Collaborative Research: Enabling Independent Learning of Computer Programming Using Programs Written by Peers

这个项目的目的是开发和评估用户界面工具，使中学生能够使用同龄人编写的程序有效地自学计算机编程的基础知识。所提出的工具将使中学用户能够1)识别同伴编写的程序中有趣的功能，2)通过自动生成的自定义教程重新创建该功能，以便在自己的程序中使用。当用户完成这些教程以重新创建从他们的同行编写的程序中选择的功能时，他们将被介绍到广泛的编程概念和结构。该项目将包括用户测试，以指导和评估以下方面的开发：1)用户界面工具，使新手程序员能够在不熟悉的代码库中找到感兴趣的代码；2)基于用于构建程序的用户界面操作序列的记录历史，自动生成定制教程的技术。计算机编程已经成为一种基本的工具，它使包括基础科学、通信和医学在内的广泛学科取得进展。然而，计算机科学未能吸引足够的学生来维持本学科和计算机科学支持的其他学科的进步。在中学学习计算机科学的机会很少（当许多学生开始选择放弃与数学和科学相关的职业时）。该项目将使中学生能够使用同龄人编写的程序自学计算机编程。该项目将在中学生编写3D动画电影制作程序的“讲故事的爱丽丝”环境中实施。用户将能够识别其他用户创建的他们感兴趣的电影部分，并遵循自动生成的教程来学习如何创建这些电影的选定部分。通过构建工具，帮助用户在一个有吸引力的编程环境中有效地学习同龄人编写的程序，我们使全国各地的中学生能够在学习计算机科学的正式机会减少而对计算机科学家的需求增加的时候发展计算机编程技能。虽然这个项目的目标是学习计算机编程的中学生，但还有许多其他受众（例如学习一种新计算机软件的成年人）将受益于能够自学的软件技术。

The purpose of this project is to develop and evaluate user interface tools that enable middle school students to effectively teach themselves the basics of computer programming using programs written by peers. The proposed tools will enable middle school users to 1) identify interesting functionality within programs written by peers and 2) re-create that functionality for use in their own programs through automatically generated custom tutorials. As users complete these tutorials to re-create functionality selected from programs their peers have written, they will be introduced to a broad range of programming concepts and constructs. The project will include user testing to both guide and evaluate the development of 1) user interface tools that enable novice programmers to find code of interest in an unfamiliar codebase and 2) technology to automatically generate customized tutorials based on a recorded history of the sequence of user interface actions used to construct a program.Computer programming has become a fundamental tool that enables progress across a broad range of disciplines including basic science, communications, and medicine. Yet, Computer Science is failing to attract the number of students necessary to sustain progress both within the discipline and in those disciplines supported by computer science. Opportunities to study computer science during middle school (when many students begin to opt out of math and science based careers) are rare. This project will enable middle school children to teach themselves computer programming using programs created by their peers. The project will be implemented within Storytelling Alice, an environment that enables middle school children to write programs to create 3D animated movies. Users will be able to identify parts of movies created by other users that interest them and follow automatically generated tutorials to learn how to create the selected parts of those movies. By building tools that help users to learn effectively from programs written by peers within an appealing programming environment, we enable middle school students across the country to develop skills in computer programming at a time when formal opportunities to study computer science are decreasing and the need for computer scientists is increasing. While this project targets middle school students in the context of learning computer programming, there are many other audiences (e.g. adults learning a new piece of computer software) would benefit from software technologies that enable self-teaching.