Learning to love computer science

Hug, Sarah; Thiry, Heather; Tedford, Phyllis

doi:10.1145/1953163.1953225

Cited by 25 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 10 publications

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“…A different study, conducted by Hug et al, describes the benefits of peer tutoring, stating that most peer leaders (tutors) reported increased self-efficacy in teaching computer science, while having improved understanding of the contents covered, and better communication and leader skills after one semester as tutors [4].…”

Section: Related Studiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Godparent Plan: A Pedagogical Strategy for CS1 Accompaniment and CS2 Pedagogical Enhancement

Feijóo-García

Ortíz-Buitrago

2018

Int. J. Eng. Ped.

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Abstract-Courses such as CS1 and CS2 can present an interesting pedagogical challenge when it comes to the theory-practice relationship, along with aspects that involve the course's logistics, the programming language used, and the characteristics of the students involved in the process. This study presents an innovative didactic approach, oriented towards the accompaniment of CS1 students by CS2 students at Universidad El Bosque, Colombia, seeking with this Godparent Plan, to provide a personalized accompaniment to first semester students, whereby CS2 students enhance their domain over concepts and skills while accompanying, explaining and teaching younger peers. The results of this study are favorable, outlining a didactic scheme that can be adapted and replicated in other curricular scenarios.Keywords-active learning, validated learning, pedagogical innovation, computer science education, CS1 didactics, CS2 didactics IntroductionTeaching in introductory courses, such as CS1 and CS2, poses an interesting pedagogical challenge as far as the theory-practice relationship is concerned. The instructor in charge must ease the immersion into the programming world for students coursing the first academic year, articulating high-quality standards in conjunction with motivation and didactic strategies to keep them motivated, confident and projected to continue in the program.To enhance the pedagogical approach in these courses, within a curricular and logistic context that does not favor the articulation of constructivist approaches for active learning, a CS2 section was adapted, so that its students could work individually as godparents or tutors, with students from a CS1 section, both sections taught by the same instructor.Although a general approach would invite to question the role of this Godparent Plan with respect to the CS1 course, throughout this document we will present the role of this proposal as a didactic strategy for meaningful learning in CS2, with the purpose to answer the following research question: How effective is peer tutoring for iJEP

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Section: Related Studiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Godparent Plan: A Pedagogical Strategy for CS1 Accompaniment and CS2 Pedagogical Enhancement

Feijóo-García

Ortíz-Buitrago

2018

Int. J. Eng. Ped.

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“…Table 2 shows the coding for the responses of what peer mentors did to help the teams, and Figure 4 shows the frequency of those responses. 4 Rehearse their ROV/bathysphere presentation 5…”

Section: Survey Assessment Of Peer Mentoring Experiencementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Peer mentoring has been associated with beneficial outcomes in higher education, from increased retention of minority students [1] and women [2] to learning gains for both the mentors and mentees [3,4] . Mentors are also found to develop in pedagogical/life skills including patience, confidence, communication, and leadership [4,5] .Most of the peer mentoring relationships investigated in the literature are mentors not tied to a specific course [e.g., 2 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Mentors are also found to develop in pedagogical/life skills including patience, confidence, communication, and leadership [4,5] .Most of the peer mentoring relationships investigated in the literature are mentors not tied to a specific course [e.g., 2 ]. In the literature, this type of role is sometimes called "peer leader" or "peer facilitator," and the students who fulfill the role are sometimes true peers and sometimes older and more experienced than the students they mentor.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Assessment of Peer Mentoring of Teams in a First-Year Design-Build-Test-Communicate Class

Coller

Alford³

et al.

2017 ASEE Annual Conference &Amp; Exposition Proceedings

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James Coller is an engineering graduate student at the University of Michigan where he also completed his B.S. in Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering in 2017. He spent three years during his undergraduate education as an Instructional Assistant for a first year engineering course. His research interests include autonomous robotics for both land and marine environments as well as naval ship design problems. Mr. Magel Su, University of MichiganMagel Su is a current undergraduate student at the University of Michigan studying materials science and engineering with a minor in chemistry. He is also a member of the engineering honors program, an instructor for a first-year engineering design course, and a researcher in the Yalisove Lab Group. Assessment of Peer Mentoring of Teams in a First Year Design-Build-TestCommunicate Class AbstractPeer mentoring has been associated with beneficial outcomes in higher education, from increased retention of minority students [1] and women [2] to learning gains for both mentors and mentees [3] . Most of the peer mentoring relationships investigated in the literature are of mentors not tied to a specific course [e.g., 2 ]. This paper reports on how one section of a first year, intensive, projectbased learning class uses peer mentors to guide student teams throughout a design-build-test project in a first year engineering course.Our one-semester course is a four-credit combined technical and communication course. Students work in teams of four or five students to design, build, and test two underwater vessels (one an unpowered bathysphere, one a remotely operated vehicle [ROV]), as well as to report on those designs. Former students of the course participate as peer mentors, working directly with a single team to guide design decisions and provide feedback on all facets of the design and communication process.In Fall 2016, we conducted an assessment of our current peer mentoring system by surveying students and peer mentors. As all students in our section experience mentoring, we did not have a comparison group, but we did seek to understand the benefits and drawbacks of mentoring for both students and mentors. From this survey, as well as our experiences facilitating the course with peer mentors for eight semesters, we are able to report a few "best practices" for facilitating the peer mentoring experience in our context. Importantly, we find that both students and mentors benefit from the mentoring experience, enough to justify our efforts to manage it. We do note potential disadvantages of mentors, as well as possible ways to mediate these drawbacks. This report contains the results of the survey, as well as instructor conclusions on what aspects of the peer mentoring experience are most important for successful implementation.

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“…The results show that it not only helps in overcoming academic challenges but also provides support for psychological and social development [18,19,20,21]. It is evident from studies that both mentors and mentees benefit from this type of collaborations [22,23,24]. In addition, mentoring supports retention of minority and female students in engineering and other relates fields [25,26].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Does Peer Mentoring Help Students be Successful in an Introductory Engineering Course?

Tahmina¹

2019 ASEE Annual Conference &Amp; Exposition Proceedings

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Previous literature shows that first year engineering students face challenges transitioning from high school to college due to higher academic expectations. In addition to the registration process, financial aid application and tuition requirements, there are other aspects of college admission that add to the challenges for students. For engineering students, the academic challenges arise due to lack of technical and problem-solving skills that are required for higher level mathematics, science and introductory engineering coursework. Many higher education institutions have developed their first-year engineering curriculum with a broad perspective that welcomes students and allow them to explore options for choosing their majors. Even though the first-year curriculum is fundamental, students seem to find the coursework difficult and overwhelming especially during the first semester. In order to help students in overcoming these academic challenges, several learning pedagogies have been developed by instructors and implemented in the classrooms. Many of these studies focus on strategies to improve student performance in a classroom. The assessment of the student performance in most of these studies is limited to the overall student grade. This research study presents peer mentoring strategy that helps students succeed in an introductory engineering course. The research objectives in this study are: 1) to illustrate how peer mentoring helps improve the student performance and 2) to explore the correlation between student participation in peer mentoring sessions and the overall grade of the student which serves as a factor to determine student's success in a classroom.First year engineering curriculum includes two semester course sequence: Fundamentals of Engineering I (offered in the first semester) and Fundamentals of Engineering II (offered in the second semester). Data is presented from the first semester course offered at the regional campus of a large, research institution. Fundamentals of Engineering I course include the following sections as three main components of the coursework. a) Introduction to data analysis tool such as Microsoft Excel, b) Computer programming in MATLAB, and c) Design project. Teamwork and collaboration are heavily weighted for the assessment of student performance in the course. The peer mentoring strategy presented in this study is unique in terms of scheduling flexibility, accessibility of resources and support from academic success center on campus to help sustain the mentoring program.Preliminary research findings indicate that students benefit from the interactions with mentors and learn from the shared experiences. Being mentored from a peer has helped students develop critical thinking skills that are important to solve open-ended and real-world problems. It is also noted that students were able to advance their computer programming skills because of their interactions with peers. Analysis of the preliminary data shows that the peer mentoring sessions help students score a be...

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Learning to love computer science

Cited by 25 publications

References 10 publications

The Godparent Plan: A Pedagogical Strategy for CS1 Accompaniment and CS2 Pedagogical Enhancement

The Godparent Plan: A Pedagogical Strategy for CS1 Accompaniment and CS2 Pedagogical Enhancement

Assessment of Peer Mentoring of Teams in a First-Year Design-Build-Test-Communicate Class

Does Peer Mentoring Help Students be Successful in an Introductory Engineering Course?

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