Collaborative Research: Spatial Skills and Success in Introductory Computing

协作研究：空间技能和入门计算的成功

• 批准号: 1711780
• 负责人: Jian Zhang
• 金额: $ 5.5万
• 依托单位: Texas Woman's University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2017
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2017-08-15 至 2021-07-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1711780&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; Spatial; Skills; Success

Prior research studies have found that low spatial ability is a predictor of failure in several engineering disciplines. Furthermore, there is evidence that some students from underrepresented groups in engineering and computer science (e.g., women and African Americans and Hispanics), demonstrate statistically lower spatial abilities, but low spatial ability can be improved. Engineering students who have gone through interventions to enhance their spatial abilities have succeeded in great numbers in undergraduate engineering programs. While engineering and computer science are STEM disciplines that are often thought of as being related, it is still unknown whether spatial ability is also a factor in student success in computer science coursework. This project will explore whether spatial ability is a predictor of success in first-year college computing courses. If so, this project will study whether students with low spatial abilities can be trained to improve, and whether their performance in computing classes (and their retention) improves as a result. The short-term and long-term impacts of improving students' spatial abilities will be determined. This collaborative partnership includes faculty at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Texas Woman's University, and the University of North Carolina-Charlotte. Determining the 3D spatial skills components most important to succeed in introductory computing courses will enable the development of spatial skills interventions for computing students. The research team will determine the impact of spatial skills interventions on the performance and overall retention of computing students. In doing so, it will also explore whether providing spatial skills training also improves the experience of female and underrepresented minority students, thus increasing the likelihood that they will choose to take additional computing classes. This project will demonstrate a series of approaches that can improve students' spatial abilities. It is expected that the results of this work could be applied to other domains. For instance, many researchers within the algorithm visualization community have had limited successes with the creation and use of educational tools/visualizations. If there is a correlation between a student's low-spatial ability and the student's inability to learn from a particular algorithm visualization, this work will have provided this community with a means to improve the effectiveness and the impact of the tools/visualizations they are creating to improve student learning. Results of this project will be disseminated through conferences papers, workshops, and through a project's web site where all materials will be accessible to the public.

先前的研究发现，低空间能力是几个工程学科失败的预测指标。此外，有证据表明，一些来自工程和计算机科学领域代表性不足的学生（例如，妇女和非洲裔美国人和西班牙裔）表现出统计学上较低的空间能力，但可以提高空间能力。接受干预以增强其空间能力的工程专业的学生在本科工程计划中取得了很大的成功。尽管工程和计算机科学是经常被认为是相关的茎学科，但仍不知道空间能力是否也是学生在计算机科学课程中成功的一个因素。该项目将探讨空间能力是否是一年级大学计算课程中成功的预测指标。如果是这样，该项目将研究是否可以培训具有低空间能力的学生以改进，以及他们在计算机类别（及其保留）中的表现是否有所提高。将确定提高学生空间能力的短期和长期影响。这种合作伙伴关系包括内布拉斯加林肯大学，得克萨斯州女子大学和北卡罗来纳大学 - 夏洛特大学的教师。确定成功进行入门计算课程最重要的3D空间技能组成部分将使计算学生的空间技能干预措施开发。研究团队将确定空间技能干预对计算学生的性能和整体保留的影响。在此过程中，它还将探索提供空间技能培训是否还可以改善女性和代表性不足的少数民族学生的经验，从而增加他们选择参加其他计算课程的可能性。该项目将展示一系列可以提高学生空间能力的方法。预计这项工作的结果可以应用于其他领域。例如，算法可视化社区中的许多研究人员在创建和使用教育工具/可视化方面取得了有限的成功。如果学生的低空间能力与学生无法从特定算法可视化中学习之间存在相关性，那么这项工作将为这个社区提供提高他们正在创造的工具/可视化的影响以改善学生学习的方法。该项目的结果将通过会议论文，研讨会以及通过项目的网站传播，在该网站上，所有材料都可以访问公众。

项目成果

(Re)Validating Cognitive Introductory Computing Instruments

（重新）验证认知入门计算仪器

• DOI: 10.1145/3287324.3287372
• 发表时间: 2019
• 期刊: Proceedings of the 50th ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education (SIGCSE '19
• 作者: Bockmon, Ryan;Cooper, Stephen;Gratch, Jonathan;Dorodchi, Mohsen
• 通讯作者: Dorodchi, Mohsen

Can Students' Spatial Skills Predict Their Programming Abilities?

学生的空间技能可以预测他们的编程能力吗？

• DOI: 10.1145/3341525.3387380
• 发表时间: 2020
• 期刊: ITiCSE 2020
• 作者: Bockmon, Ryan;Cooper, Stephen;Gratch, Jonathan;Zhang, Jian;Dorodchi, Mohsen
• 通讯作者: Dorodchi, Mohsen

A CS1 Spatial Skills Intervention and the Impact on Introductory Programming Abilities

CS1 空间技能干预及其对入门编程能力的影响

• DOI: 10.1145/3328778.3366829
• 发表时间: 2020
• 期刊: SIGCSE 2020
• 作者: Bockmon, Ryan;Cooper, Stephen;Koperski, William;Gratch, Jonathan;Sorby, Sheryl;Dorodchi, Mohsen
• 通讯作者: Dorodchi, Mohsen

Validating a CS Attitudes Instrument

• DOI: 10.1145/3328778.3366830
• 发表时间: 2020-01-01
• 期刊: SIGCSE 2020: PROCEEDINGS OF THE 51ST ACM TECHNICAL SYMPOSIUM ON COMPUTER SCIENCE EDUCATION
• 作者: Bockmon, Ryan;Cooper, Stephen;Dorodchi, Mohsen
• 通讯作者: Dorodchi, Mohsen