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

为了培养一支更具竞争力、精通计算机的国内劳动力队伍，准备成为计算创新者，该项目试图改善小学高年级的计算机科学教学。它将为不同类型的学生制定教学策略，包括学习障碍学生、英语学习者以及具有不同种族、性别和社会经济背景的学生。它将借鉴几十年来对阅读理解的研究，推动我们探索计算机科学的元认知学习策略。虽然许多计算机科学教育活动的重点是年龄较大的学生，但该项目解决了加强小学生计算机科学教育的需要，并以一种对不同学生群体可访问和有效的方式进行。研究人员将探索阅读技能、阅读理解能力和计算机编程技能之间的关系。最终目标将是确定和发展技术，包括教师和学生资源，在早期学习编程。该项目涉及的战略支持改善计算机科学教学和扩大所有学生接触计算机的机会。这个项目将研究与编程成功相关的技能，特别是与阅读理解和元认知策略相关的技能。然后，它将修改和试行用于编程教学的策略。更具体地说，这个项目的目标是：(1)评估与成功学习编程相关的各种技能和能力(如阅读理解、数学和认知技能)。(2)探索成功的大学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及其与代码理解的关系进行了理论分析。(4)开发了两种很有前途的元认知策略作为代码理解策略，包括教师建模、指导性教学资源和学生资源。(5)在课堂上实施新策略，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的关系的基础工作，以及成功的学习者在编程学习过程中阅读代码时所使用的元认知策略。这项研究代表着一个丰富议程的开始，该议程努力更好地理解如何适应小学观众的教学技巧和学习技巧，而不仅仅是内容。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.