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行编写的程序有效地自学计算机编程的基础知识。提议的工具将使中学用户能够1)识别同行编写的程序中的有趣功能，2)通过自动生成的定制教程重新创建该功能，以便在他们自己的程序中使用。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，他们将被介绍给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1)用户界面工具的开发，这些工具使初学者程序员能够在不熟悉的代码库中找到感兴趣的代码，以及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。计算机编程已成为使包括基础科学、通信和医学在内的广泛学科取得进展的基本工具。然而，计算机科学未能吸引到足够数量的学生，以维持该学科内部和计算机科学支持的那些学科的进步。在中学期间学习计算机科学的机会很少(许多学生开始选择退出基于数学和科学的职业)。这个项目将使中学生能够使用他们的同龄人创建的程序自学计算机编程。该项目将在讲故事的Alice中实施，这是一个让中学生编写程序来创作3D动画电影的环境。用户将能够识别由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。通过开发工具，帮助用户在吸引人的编程环境中有效地从同行编写的程序中学习，我们使全国的中学生能够在正规学习计算机科学的机会减少、对计算机科学家的需求增加的情况下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，学习一款新的计算机软件的成年人)将从支持自学的软件技术中受益。

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.