to help high school students build plans…

A study of 89 computer programming students in two instructional groups found that those using Visual Basic (VB) mastered programming design concepts as well as those using traditional BASIC. Concludes that VB is an excellent choice for a first programming course (high school or university) emphasizing sequence, selection, iteration, variables,…

An innovative high school curriculum in Finland is designed so that the year is divided into six 6-week periods. In an experiment begun in fall 1989, English second language instruction was provided to second-year students in the form of content-area instruction in computer science, chemistry, and physics at one of two levels. Each course lasted…

A curriculum was developed to address the needs of a high school special education computer science class. Class members included both resource-room learning disabled and the more severely learning disabled, and the project aimed to help them fulfill the school district requirement of the completion of a one-semester computer class prior to…

Project FOCAL Point is a multi-strand project designed to increase female participation in the computing sciences. The project targets two crucial groups: high school computing teachers and female high school students. Features include a two-week teacher workshop, a one-week Computer Camp for Young Women, mini-grant projects and a follow-up…

The intent of this project was to improve test and programming scores of 9th through 12th grade students enrolled in the Practical Computer Skills: Logo course in a north central Florida high school. An implementation program that demonstrated teacher-designed graphical computer language Logo programs, utilized multimedia techniques, and used…

The IADIS CELDA 2012 Conference intention was to address the main issues concerned with evolving learning processes and supporting pedagogies and applications in the digital age. There had been advances in both cognitive psychology and computing that have affected the educational arena. The convergence of these two disciplines is increasing at a…