A complex web of factors can influence whether students participate in computer science (CS) during high school. In order to increase participation in CS for all students, there is a need to better understand who is currently participating and what factors might be hindering participation. This study utilized a large-scale, student-level dataset…

America's higher education institutions have aligned computer science curricula with today's modern technology. Despite these efforts, data have shown that there is slow growth among young women majoring in computer science and even slower growth in this area at community colleges. Higher education institutions have also acknowledged a gap between…

An instructional focus on Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) is a current popular educational due to the widespread need for skilled workers in these growing fields. Compounding this labor shortage is the fact that female students and workers are underrepresented in STEM subjects. The purpose of this study was to examine the…

Software security is inevitably dependent on developers' ability to to design and implement software without security bugs. Perhaps unsurprisingly, developers often fail to do this. Our goal is to understand this from a usability perspective, identifying how we might best train developers and equip them with the right software tools. To this end,…

In Hungary, K-12 informatics/computer science education focuses on mostly surface-based methods. This approach can be observed in the teaching of several topics in the subject, of which we focus on spreadsheet management. This is further emphasized by regulatory documents -- the Hungarian National Core Curriculum and Hungarian Curriculum…

Contribution: This study applies supervised and unsupervised machine learning (ML) techniques to discover which significant attributes that a successful learner often demonstrated in a computer course. Background: Students often experienced difficulties in learning an introduction to computers course. This research attempts to investigate how…

Social learning theory posits that learning is most effective when providing learners with opportunities to observe and interact with peers. Unfortunately, current K-12 programming education overemphasizes individual learning and discourages learners from observing and interacting with others. The Scratch online community provides youth…

Contribution: Research has shown that computer science (CS) students who start programming assignments (PAs) early generally receive higher grades. This article presents and evaluates a gamification approach that utilizes software engineering tools to motivate CS students to start and finish PAs earlier. Background: CS can be difficult to learn…

This paper describes an introductory biology course for undergraduates that heavily incorporates quantitative problem solving in activities and homework assignments. The course is broken up into a series of units, each organized around a motivating biological question or theme. Homework assignments address the theme or question, and typically…

The University of Naples Federico II (Italy) offers a nine-month formative training program aimed at software development for the Apple technology ecosystem to ~400 learners per year and utilises the Challenge Based Learning ("CBL") methodology as a framework for learning. As a collaborative and self-guided, inquiry-based learning…

Block-based programming languages (BBLs) have been proposed as a way to prepare students for learning to program in more sophisticated, text-based languages, such as Java. Hybrid BBLs add the ability to view and edit the block commands in auto-generated, text-based code. We compared the use of a non-hybrid BBL (Scratch), a hybrid BBL (Pencil…

Learning how to become a self-regulated learner could benefit students in introductory undergraduate courses, such as computer programming. This study explores the perceived value of instructional and skill-building activities and students' self-efficacy to learn and apply programming skills in an introductory computer programming course. The…

Women remain underrepresented in both the computing major and leadership positions in the tech field. This article utilizes a feminist phenomenological framework and mixed methods approach to provide insight into these inequities, focusing on women's leadership perceptions and experiences in the computing major over time. Relying on survey data…

With the inclusion of the Information Technology and Software course in elementary and middle school curricula in Turkey, the Ministry of National Education has started to offer Technology Use and Coding courses. In this study, opinions of 12 instructors who taught Technology Use and Coding courses were consulted. The study aimed to determine the…

This paper presents an innovative educational approach to organizing the out-of-school teaching of programming in middle childhood. The proposed DGBL model includes three distinct educational phases, i.e. learning visual programming, programming and robotics, and programming and electronics. The research was carried out during the school years of…