Effect of Implementing Subgoals in ***'s Intro to Programming Unit in Computer Science Principles

作     者：Margulieux, Lauren E. Morrison, Briana B. Franke, Baker Ramilison, Harivololona 

作者机构：Georgia State Univ Dept Learning Sci Atlanta GA 30302 USA Univ Nebraska Comp Sci Dept 6001 Dodge St Omaha NE 68182 USA Code Org Chicago IL USA Code Org 1501 4th AveSuite 900 Seattle WA 98101 USA 

出 版 物：《ACM TRANSACTIONS ON COMPUTING EDUCATION》 (ACM J. Trans. Comput. Educ.)

年 卷 期：2020年第20卷第4期

页      面：1–24页

核心收录：

基　　金：National Science Foundation Division Of Undergraduate Education Direct For Education and Human Resources Funding Source: National Science Foundation 

主　　题：Subgoal learning instructional design Computer Science Principles K-12 

摘      要：The subgoal learning framework has improved performance for novice programmers in higher education, but it has only started to be applied and studied in K-12 (primary/secondary). Programming education in K-12 is growing, and many international initiatives are attempting to increase participation, including curricular initiatives like Computer Science Principles and non-profit organizations like *** . Given that subgoal learning is designed to help students with no prior knowledge, we designed and implemented subgoals in the introduction to programming unit in *** s Computer Science Principles course. The redesigned unit includes subgoal-oriented instruction and subgoal-themed pre-written comments that students could add to their programming activities. To evaluate efficacy, we compared behaviors and performance of students who received the redesigned subgoal unit to those receiving the original unit. We found that students who learned with subgoals performed better on problem-solving questions but not knowledge-based questions and wrote more in open-ended response questions, including a practice Performance Task for the AP exam. Moreover, at least one-third of subgoal students continued to use the subgoal comments after the subgoal-oriented instruction had been faded, suggesting that they found them useful. Survey data from the teachers suggested that students who struggled with the concepts found the subgoals most useful. Implications for future designs are discussed.