Research & Publications
Double-blind peer-reviewed research in Computing Education. Co-authored with collaborators at Oregon State University under Dr. Jennifer Parham-Mocello. All publications are part of an NSF-funded CSforALL initiative aimed at making computer science more equitable & accessible.
Impacts of Professional Development on Knowledge for Teaching Middle School Computer Science
🏆 1st author & primary contributor - discovered frameworks, conducted qualitative & quantitative analysis
This full research paper describes factors contributing to the knowledge and professional development (PD) of three different middle-school math and science teachers with a limited knowledge of computer science (CS) implementing a new CS curriculum throughout one academic year. We utilize the Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) framework as a lens for assessing teacher knowledge and describe their PD with respect to the TPACK-of-Practice Model. We use thematic analysis on interviews, qualitative observational field notes, and curriculum and assessment modifications to answer the following research questions: 1) How does middle school teachers' knowledge for teaching a CS curriculum develop after one academic year, 2) what TPACK-of-Practice level do middle school teachers reach after teaching a CS curriculum for one academic year, and 3) how does PD impact middle school teachers' implementation of a CS curriculum? We report what PD practices effectively assisted with developing pedagogical content knowledge among the teachers, how the teachers leveraged their prior teaching knowledge and experience from their respective fields, and how the teachers' PD guided and supported their interactions with the curriculum and their understanding of the subject matter.
Manipulatives for Teaching Computer Science Concepts
2nd author & major contributor - created & implemented innovative practices, collected & analyzed data/observations, wrote several sections
Despite many initiatives to increase participation in K-12 computer science (CS), only about half of the public high schools offer CS, and only about a third of the K-8 public schools offer CS. The lack of participation has been attributed to feelings of not belonging, technology-rich programs creating divides among students, and negative belief systems that CS is socially isolating, lacks creativity or fun, and is for intelligent, white males, and we believe one contributing factor is the way CS is introduced, taught, and scaffolded. In this full paper, we present innovative pedagogical approaches to teach fundamental CS concepts, such as abstraction, representation, algorithms, and computation, to 6th grade students using manipulatives, which are physical objects that students interact with to teach or reinforce a concept. Through observational field notes from a 6th-grade classroom and interviews with the teacher, we discuss the affordances and drawbacks of the different approaches and manipulatives. We found that using manipulatives led to increased student engagement and participation with the material and made teaching the material more exciting and engaging for the teacher.
Putting Computing on the Table: Using Physical Games to Teach Computer Science
Helped with curriculum development, classroom implementation, data collection, qualitative + quantitative analysis. Co-wrote data analysis section. Presented at conference in Toronto, ON. (~30% acceptance rate, CORE A-ranked)
We describe a new introductory CS curriculum for middle schools that focuses on teaching CS concepts using the instructions and rules for playing simple, physical games. We deliberately avoid the use of technology and, in particular, programming, and we focus on games, such as tossing a coin to see who goes first and playing Tic-Tac-Toe. We report on middle-school students' understanding of basic CS concepts and their experiences with the curriculum. After piloting the curriculum in 6th and 7th grade electives, we found that students liked the curriculum and using games, while some other students reported struggling with the technical content in the algorithm unit and vocabulary across the curriculum. Overall, students gained an understanding of abstraction and representation, and most students could define an algorithm and recognize a condition. However, they could not correctly organize the instructions of an algorithm. Our results suggest that the non-coding, game-based curriculum engaged middle school students in basic CS concepts at the middle school level, but we believe there is room for improvement in delivering technical content and vocabulary related to algorithms.
Using a Functional Board Game Language to Teach Middle School Programming
Assisted with data collection and co-wrote data analysis section.
In this work (a full paper on an innovative practice), we report on middle school students' experiences while learning a new text-based, functional domain-specific teaching language for programming well-known, simple physical games, such as tossing a coin to see who goes first or playing Tic-Tac-Toe. Based on students' responses after taking an 18-week, 7th grade elective, we find that the majority of the students like learning the new language because it is not block-based, it is not complicated, and it is in the domain of games. However, we also find that there are some students who say programming is what they like the least about the class, and the majority of the students report that they struggle the most with writing the syntax. Overall, the majority of students like the curriculum, language, and using games as a way to explain CS concepts and teach programming. Even though learning a text-based, functional programming language may be difficult for middle-school students, these results show that the domain-specific teaching language is an effective teaching vehicle at the middle school level.
About the Research
🔬 All four publications are part of a multi-year, NSF-funded CSforALL Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) initiative at Oregon State University, conducted under Dr. Jennifer Parham-Mocello from 2021–2024. The research aimed to make computer science more equitable and accessible through game-oriented curriculum & empowering K-12 CS teachers.
🎤 SIGCSE 2023 - Toronto, ON: Presented the data analysis section of the SIGCSE publication at the ACM's largest technical symposium. SIGCSE is CORE A-ranked with a ~30% acceptance rate.
📄 IEEE FIE (Frontiers in Education) is a major international conference focusing on educational innovations and research in engineering and computing education, leading the world in developing new research insights and educational approaches.