CAREER: Creating a Model of Programming Skill Development to Improve Undergraduate Computing Education

该项目旨在通过改善本科计算机和工程教育服务于国家利益。这个国家是由对日常生活至关重要的计算机程序驱动的。国家安全取决于抵御日常网络攻击的能力。经济安全是指金融机构安全地以电子方式转移数百万美元。国家基础设施依赖于控制系统，例如监控空中交通和控制汽车。人们通过智能手机、手机信号塔和高速互联网进行电子联系。这个国家对计算机程序的依赖日益增加，这反映在计算机行业预计的新工作岗位数量的增加上。然而，美国没有能力培养足够的计算机专业人员来满足其需求。学习编程是一项众所周知的挑战，也是进入计算机行业的障碍。该项目的研究和教育计划旨在改变计算机课程，减少编程作为劳动力障碍。这个项目结合了学生如何学习编程的知识（计算和工程教育的发现）和人类如何学习的知识（认知科学和教育心理学的发现），在多个视角的交叉点检查学习编程。为了同时注重将研究成果融入实践，该项目将为未来的编程教员建立一个培训学院。这个项目将使用写作、学习和知识的理论框架，按时间顺序记录攻读计算机学位的本科生如何发展编程技能。本课题的研究目标是建立一个基于直接学习测量和行业专家实践调查的大学生编程技能发展的纵向模型。该项目的教育目标是为未来的计算机教育工作者创建一个社区和培训学院，以便将研究成果应用于课堂。在这个项目完成后，计算和工程教育界将知道：1)工程专业学生的编程技能，包括思维过程、可视化组织策略和解决编程问题的方法，是如何从入门编程课程发展到获得学位的；2)写作如何通过揭示认知过程，支持在计算所需领域取得成功所需技能的发展；3)计算机行业专业人士对必要编程技能的看法与工程专业学生在学位课程最后一年的技能有何不同。项目监督将通过外部评估和计算机教育专家咨询委员会提供。这个项目有潜力改善国家计算机程序员的教育，并增加成功完成计算机科学学位的学生人数。教师早期职业发展（Career）计划是美国国家科学基金会（NSF）范围内的一项活动，旨在支持有潜力在研究和教育中成为学术榜样的早期职业教师。本CAREER项目由改善本科STEM教育：教育和人力资源计划支持。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This project aims to serve the national interest by improving undergraduate computing and engineering education. The nation is driven by computer programs that are vital to everyday living. National security depends on the ability to withstand daily cyber-attacks. Economic security is connected to financial institutions securely moving millions of dollars electronically. National infrastructure depends on control systems that, for example, monitor air traffic and control automobiles. Humans connect electronically through smart phones, cell phone towers, and high-speed internet. The nation’s increasing dependence on computer programs is reflected in the increasing number of projected new jobs in computing occupations. However, the United States is not able to produce enough computing professionals for its needs. Learning to program is a well-known challenge and serves as a barrier to entry into the computing workforce. The research and education plans for this project aim to transform computing curricula and reduce programming as a workforce barrier. This project combines knowledge of how students learn to program (computing and engineering education findings) with how humans learn (cognitive science and education psychology findings) to examine learning to program at the intersection of multiple perspectives. To simultaneously focus on integrating research results into practice, this project will produce a training academy for future programming instructors. This project will use theoretical frameworks of writing, learning, and knowledge to chronologize how undergraduates pursuing computing degrees develop programming skills. The research goal for this project is to produce a longitudinal model of undergraduate programming skill development based on direct learning measures and surveys of industry expert practices. The education goal for the project is to create a community and training academy for future computing educators to apply research findings in classrooms. At the completion of this project, the computing and engineering education communities will know: 1) how engineering students’ programming skills, including thinking processes, visual organization strategies, and approaches for solving programming problems, evolve from introductory programming courses through degree attainment; 2) how writing, by exposing cognitive processes, supports the development of skills necessary for success in computing-required fields; and 3) how computing industry professionals’ views of requisite programming skills differ from the skills of engineering students in their final year of their degree program. Project oversight will be provided through external evaluation and an advisory board of computing education experts. This project has the potential to improve the education of the nation's computer programmers and to increase the number of students who successfully complete computer science degrees. The Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Program is a National Science Foundation (NSF)-wide activity that supports early-career faculty who have the potential to serve as academic role models in research and education. This CAREER project is supported by the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Education and Human Resources Program.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.