Integrating Computing to STEM Curriculum via CodeBoard
Introductory programming has always suffered from low performance rates. These low performance rates are closely tied to high failure rates and low retention in introductory programming classes. The goal of this research is to develop models and instrumen
- PDF / 816,922 Bytes
- 18 Pages / 439.37 x 666.142 pts Page_size
- 48 Downloads / 206 Views
Abstract. Introductory programming has always suffered from low performance rates. These low performance rates are closely tied to high failure rates and low retention in introductory programming classes. The goal of this research is to develop models and instrumentation capable of giving insight into STEM student performance, learning patterns and behavior. This insight is expected to shed some light on low performance rates and also pave the way for formative measures to be taken. CodeBoard is a programming platform capable of managing and assesse student programming via using a functional test-driven approach. Instructors develop programming assignments along with corresponding test cases, which are then used as grading templates to evaluate student programs. The second phase of this research involves developing models for measuring and capturing events relevant to student performance over time. The preliminary results show that this CodeBoard is promising. Keywords: Cloud computing programming Active learning
Programming environments
Introductory
1 Introduction Computation is playing ever increasing role in the conduct of modern scientific inquiry and experimentation. Computational thinking will be a fundamental skill used by everyone in the world by the middle of the 21st everyone in the world by the middle of the 21 Century. There is a growing concern that the United States is not preparing adequate numbers of students, teachers, and practitioners in the area of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). Introductory programming is the basic course for STEM students to master computational thinking skill. However, introductory programming has always suffered from low performance rates [4, 5]. These low performance rates are closely tied to high failure rates and low retention in introductory programming classes. The goal of this research was to develop models and instrumentation capable of giving insight into student performance and behavior. This insight was expected to shed some light on low performance rates and also pave the way for formative measures to be taken. In many fields of study, knowledge of programming and technology has become fundamental parts of the fields. Most STEM students are required to take one or more programming courses. Programming can be very challenging to grasp, partly because it © Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2016 O. Gervasi et al. (Eds.): ICCSA 2016, Part IV, LNCS 9789, pp. 512–529, 2016. DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-42089-9_36
Integrating Computing to STEM Curriculum via CodeBoard
513
involves a complex mix of knowledge, skill and creativity that must be mastered concurrently. These three dimensions of learning, taken together, can become overwhelming. Because of this, it is very important to insure that students’ introductory programming experiences are bearable, enjoyable, practical and, to the greatest extent possible, successful [6, 7]. There are two main phases and contributions from this paper. The first is CodeBoard, a programming pl
Data Loading...
