Blogs (19) >>
Thu 16 Mar 2023 14:10 - 14:35 at 801A - K-12: Broadening Participation in Computing Chair(s): Sergio Gago-Masague

As computing education begins to grow in K-12 classrooms, it is increasingly important to understand the relationships between a student’s coding attitudes and computing outcomes. While work has been done at the undergraduate and high school level, less is known about elementary students, and even less about Latinx students. We sought to explore the connections between Latinx elementary students’ coding attitudes and computational thinking (CT) skills after participating in a year-long, remote computing curriculum at a public school in Southern California. We collected validated measures on coding attitudes and CT skills to 164 fourth-grade students. We used structural equation modeling to analyze the relationship between the coding attitude constructs (i.e., confidence, utility, perception of coders, social influences, and interest) and scores on a CT assessment, while controlling for demographic factors (i.e., gender, English language fluency, free or reduced lunch status, reading and math standardized test scores). In a model demonstrating acceptable fit, math scores were a significant predictor to CT scores and the relationship was significantly mediated by coding confidence. Confidence was found to be significantly associated with the other attitude constructs except for perception of coders. Our results indicate that confidence plays a large role in student computing learning, especially at a young age. Efforts to better support Latinx students in computer science should include strategies that address students’ coding confidence, such as developing positive perceptions of a student’s learning process (e.g., failures as learning opportunities) in specific coding skills and practices (e.g., tinkering, debugging).

Thu 16 Mar

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13:45 - 15:00
K-12: Broadening Participation in ComputingPapers at 801A
Chair(s): Sergio Gago-Masague University of California, Irvine
13:45
25m
Paper
CompSciConnect: A Multi-Year Summer Program to Broaden Participation in ComputingK12In-Person
Papers
Kristina Kramarczuk University of Maryland, College Park, David Weintrop University of Maryland, Jandelyn Plane University of Maryland, College Park / Ripon College, Kate Atchison University of Maryland, College Park, Charlotte Avery University of Maryland, College Park
DOI
14:10
25m
Paper
Confidence is the Key: Unlocking Predictive Factors of Latinx Elementary Students on a Computational Thinking MeasureK12In-PersonGlobal
Papers
Leiny Garcia University of California, Irvine, Miranda Parker San Diego State University, Santiago Ojeda-Ramirez University of California, Irvine, Mark Warschauer University of California, Irvine
DOI
14:35
25m
Paper
Describing Elementary Students’ Spheres of Influence in Scratch ‘About me’ ProjectsK12In-Person
Papers
Santiago Ojeda-Ramirez University of California, Irvine, Jennifer Tsan WestEd, Donna Eatinger University of Chicago, Sharin Jacob University of California, Irvine, Dana Saito-Stehberger University of California, Irvine, Diana Franklin University of Chicago, Mark Warschauer University of California, Irvine
DOI