CER: Collaborative Research: Computing Education through Collaborative Debugging

华盛顿大学（University of Washington）和俄勒冈州立大学（Oregon State University）将研究如何在个性化、社交化和在线学习环境中教授调试和计算技能。研究人员将创建一个互动网站，向学习者展示一系列调试难题，使他们能够以自主的方式学习诊断策略和计算概念，并与同龄人合作。该网站还将允许学习者创建自己的调试谜题，与朋友、家人和世界分享，从而形成一个社交学习的在线社区。利用这一设计，本项目将调查调试策略的显性指导对学习者学习基本编程概念能力的影响，以及社会学习特征对学习成果和参与的影响。该项目还将在如何教授调试以及如何将这种教学整合到计算机其他方面的教学中做出基本发现。评估将包括控制实验室实验，每年有200多名美国青少年参加的夏令营，以及该网站的全球部署。这个项目是一项更大的努力的一部分，旨在提高美国青少年的计算机素养和对计算机职业的兴趣。该项目对社会学习的关注对于扩大计算机的参与尤为重要，使青少年能够在支持和协作的环境中学习计算机，而不是在高度竞争的环境中学习，这种环境往往使许多青少年望而却步。此外，由于该网站只需要互联网连接和网络浏览器，而不需要安装软件或特殊设备，该项目还将改善获得有效的、基于证据的计算机教育的机会，惠及那些只能在公共图书馆或学校上网的学习者。这些努力不仅将提高美国公民在信息技术工作方面的全球竞争力，还将帮助更广泛的公民更好地理解和调试他们周围日益以软件为基础的世界。

The University of Washington and Oregon State University will investigate how to teach debugging and computing skills in personalized, social, online learning settings. The investigators will create an interactive website that presents a series of debugging puzzles to learners, allowing them learn diagnostic strategies and computing concepts in a self-paced manner and in collaboration with their peers. The website will also allow learners to create their own debugging puzzles to share with friends, family, and the world, resulting in an online community of social learning. Using this design, the project will investigate the effect of explicit instruction on debugging strategies on learners' ability to learn basic programming concepts and the effect of social learning features on learning outcomes and engagement. The project will also contribute basic discoveries on how to teach debugging and how such teaching can be integrated into instruction on other aspects of computing. Evaluations will include both controlled laboratory experiments, annual summer camps involving over 200 U.S. teens, and a worldwide deployment of the website.This project is part of a larger effort to increase both computing literacy and interest in computing careers on the part of U.S. teens. This project's focus on social learning is particularly important for broadening participation in computing, allowing teens to learn computing in supportive and collaborative settings, rather than the highly competitive settings that tend to deter many teens today. Moreover, because the website will only require an Internet connection and a web browser, and not software installations or special devices, the project will also improve access to effective, evidence-based computing education, reaching learners who only have Internet access at public libraries or at school. These efforts will not only improve U.S. citizens' global competitiveness for information technology jobs, but also help the broader citizenry better understand and debug the increasingly software-based world around them.