David Weintrop

University of Maryland, College Park | UMD, UMCP, University of Maryland College Park

Introduction The foundational practices of Computational Thinking (CT) present an interesting overlap with neurodiversity, specifically with differences in executive function (EF). An analysis of CT teaching and learning materials designed for differentiation and support of EF show promise to reveal problem-solving strengths of neurodivergent learn...

Computational thinking (CT) has the potential to enhance learning when integrated into mathematical classroom activities. Teachers are being asked to include CT concepts in their core disciplines; however, there is an open question as to how best to equip teachers to integrate CT into their practice. Oftentimes teacher candidates enter math and sci...

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to understand the role of perplexity in young players’ experiences within an educational videogame and how reflective thinking can help them to get out of perplexing scenarios. Design/methodology/approach We used a constructivist grounded theory approach and the lenses of Dewey’s conceptualization of perplexity...

As society increasingly relies on computers to drive social, economic, and political decisions, the computing workforce must reflect the racial and gender diversity of the larger population. This experience report presents CompSciConnect (CSC), a multi-year program designed to broaden participation in computing for middle school aged students from...

AI code generators like OpenAI Codex have the potential to assist novice programmers by generating code from natural language descriptions, however, over-reliance might negatively impact learning and retention. To explore the implications that AI code generators have on introductory programming, we conducted a controlled experiment with 69 novices...

Transitioning from block-based programming to text-based programming environments can be challenging as it requires students to learn new programming language concepts. In this paper, we identify and classify the issues encountered when transitioning from block-based to text-based programming. In particular, we investigate differences that emerge i...

Computing is rapidly becoming a critical literacy for succeeding in an increasingly technological world. While the proliferation of programs dedicated to broadening participation in computing increases access, computing education research can benefit from more directly drawing on current interest development theory to improve interventions that inc...

Newly released robot programming tools have made it feasible for end‐users to program industrial robots by combining block‐based languages and lead‐through programming. To use these systems effectively, end‐users, who usually have limited or no programming experience, require training. To train users, tutoring systems are often used for block‐based...

Cybersecurity faces a persistent problem with attracting and retaining diverse workers. Most exposure to cybersecurity as a discipline tends to come through formal experiences in higher education, often requiring extensive prior experience with computer science content. Therefore, informal learning environments that can serve to both introduce yout...

Computational thinking is an essential 21st-century skill that all youth should develop in order to navigate and succeed in an increasingly computational world. For all youth to have hands-on opportunities to develop essential computational thinking skills, libraries and informal learning environments play a critical role. This is especially true f...

The 1980s and 1990s saw a robust connection between computer science education and cognitive psychology as researchers worked to understand how students learn to program. More recently, academic disciplines such as science and engineering have begun drawing on cognitive psychology research and theories of learning to create instructional materials...

This study examines the current state of assessment of computational thinking (CT) programming in public libraries in the United States. In particular, this study identifies the assessment tools and strategies that public library staff use to evaluate the success of CT youth programming, as well as how they share these assessment results, what they...

Think-alouds are a common method of collecting design data where a player describes their play for a facilitator. Games promote a feeling of immersivity and player presence, which is in tension with traditional think-aloud methods. This work introduces a new type of think-aloud protocol intended for game-based contexts which leverages the genres of...

Block-based programming (BBP) environments have become increasingly commonplace computer science education. Despite a rapidly expanding ecosystem of BBP environments, text-based languages remain the dominant programming paradigm, motivating the transition from BBP to text-based programming (TBP). Support students in transitioning from BBP to TBP is...

Given the importance of broadening participation in computer science classes, this paper investigates the use of participatory design as a means to develop a culturally relevant computer science curriculum. The Scratch Encore curriculum is designed for 5th–8th grade (10–14 years old) learners and seeks to present computer science concepts in a rele...

This paper argues for a re‐examination of the nature and goals of broad computing education initiatives. Instead of starting with specific values or goals, we instead begin by considering various desired endpoints of computing instruction and then work backward to reason about what form learning activities might take and what are the underlying val...

Background and Context: Computational thinking (CT) is an essential skill for all youth to succeed in our technology and information-rich world. While CT has a growing presence within K-12 classrooms, libraries play an essential role in introducing these critical skills to all. Objective: Assessing learning in libraries is difficult given their inf...

The importance of integrating computational thinking (CT) into existing school structures, like core content domains, has emerged from efforts to improve computer science education in the U.S. In the past, computer science has often been treated as an elective or enrichment activity, which limits students' exposure to foundational computing ideas,...

Background and Context Educators make consequential curricular decisions, often with little support, particularly as it relates to equity and how to support all students. Objective This paper investigates the use of a rubric to support educators evaluating computer science curricula, especially with regards to equity. Method Seventeen in-service...

Educators have argued for the value of integrating the big ideas of computing, captured under the term computational thinking (CT), into subjects and classrooms across the K-12 spectrum. Working within a researcher-practitioner partnership, we developed activities designed to integrate CT into a fourth-grade mathematics classroom using the Sphero r...

Robots and robotics toolkits are becoming a growing part of the introductory computing landscape. One very common approach for the use of robotics in learning contexts is to have kids construct their own robots. This paper explores the affordances of focusing the activity of construction in robot-related activities on the setting rather than on the...

Background. Cybersecurity is of increasing importance in our interconnected world, yet the field has a growing workforce deficit and an underrepresentation of women and people of color. In an effort to address these issues, many digital games have been created to teach individuals about cybersecurity and keeping themselves, their data, and their ne...

The design of most learning environments focuses on supporting students in making, constructing, and putting together projects on and off the screen, with much less attention paid to the many issues—problems, bugs, or traps—that students invariably encounter along the way. In this symposium, we present different theoretical and disciplinary perspec...

In response to the growing call to bring the powerful ideas of computer science to all learners, education decision makers, including teachers and administrators, are tasked with making consequential decisions on what curricula to use. Often, these decision makers have not been trained in computer science and are unfamiliar with the concepts taught...

Considering how block-based programming environments and tools might be used at the introductory level and beyond.

As physical computing devices proliferate, researchers and educators push to make them more engaging to learners. One approach is to make the act of programming them more interactive and responsive via live programming so that program edits are immediately reflected in the behavior of the physical device. To understand the impact of live programmin...

Participatory design is an essential design strategy for creating artifacts and experiences that reflect the voices of the population being designed for and with. The participatory design process can serve not only to research resulting artifacts but also as an empowering activity for those who participate. This paper explores how participatory des...

The last ten years have seen a proliferation of introductory programming environments for younger learners. Increasingly, these environments are moving into the “cloud” where they can be accessed through web browsers and run on a variety of devices including tablets and smartphones. The shift to online settings enables a variety of powerful pedagog...

The success of block-based programming environments like Scratch and Alice has resulted in a growing presence of the block-based modality in classrooms. For example, in the United States, a new, nationally-administered computer science exam is evaluating students' understanding of programming concepts using both block-based and text-based presentat...

The introduction of the Advanced Placement (AP) Computer Science Principles course changed the high school computer science (CS) landscape in the United States. For the first time an AP course was designed to broaden participation in computing and attract all students as opposed to being designed to challenge the highest performing students. The go...

Computational thinking (CT) is increasingly becoming a part of the K-12 educational landscape. While high schools with computer science teachers or technology coaches on staff are well positioned to help teachers integrate computational thinking into instruction , early childhood through middle schools (grades p-8) are often less well equipped. Fur...

The underrepresentation of women and minorities in the field of computer science is well documented. Due to this lack of representation, efforts to broaden participation in computing abound. One manner with which to do this is through the development of culturally relevant curricula. Education literature encourages the use of culturally relevant te...

Visual block-based programming environments (VBBPEs) such as Scratch and Alice are increasingly being used in introductory computer science lessons across elementary school grades. These environments, and the curricula that accompany them, are designed to be developmentally-appropriate and engaging for younger learners but may introduce challenges...

There is growing diversity in the design of introductory programming environments. Where once all novices learned to program in conventional text-based languages, today, there exists a growing ecosystem of approaches to programming including graphical, tangible, and scaffolded text environments. To date, relatively little work has explored the rela...

A new wave of collaborative robots designed to work alongside humans is bringing the automation historically seen in large-scale industrial settings to new, diverse contexts. However, the ability to program these machines often requires years of training, making them inaccessible or impractical for many. This paper rethinks what robot programming i...

A new wave of collaborative robots designed to work alongside humans is bringing the automation historically seen in large-scale industrial settings to new, diverse contexts. However, the ability to program these machines often requires years of training, making them inaccessible or impractical for many. This project rethinks what robot programming...

There is a great deal of overlap between the set of practices collected under the term “computational thinking” and the mathematical habits of mind that are the focus of much mathematics instruction. Despite this overlap, the links between these two desirable educational outcomes are rarely made explicit, either in classrooms or in the literature....

Computational thinking is increasingly important within modern society. It is essential that K-12 students are introduced to the powerful ideas of computational thinking and given opportunities to develop their computational thinking practices. Virtual reality (VR), a technological tool with increasing prevalence in society and schools, has the pot...

The number of students taking high school computer science classes is growing. Increasingly, these students are learning with graphical, block-based programming environments either in place of or prior to traditional text-based programming languages. Despite their growing use in formal settings, relatively little empirical work has been done to und...

The last ten years have seen a proliferation of introductory programming environments designed for learners across the K-12 spectrum. These environments include visual block-based tools, text-based languages designed for novices, and, increasingly, hybrid environments that blend features of block-based and text-based programming. This paper present...

Blocks-based, graphical programming environments are increasingly becoming the way that novices are being introduced to the practice of programming and the field of computer science more broadly. An open question surrounding the use of such tools is how well they prepare learners for using more conventional text-based programming languages. In an e...

As more elementary schools commit to integrating computer science instruction into their curricula, they seek guidance on what concepts are appropriate for students at different grade levels. Currently, little is known about how best to sequence computer science learning across elementary grades. In this paper, we present an analysis of 123 student...

The ability to express ideas in a computationally meaningful way is becoming increasingly important in our technological world. In response to the growing importance of computational literacy skills, new intuitive and accessible programming environments are being designed. This paper presents a framework for classifying the ways that block-based in...

Computer science (CS) is becoming an increasingly diverse domain. This paper reports on an initiative designed to introduce underrepresented populations to computing using an eclectic, multifaceted approach. As part of a yearlong computing course, students engage in Maker activities, participatory simulations, and computing projects that foreground...