Collaborative Research: Adapting Reading Comprehension Strategies for use in Elementary School Computer Science Instruction to Educate Tomorrow's Computational Innovators

为了培养更具竞争力的、掌握计算机知识的国内劳动力，使他们能够成为计算机创新者，该项目旨在改善小学高年级的计算机科学教学。它将创建教学策略的学生，包括学习障碍的学生，英语学习者，和学生的各种种族，性别和社会经济背景。它将利用数十年来对阅读理解的研究来推动我们对计算机科学元认知学习策略的探索。虽然许多计算机科学教育活动的重点是年龄较大的学生，这个项目解决了需要加强小学生的计算机科学教育，并以一种可访问和有效的方式为不同的学生群体。 研究人员将探讨阅读技能、阅读理解和计算机编程技能之间的关系。最终目标是确定和开发技术，包括教师和学生资源，用于在早期学习编程。该项目所涉及的战略支持改善计算机科学教学和扩大所有学生的计算机使用。这个项目将学习与成功编程相关的技能，特别是与阅读理解和元认知策略相关的技能。然后，它将修改和试点测试策略用于编程教学。更具体地说，这个项目的目标是：（1）评估各种技能和能力（例如阅读理解，数学和认知技能）与成功学习编程相关。(2)探索成功的大学水平的新手程序员使用的元认知策略。(3)对现有的几种元认知学习策略进行理论分析，以及它们与代码理解的关系。(4)开发两种有前景的元认知策略作为代码理解策略，包括教师建模和指导教学资源以及学生资源。(5)在课堂上实施新的策略，以评估可用性，保真度和影响力。 这个项目代表了理解高年级学生非编程技能和学习编程之间关系的基础工作，以及成功的学习者在编程学习过程中阅读代码时采用的元认知策略。这项研究代表了一个丰富的议程，努力更好地了解如何适应教学技术和学习技巧，而不仅仅是内容，为小学观众的开始。该项目的资金来自NSF ECR计划。

In order to produce a more competitive, computer-literate domestic workforce ready to be computational innovators, this project seeks to improve computer science instruction at the upper elementary school level. It will create strategies for teaching a diverse set of students, including students with learning disabilities, English language learners, and students with a variety of ethnic, gender, and socioeconomic backgrounds. It will draw on decades of research on reading comprehension to drive our exploration into metacognitive learning strategies for computer science. While many computer science educational activities focus on older students, this project addresses the need to enhance computer science education for elementary school students and does it in a way that is accessible and effective for diverse student populations. The researchers will explore how reading skills, reading comprehension, and computer programming skills can be related. The ultimate goal will be to identify and develop techniques, including teacher and student resources, for learning to program in the early years. The strategies involved in the project support improving computer science instruction and expanding access to computing for all students. This project will study skills that are correlated with success in programming, especially as they relate to reading comprehension and metacognitive strategies. It will then modify and pilot-test strategies for use in programming instruction. More specifically, the goals of this project are to: (1) Assess a variety of skills and abilities (e.g. reading comprehension, mathematics, and cognitive skills) to correlate with successfully learning programming. (2) Explore metacognitive strategies used by successful college-level novice programmers. (3) Perform a theoretical analysis of several existing metacognitive learning strategies and how they relate to code comprehension. (4) Develop two promising metacognitive strategies as code comprehension strategies, including teacher modeling and guided instruction resources as well as student resources. (5) Implement new strategies in the classroom to evaluate for usability, fidelity, and impact. This project represents foundational work in understanding the relationship between non-programming skills and learning programming in upper elementary students, as well as the metacognitive strategies that successful learners employ while reading code during the programming learning process. This research represents the beginning of a rich agenda that strives to better understand how to adapt teaching techniques and learning techniques, not just content, for the elementary school audience. Funding for this project comes from the NSF ECR Program.