High School Calculus and Computer Science Course Taking as Predictors of Success in Introductory College Computer Science
High School Calculus and Computer Science Course Taking as Predictors of Success in Introductory College Computer Science
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高中微积分和计算机科学课程作为大学计算机科学入门课程成功的预测因素
DOI：
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发表时间：
2020
影响因子：
2.4
通讯作者：
P. Sadler
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Chen Chen;Jane M. Kang;G. Sonnert;P. Sadler
在大学计算机科学（CS）入门课程中取得成功，鼓励学生主修和从事计算机科学和许多其他STEM领域的职业，而表现不佳往往是一个强大的威慑。本文考察了高中数学和计算机科学课程（AP、普通课程或无课程）作为大学计算机科学入门课程成功的预测因素的作用，通过学生的最终成绩来衡量。通过对118所美国高校的9418名学生进行分层随机抽样，我们发现，在一个非受控模型中，选修AP微积分比选修AP CS的优势在很大程度上与学生的背景特征相混淆。在运用多项倾向得分加权后，我们估计AP微积分和AP CS对大学CS成绩的影响是相似的。有趣的是，选修AP微积分和AP CS都没有任何额外的积极影响，这表明AP微积分和AP CS都加强了类似的技能，这些技能对长期的CS成就很重要。常规服用CS无显著效果；选修普通微积分有积极的效果，大约是选修AP微积分或AP CS的一半。因此，研究表明，仅仅让学生在大学前接触任何类型的计算机科学课程似乎不足以提高大学计算机科学成绩；高中的高级计算机和高级微积分可以在准备大学计算机的过程中相互替代。
Success in an introductory college computer science (CS) course encourages students to major and pursue careers in computer science and many other STEM fields, whereas weak performance is often a powerful deterrent. This article examines the role of high school course taking (AP, regular, or none) in mathematics and in CS as predictors of later success in college introductory computer science courses, measured by students’ final grades. Using a sample of 9,418 students from a stratified random sample of 118 U.S. colleges and universities, we found that the observed advantage of taking AP calculus over taking AP CS, seen in an uncontrolled model, was largely confounded by students’ background characteristics. After applying multinomial propensity score weighting, we estimated that the effects of taking AP calculus and AP CS on college CS grades were similar. Interestingly, enrollment in both AP calculus and AP CS did not have any additional positive effect, suggesting that both AP calculus and AP CS strengthened similar skills that are important for long-term CS achievement. Taking regular CS did not have a significant effect; taking regular calculus had a positive effect, about half the size of taking AP calculus or AP CS. Thus, the study showed that simply exposing students to any kind of CS course before college does not appear to be sufficient for improving college CS performance; and that advanced CS and advanced calculus in high school may substitute for each other in the preparation of college CS.