List of Reviewers

While there has been a remarkable interest to make computer science a core K-12 academic subject in the United States, there is a shortage of K-12 computer science teachers to successfully implement computer sciences courses in schools. In order to enhance computer science teacher capacity, training programs have been offered through teacher professional development. In this study, the main goal was to systematically review the studies regarding computer science professional development to understand the scope, context, and effectiveness of these programs in the past decade (2004–2014). Based on 21 journal articles and conference proceedings, this study explored: (1) Type of professional development organization and source of funding, (2) professional development structure and participants, (3) goal of professional development and type of evaluation used, (4) specific computer science concepts and training tools used, (5) and their effectiveness to improve teacher practice and student learning.     

Computer Technology-Integrated Projects Should not Supplant Craft Projects in Science Education

The current emphasis on computer technology integration and narrowing of the curriculum has displaced arts and crafts. However, the hands-on, concrete nature of craft work in science modeling enables students to understand difficult concepts and to be engaged and motivated while learning spatial, logical, and sequential thinking skills. Analogy use is also helpful in understanding unfamiliar, complex science concepts. This study of 28 academically advanced elementary to middle-school students examined student work and perceptions during a science unit focused on four fossil organisms: crinoid, brachiopod, horn coral and trilobite. The study compared: (1) analogy-focused instruction to independent Internet research and (2) computer technology-rich products to crafts-based products. Findings indicate student products were more creative after analogy-based instruction and when made using technology. However, students expressed a strong desire to engage in additional craft work after making craft products and enjoyed making crafts more after analogy-focused instruction. Additionally, more science content was found in the craft products than the technology-rich products. Students expressed a particular liking for two of the fossil organisms because they had been modeled with crafts. The authors recommend that room should be retained for crafts in the science curriculum to model science concepts.     

The effects of integrating service learning into computer science: an inter-institutional longitudinal study

This study is a follow-up to one published in computer science education in 2010 that reported preliminary results showing a positive impact of service learning on student attitudes associated with success and retention in computer science. That paper described how service learning was incorporated into a computer science course in the context of the Students & Technology in Academia, Research, and Service (STARS) Alliance, an NSF-supported broadening participation in computing initiative that aims to diversify the computer science pipeline through innovative pedagogy and inter-institutional partnerships. The current paper describes how the STARS Alliance has expanded to diverse institutions, all using service learning as a vehicle for broadening participation in computing and enhancing attitudes and behaviors associated with student success. Results supported the STARS model of service learning for enhancing computing efficacy and computing commitment and for providing diverse students with many personal and professional development benefits.     

Implementation of Real‐World Experiential Learning in a Food Science Course Using a Food Industry‐Integrated Approach

Success skills have been ranked as the most important core competency for new food science professionals to have by food science graduates and their employers. It is imperative that food science instructors promote active learning in food science courses through experiential learning activities to enhance student success skills such as oral and written communication, critical thinking, problem solving, and team work. The aim of this study was to incorporate “real‐world” experiential learning into a food product development course. Undergraduate students enrolled in a food product development course worked on a semester‐long product development case study developed by the Instructor of the course and the Manager from ACH Food Companies, Inc. The case study was presented to students in the form of a product development competition. Students were placed into groups and given the task to develop a cake mix with specified parameters. At the end of the semester, student groups participated in a case study competition to showcase their product concepts. Each student group gave a PowerPoint presentation and was evaluated using selected criteria. Students rated the course overall as being very good. Students perceived the case study to be beneficial and informative regarding employer (ACH's) expectations. Students recommended that the Instructor minimize restrictions/specifications for product concepts and increase the quantity of course/laboratory meetings per week. This approach will continue to be used and further evaluated as an approach to incorporate active learning and provide food science undergraduates with a sense of employer expectations.     

Computer Use and Academic Development in Secondary Schools

Several studies provide preliminary evidence that computer use is positively related to academic performance; however, no clear relationship has yet been established. Using a national database, we analyzed how students’ school behavior (i.e., evaluated by English and math teachers) and standardized test scores (e.g., math and reading) are related to computer use for school work or other than school work for the tenth grade student. While controlling socioeconomic status (SES), home computer access, parental involvement, and students’ academic expectation variables, the students who used a computer for one hour per day showed more positive school behaviors and higher reading and math test scores. This article concludes with implications for future study to better understand the impact of computer use on adolescent academic development.     

Integrating Computational Science Tools into a Thermodynamics Course

Computational tools and methods have permeated multiple science and engineering disciplines, because they enable scientists and engineers to process large amounts of data, represent abstract phenomena, and to model and simulate complex concepts. In order to prepare future engineers with the ability to use computational tools in the context of their disciplines, some universities have started to integrate these tools within core courses. This paper evaluates the effect of introducing three computational modules within a thermodynamics course on student disciplinary learning and self-beliefs about computation. The results suggest that using worked examples paired to computer simulations to implement these modules have a positive effect on (1) student disciplinary learning, (2) student perceived ability to do scientific computing, and (3) student perceived ability to do computer programming. These effects were identified regardless of the students’ prior experiences with computer programming.     

高中理科学生实验的实施现状与改进对策

高中理科学生实验是不可缺少且不可替代的学习方式。但多年以来,学生实验不断被弱化,实验课开设率低,人均实验操作时间短,以教师演示实验或观看实验录像替代学生实验已成为普遍现象。上述做法背离了《教育部关于加强和改进中小学实验教学的意见》的精神,影响了学生科学核心素养的形成。本文在问卷调查、国际比较和课程标准研究的基础上,从观念、行为和手段方面分析了学生实验困境的成因,提出了着眼能力培养、加强督导检查、用好数字化实验、实施过程性评价四项加强和改进学生实验教学的对策。     

STEM Integration in Middle School Life Science: Student Learning and Attitudes

In many countries around the world, there has been an increasing emphasis on improving science education. Recent reform efforts in the USA call for teachers to integrate scientific and engineering practices into science teaching; for example, science teachers are asked to provide learning experiences for students that apply crosscutting concepts (e.g., patterns, scale) and increase understanding of disciplinary core ideas (e.g., physical science, earth science). Engineering practices and engineering design are essential elements of this new vision of science teaching and learning. This paper presents a research study that evaluates the effects of an engineering design-based science curriculum on student learning and attitudes. Three middle school life science teachers and 275 seventh grade students participated in the study. Content assessments and attitude surveys were administered before and after the implementation of the curriculum unit. Statewide mathematics test proficiency scores were included in the data analysis as well. Results provide evidence of the positive effects of implementing the engineering design-based science unit on student attitudes and learning.     

Java Facilities for Automating Analysis,Feedback and Assessment of Laboratory Work

The current educational climate provides both incentives and pressures to extend the use of information technology in university teaching. The computer science discipline is ideally placed to take a leading role in the development of technology-based teaching tools. In recent times the technological resources available for such initiatives have also taken a leap forward, not least with the release of the rapidly developing Java language. This paper reports on one such initiative—the development of a system for providing automatic feedback on computer science laboratory work and monitoring student progress. The paper outlines the goals of the system and shows that the collection of facilities afforded by the Java language provides a strong foundation for the development of software for securely analyzing student code.     

汇编语言课程的教学设计探讨

汇编语言是面向机电类和计算机类等理工科专业开设的重要专业基础课程,因其和具体的计算机硬件细节密切相关,内容涉及面广而且比较抽象,导致学生对编程的学习感到比较困难。本文结合教学实践经验,针对汇编语言课程特点,将多种媒体形式相结合,对在教学过程中取得良好教学效果的教学设计过程及方法进行了探讨。     

A third use of sociology of scientific knowledge: a lens for studying teacher practice

Over the last two decades, science educators and science education researchers have grown increasingly interested in utilising insights from the sociology of scientific knowledge (SSK) to inform their work and research. To date, researchers in science education have focused on two applications: results of sociological studies of science have been used to define new areas of content, generally referred to as Nature of Science (NOS). This has included research into students’ understanding of the NOS, teachers’ understanding of the NOS, and inclusion (or exclusion) of NOS themes in curricula. A second vein of inquiry has been investigations that consider the classroom as a microcosm of scientific discourse and inquiry. Such research has included investigations of student‐to‐student and student‐to‐teacher interactions. In this paper, we present a third application for educational research – the investigation of teacher knowledge and practice as sociological phenomena. In addition to supporting scholarly research, we believe it can be a useful tool for illuminating the complexities of teaching that needs to be taken into account by policy makers and practitioners. In this paper, we provide a thematic review of concepts from the sociology of scientific knowledge, and their application to a case of teacher work.     

A procedure for determining the level of abstraction of science reading material

The objectives of this study were to develop a method for scoring the level of abstraction (LOA) of science reading material and explore its relationship with other methods for assessing curriculum materials. LOA is defined as the ratio of the nonconcrete concepts to the total number of concepts in a written passage expressed as a percent. Using passages taken from life, earth, and physical science textbooks written at three different levels, data were collected to obtain preliminary agreement from science educators in the classification of concepts, determine interscorer reliability, and compare student and passage variables. Participants consisted of 24 science educators, 60 science teachers from elementary, middle, and high schools, and 425 urban students in Grades 5, 7, and 10. Instruments used were (a) the procedure to determine level of abstraction developed in this study, (b) the cloze procedure, and (c) “Reading Level: Programs for Teachers.” No significant correlations were found between (a) passage LOA and passage readability level, (b) student cloze scores and passage LOA, (c) passage LOA and teacher prediction of student success, and (d) student cloze scores and passage readability level. However, the lack of significant correlations between LOA and cloze scores combined with the fact that the LOA is based upon deep structure rather than surface structure of written material indicate the possible uniqueness of the LOA and highlight the importance of further investigation of the LOA in its relationship to student comprehension of written material.     

Making Way for Technology Education

This paper discusses two major issues confronting any attempts to make technology education an integral part of the school curriculum. The first issue has to do with the lack of agreement—stemming from its diverse origins—regarding the core concepts, instructional strategies, and student outcomes that should comprise technology education. Characterizations of eight different approaches are provided. The second issue concerns the relationship of technology education to the existing school curricula, specifically, the science curriculum and vocational education. The historical connections between science and technology are discussed, and the argument is made that the traditional second-class position of technology in the school curriculum needs to be remedied in favor of making science and technology equal curricular partners. Vocational education, too, needs to be modernized to move from narrow skills training to education for the technological work place.     

融入CDIO理念的计算机专业英语教学研究

随着计算机各相关专业课程体系改革向纵深发展,计算机专业的学生对英语的应用能力已被列入到计算机专业能力培养体系中。但传统的计算机专业英语教学存在很多不足,鉴于CDIO这种新的工程教育模式不断地发展和完善,文章首先介绍计算机专业学生学习专业英语的必要性,然后对CDIO的相关知识进行介绍并试着将这种先进理念融入到教学中,目的是为了提高计算机专业学生的发展潜力和市场竞争力。     

Context-based learning in the middle years: achieving resonance between the real-world field and environmental science concepts

ABSTRACT

There is growing interest in how to engage middle school students in science to improve their enthusiasm for science and to arrest the decline in uptake in the senior years. Also, there is interest in improving students’ application of science to real-life situations, a requirement for international tests. One approach that offers hope for improving students’ connections between concepts and context is the context-based approach. Context-based units that connect canonical science with the real-world of the student’s local community have been trialled in the senior years but are new in the middle years. Research in senior classes has shown that students who were taught through a context-based approach demonstrated fluid transitions between the context and concepts in written work and student-student conversations. In the current ethnographic study we built on our previous work and investigated how students make connections between the environmental science concepts and the context of the weekly visits to the local creek. Students were immersed in the real-world context by completing an 11-week environmental science unit that required assessment of the health of a creek. Two assertions emerged; firstly, student-student conversations at the creek afforded students the opportunity for interconnections between environmental science concepts and the context (defined as resonance); and secondly, students’ written reports about the health of the creek demonstrated resonance. Furthermore, group work encouraged students the agency to complete sets of tasks that privileged visually obvious environmental science concepts such as pollution, identification of plants/animals or turbidity/flow rate.     

The Role of the Internet in the Adoption of Computer Modeling as Legitimate High School Science

We describe a recent project that explored combined use of Internet client-server technology and interactive computer modeling software for improving secondary science teaching. We envisioned a constructivist network in which teachers make contributions to the resources available. The purpose of the network was to promote the emerging field of computer modeling in high school science. Our approach coupled the networking and curricular initiatives with evaluation of changes in classroom core practices—those which have a traceable impact on student learning. Distribution of work, ideology of science, teaching styles, and curricular goals come together dynamically to influence teachers' use of modeling technology in the high school science classroom. A combination of Internet tools, each affording a different contribution to the spread of innovation, provides the best promise for future networks of this kind.     

A summer program designed to educate college students for careers in bioinformatics

A summer program was created for undergraduates and graduate students that teaches bioinformatics concepts, offers skills in professional development, and provides research opportunities in academic and industrial institutions. We estimate that 34 of 38 graduates (89%) are in a career trajectory that will use bioinformatics. Evidence from open-ended research mentor and student survey responses, student exit interview responses, and research mentor exit interview/survey responses identified skills and knowledge from the fields of computer science, biology, and mathematics that are critical for students considering bioinformatics research. Programming knowledge and general computer skills were essential to success on bioinformatics research projects. General mathematics skills obtained through current undergraduate natural sciences programs were adequate for the research projects, although knowledge of probability and statistics should be strengthened. Biology knowledge obtained through the didactic phase of the program and prior undergraduate education was adequate, but advanced or specific knowledge could help students progress on research projects. The curriculum and assessment instruments developed for this program are available for adoption by other bioinformatics programs at http://www.calstatela.edu/SoCalBSI.     

Development,Implementation, and Outcomes of an Equitable Computer Science After-School Program: Findings From Middle-School Students

Current policy efforts that seek to improve learning in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) emphasize the importance of helping all students acquire concepts and tools from computer science that help them analyze and develop solutions to everyday problems. These goals have been generally described in the literature under the term computational thinking. In this article, we report on the design, implementation, and outcomes of an after-school program on computational thinking. The program was founded through a partnership between university faculty, undergraduates, teachers, and students. Specifically, we examine how equitable pedagogical practices can be applied in the design of computing programs and the ways in which participation in such programs influence middle school students' learning of computer science concepts, computational practices, and attitudes toward computing. Participants included 52 middle school students who voluntarily attended the 9-week after-school program, as well as four undergraduates and one teacher who designed and implemented the program. Data were collected from after-school program observations, undergraduate reflections, computer science content assessments, programming products, and attitude surveys. The results indicate that the program positively influenced student learning of computer science concepts and attitudes toward computing. Findings have implications for the design of effective learning experiences that broaden participation in computing. (Keywords: computational thinking, programming, middle school, mixed methods)     

计算机网络基础课程实训开发

实训是计算机网络教学中不可缺少的部分。学生在实训中通过动手操作网络设备和软件获取的应用经验和能力,将有助于他们更好地消化吸收从课堂或书本中学到的概念和原理。网络实训项目的开发和设计是一项富有挑战性的工作,本文从作者多年来设计和开发适合应用型本科和高职学生的网络实训项目的经验出发,介绍了如何设计与计算机网络基础配套的实训项目,如何引入发现学习的方法来设计实训中的反思过程。最后通过学生的反馈信息,说明这种实训项目在提高学生学习网络兴趣方面的作用。     

网络空间安全学科下的C语言课程改革探究

C语言课程是计算机专业重要的基础课,也是学习其它高级程序设计语言的基础,具有承上启下的作用。但很多高校教师在讲授C语言时,并没有基于计算机系统结构和汇编语言等课程进行教学,导致C语言教学对学生而言只能达到“知其然”,并没有“知其所以然”。因此,针对网络空间安全学科下的C语言教学,提出将计算机系统结构和汇编语言课程作为C语言前期基础课程的改革思路,从程序语言底层执行过程出发进行C语言课程教学,并对C语言课程教学案例进行分析。