Can Students' Spatial Skills Predict Their Programming Abilities?

Bockmon, Ryan; Cooper, Stephen; Gratch, Jonathan; Zhang, Jian; Dorodchi, Mohsen

doi:10.1145/3341525.3387380

Cited by 24 publications

(20 citation statements)

References 16 publications

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“…Three independent studies have also demonstrated that training spatial skills can have a positive effect on CS outcomes, two of which focused on CS1 cohorts [6,13,36]. Bockmon et al attempted an intervention with a CS1 cohort over two years: no intervention was used in the first year (control) and a paid voluntary spatial skills intervention was used in the second (treatment).…”

Section: Related Workmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Within computing specifically, recent studies have established a link between spatial skills and outcomes in computing courses [6,13,36]. However, very few studies have investigated the impact of spatial skills training on under-represented groups, such as women, or groups that are at risk of lower performance in computing courses, such as those from less affluent socioeconomic backgrounds.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Spatial Skills and Demographic Factors in CS1

Parkinson

Cutts

et al. 2021

Proceedings of the 21st Koli Calling International Conference on Computing Education Research

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Motivation Prior studies have established that training spatial skills may improve outcomes in computing courses. Very few of these studies have, however, explored the impact of spatial skills training on women or examined its relationship with other factors commonly explored in the context of academic performance, such as socioeconomic background and self-efficacy.Objectives In this study, we report on a spatial skills intervention deployed in a computer programming course (CS1) in the first year of a post-secondary program. We explore the relationship between various demographic factors, course performance, and spatial skills ability at both the beginning and end of the term. Methods Data was collected using a combination of demographic surveys, existing self-efficacy and CS1 content instruments, and the Revised PVST:R spatial skills assessment. Spatial skills were evaluated both at the beginning of the term and at the end, after spatial skills training was provided. Results While little evidence was found to link spatial skills to socioeconomic status or self-efficacy, both gender identity and previous experience in computing were found to be correlated to spatial skills ability at the start of the course. Women initially recorded lower spatial skills ability, but after training, the distribution of spatial skills scores for women approached that of men. Discussion These findings suggest that, if offered early enough, spatial skills training may be able to remedy some differences in background that impact performance in computing courses. CCS CONCEPTS• Social and professional topics → Computing education.

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Section: Related Workmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Spatial Skills and Demographic Factors in CS1

Parkinson

Cutts

et al. 2021

Proceedings of the 21st Koli Calling International Conference on Computing Education Research

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“…A research group out of the University of Nebraska, Lincoln has also published work that used a shortened version of the SCS1 assessment [6][7][8]. The revised SCS1 assessment (termed 'SCS1R') was created by keeping the original content of the assessment rather than the format of question types [6].…”

Section: Shortening the Scs1mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Bockmon et al recruited 635 undergraduate students in introductory computing courses to pilot the SCS1R. The research team used SCS1R to further link spatial skills and CS, such as how training in spatial skills can improve CS performance and enjoyment (n=197 undergraduate CS1 students) [8] and connecting spatial skills with programming ability (274 control-group participants, 71 experimental-group participants, all from an undergraduate CS1 course) [7].…”

Section: Shortening the Scs1mentioning

confidence: 99%

Uses, Revisions, and the Future of Validated Assessments in Computing Education: A Case Study of the FCS1 and SCS1

Parker

Guzdial

Tew³

2021

Proceedings of the 17th ACM Conference on International Computing Education Research

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Validated instruments of knowledge are important for creating an accepted and shared measurement for the most important part of education -student learning. The Force Concept of Inventory from Physics Education Research has had a significant impact across STEM education. The Foundational CS1 (FCS1) and Second CS1 (SCS1) assessments were created and validated to further computing education research. Now, ten years after the publication of the FCS1 assessment and five years after the release of the SCS1 assessment, we can trace the use and the impact that these validated instruments have had on the needs and knowledge of the computing education community. In this paper, we examine how the FCS1 and SCS1 assessments have been used and adapted. We use this discussion to guide a comparison between our field and physics education to give a sense of direction to future research. In looking back on the use of these validated instruments, we can better understand our needs in computing education research and about our future needs in assessment. CCS CONCEPTS• Social and professional topics → Student assessment.

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“…Research into spatial skills and computing science has ourished in recent years, with several recent studies exploring the relationship [1,9,11]. Spatial skills have been associated with success in computing courses and specic domains of computing (for example, source code navigation [8] and expression evaluation [13]) and training spatial skills has been demonstrated to improve CS outcomes for early-stage students [2,3,12].…”

Section: First Iteration: Spatial Skills and Computing Sciencementioning

confidence: 99%