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

协作研究：使用同行编写的程序实现计算机编程的独立学习

• 批准号: 0835438
• 负责人: Caitlin Kelleher
• 金额: $ 37.53万
• 依托单位: Washington University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2008
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2008-09-01 至 2012-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0835438&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; Enabling; Independent; Learning

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.

该项目的目的是开发和评估用户界面工具，使中学生能够有效地自学计算机编程的基础知识，使用同行编写的程序。所提出的工具将使中学用户能够1）识别同龄人编写的程序中的有趣功能，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构造。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，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，一种基于用于构造程序的用户界面动作序列的记录历史来自动生成定制教程的技术。计算机编程已经成为一种基本工具，学科包括基础科学、传播学和医学。然而，计算机科学未能吸引必要的学生数量，以维持学科内和计算机科学支持的学科的进展。在中学期间学习计算机科学的机会很少（当许多学生开始选择退出数学和科学为基础的职业时）。该项目将使中学生能够使用同龄人创建的程序自学计算机编程。该项目将在Storytelling Alice中实施，该环境使中学生能够编写程序来创建3D动画电影。用户将能够识别其他用户创建的电影中他们感兴趣的部分，并按照自动生成的教程学习如何创建这些电影的选定部分。通过构建工具，帮助用户有效地学习由同行在一个有吸引力的编程环境中编写的程序，我们使全国各地的中学生在正式学习计算机科学的机会正在减少，对计算机科学家的需求正在增加的时候，发展计算机编程技能。虽然该项目的目标是中学生学习计算机编程，但还有许多其他受众（例如学习新计算机软件的成年人）将受益于能够自学的软件技术。