Advancing the Computational Thinking of Undergraduate Students in Intermediate Computer Science Courses

This project aims to serve the national interest by defining critical concepts students must understand to become computational thinkers and by identifying misconceptions that stand in the way of learning these concepts. In today’s data- and computing-driven society, people need computational thinking abilities to be successful, contributing members of society.

The ability to think computationally is as fundamentally important as basic fluency in reading, writing, and arithmetic. A well-known and troubling problem is the low retention of students in computing courses and programs, where computational thinking is typically taught. Although considerable work has been done to identify critical concepts and improve student performance in introductory computing courses, little work has been done in intermediate courses.

This project seeks to understand the conceptual barriers that students face while learning basic computational skills in their second and third year of study. This understanding may lead to new approaches to improve teaching and learning of computational thinking. The results of this project have important implications for building and maintaining a skilled national workforce, especially in fields that are highly focused on computation.

This project will study computational thinking through the lens of threshold concepts and threshold capability frameworks. Students often struggle to learn threshold concepts because these concepts require learners to shift their thinking in new and often counter-intuitive ways. Object-oriented programming is an example of a threshold concept.

Once learned, threshold concepts are transformational because they enable learning of more advanced concepts and build the learners’ professional identities in computing. By identifying threshold concepts in intermediate computer science, the project aims to help students navigate more successfully through the conceptual work needed to develop computational thinking capabilities.

This project will integrate issues of threshold concepts, liminality, and transformative learning to produce a framework through which computational thinking can be probed and students’ progression can be better assessed. Computational thinking is, itself, a threshold capability that lays the groundwork for professional success in STEM and non-STEM careers.

The NSF IUSE: EHR Program supports research and development projects to improve the effectiveness of STEM education for all students. Through the Engaged Student Learning track, the program supports the creation, exploration, and implementation of promising practices and tools.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.