Developing Computational Efficacy and Skill Within an Inclusive Community of Practice in the Natural Sciences

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This project aims to serve the national interest by building students’ computational thinking (CT) skills and computing self-efficacy in biology and chemistry majors in a community of practice (CoP). The computational training for students in biology and chemistry disciplines is typically insufficient in preparing students to develop computing tools for various projects and applications in their own disciplines. In order to improve students’ computing knowledge and skills, this project plans to incorporate four computational interventions in the curricula of biology and chemistry majors. The interventions include two seminars, a coding workshop, and pair programming projects. The project intends to investigate the effect of these four computational interventions on students’ CT skills, computing self-efficacy, career interests, and outcomes. The target participants in this project are first- and second-year undergraduate students who are typically unprepared for biology, chemistry and other STEM majors. The proposed project will also produce a novel, streamlined CT assessment instrument that can be widely deployed for larger-scale research.The project includes an alliance consisting of two host and four satellite institutions across three states. The CoP spanning the alliance will include novice to experienced practitioners engaging in reciprocal communication, mentorship, teaching, and learning. Project personnel aim to determine the core interventions and key components contributing to the greatest gains in students’ CT skills and computing self-efficacy and to identify factors that motivate participation within each setting. The project team hopes to identify ways to effectively scale and adapt the projects across multiple types of institutions within the alliance. The project intends to advance the current knowledge base about best practices in education and development of computational skills for biology and chemistry majors. The project results will be disseminated to various peer-reviewed education journals, regional and national conferences. The workshop materials and instructor resources will be available on the project website, which will facilitate onboarding for additional Alliance partners. The NSF IUSE: EHR Program supports research and development projects to improve the effectiveness of STEM education for all students. Through the Engaged Student Learning track, the program supports the creation, exploration, and implementation of promising practices and tools.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.