Project-based learning (PBL) engages students deeply with course concepts and empowers them to drive their own learning through the development of solutions to real-world challenges. By taking ownership of and completing a project that they designed, students develop and demonstrate creativity, critical thinking, and collaboration skills. This…

Contribution: This study has proposed a hybrid framework of acceptance and self-determination for the use of digital textbooks in higher education programming courses. The intertwined relationships between acceptance and self-determination factors, and their joint effects on student's engagement and learning performance are all examined.…

Robotics education has received widespread attention in K-12 education. Studies have pointed out that in robotics courses, learners face challenges in learning abstract content, such as constructing a robot with a good structure and writing programs to drive a robot to complete specific learning tasks. The present study proposed the embodied…

In recent years, learning programming has been a challenge for both learners and educators. How to enhance student engagement and learning outcomes has been a significant concern for researchers. This study examines the effects of AI-based pedagogical agents on students' learning experiences in programming courses, focusing on web game development…

Adding gaming elements to conventional teaching methodologies has gained a lot of attention because of its ability to incorporate an engaging, motivating, and fun-based environment. As a result, learners' dedication and performance are also better. Unfortunately, current gamification models do not consider the effect of different levels of…

Background: Being easy to learn and fun, block-based programming tools are widely used to teach students introductory programming. Scratch and LEGO robots are two popular block-based programming tools. However, the objects they manipulate are completely different. Scratch manipulates graphical virtual sprites, whereas LEGO robots manipulate…

Background: Students make many errors in visual programming. In order to learn from these, it is important that students regulate their emotions and view errors as learning opportunities. Aims: This study aimed to explore to what extent momentary emotions, specifically enjoyment, anxiety and boredom, as well as the error learning orientation of…

Teaching an introductory programming course to first-year students has long been a challenge for many college instructors. The COVID-19 pandemic, which caused unprecedented shifts in learning modality across the globe, has worsened the learning experience of novice programmers. Instructors have to find innovative ways to keep students engaged and…

Secondary school students (N = 269) participated in a daylong visual programming course held in a stimulating environment for start-up enterprises. The tasks were application-oriented and partly creative. For example, a wearable device with light-emitting diodes, (ie, LEDs) could be applied to a T-shirt and used for optical messages. Our research…

RoblockLLy is an educational robotics simulator designed for primary and secondary school students, whose goal is to increase their interest in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. In the particular case of computer science, it allows developing computational thinking skills. It has been designed with ease of use in mind. This free…

Social network analysis involves delicate and sophisticated mathematical concepts which are abstract and challenging to acquire by traditional methods. Many studies show that female students perform poorly in computer science-related courses compared to male students. To address these issues, this research investigates the impact of employing a…

The importance of gameplay extends beyond mere entertainment, playing a crucial role in shaping behavioral intentions (BIs) in various contexts. This research aims to discover how digital gameplay influences students' BIs, mainly in the context of technology adoption in education. The main objective is to investigate the impact of digital gameplay…

Background and Context: Peer code review activities provide well-documented benefits to students in programming courses. Students develop relevant skills through exposure to alternative coding solutions, producing and receiving feedback, and collaboration with peers. Despite these benefits, low student motivation has been identified as one of the…

This study examined the effects of virtual and physical robots (VPR) using in different learning stages (simple session/complex session) in a robotics programming course. A quasi-experimental design was implemented with 84 junior high school students from two classes. One class with 44 students used combination of VPR strategy for learning,…

Despite high scores and abilities, girls lose interest in science and math throughout middle school. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, jobs in the computer science research field will grow 19% by 2026; however, only 18% of the bachelor's degrees in computer science are earned by women in the United States (ComputerScience.org, 2021).…