Background: Problem-solving is a multidimensional and dynamic process that requires and interlinks cognitive, metacognitive, and affective dimensions of learning. However, current approaches practiced in computing education research (CER) are not sufficient to capture information beyond the basic programming process data (i.e., IDE-log data).…

Background: Computational thinking (CT) is regarded as an essential 21st-century skill, and attempts have been made to integrate it into other subjects. Instructional approaches to CT development and assessment in the field of computer science have attracted global attention, but the influence of CT skills on other subject areas is…

Background: Computational thinking is derived from arguments that the underlying practices in computer science augment problem-solving. Most studies investigated computational thinking development as a function of learners' factors, instructional strategies and learning environment. However, the influence of the wider community such as educational…

Computational thinking (CT) plays a vital role in the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). However, whether students' learning attitude towards STEM is related to their CT skills remains unknown. Two studies were conducted to address this knowledge gap. In Study 1, we validated a newly developed STEM learning attitude…

Robotics education has received an increasing attention in recent years as a means to build students' motivation, team collaboration skills, and other valuable 21st century competencies. Yet there is a lack of experimental studies to investigate and identify strategies to facilitate robotics education. This study adopted a 2 × 2 quasi-experimental…

Background: Owing to the exponential growth of three-dimensional (3D) environments amongst researchers and educators to create simulation games (SGs) in primary education, there is a growing interest to examine their potential support in computer science courses instead of visual programming environments. Objectives: This study explores the…

This paper aims to explore time management strategies followed by students in a flipped classroom through the analysis of trace data. Specifically, an exploratory study was conducted on the dataset collected in three consecutive offerings of an undergraduate computer engineering course (N = 1,134). Trace data about activities were initially coded…

Background: In recent years, computer science education has emerged as a necessary part of school curricula for students of all ages. With such momentum in this direction, it is essential that program designers, educators, and researchers ensure that computer science education is designed to be inclusive, effective, and engaging for all students.…

Massive open online course (MOOC) studies have shown that precourse skills (such as precomputational thinking) and course engagement measures (such as making multiple submission attempts with assignments when the initial submission is incorrect) predict students' grade performance, yet little is known about whether these factors predict students'…

Background: Group size is one of the important factors that affect collaborative learning, however, there is no consensus in the literature on how many students should the groups be composed of during the problem-solving process. Objectives: This study investigated the effect of group size in a K-12 introductory Artificial Intelligence course by…

In the last few years, programming, computational thinking, and robotics are more frequently integrated into elementary education. This integration can be done in many different ways. However, it is still unclear which teaching methods work in which situations. To provide some clarity in this area, we compared two methods of integrating…

The case study was carried out at a third-level college in Ireland to investigate the performance of a student population completing a first year computer architecture module using a flipped learning approach against a traditional chalk and talk approach. The study was completed over a 2-year period with the same lecturer delivering both…

The study aims to identify the effect of a flipped classroom approach designed according to the cognitive theory of multimedia learning on the academic achievements of eighth-grade students (aged 14 years) in Saudi Arabia in computer science. To this end, a quasi-experimental design was used, with a sample of 67 students; 33 students were assigned…

Past research has shown that student problem-solving skills may be used to determine student final exam performance. This study reports on the relationship between student perceived problem-solving skills and academic performance in introductory programming, in formative and summative programming assessment tasks. We found that the more effective…

Educational robotics programs offer an engaging opportunity to potentially teach core computer science concepts and practices in K-12 classrooms. Here, we test the effects of units with different programming content within a virtual robotics context on both learning gains and motivational changes in middle school (6th-8th grade) robotics…