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On Use of Theory in Computing Education Research

Authors:

Greg L. Nelson,

Amy J. KoAuthors Info & Claims

ICER '18: Proceedings of the 2018 ACM Conference on International Computing Education Research

Pages 31 - 39

https://doi.org/10.1145/3230977.3230992

Published: 08 August 2018 Publication History

Abstract

A primary goal of computing education research is to discover designs that produce better learning of computing. In this pursuit, we have increasingly drawn upon theories from learning science and education research, recognizing the potential benefits of optimizing our search for better designs by leveraging the predictions of general theories of learning. In this paper, we contribute an argument that theory can also inhibit our community's search for better designs. We present three inhibitions: 1) our desire to both advance explanatory theory and advance design splits our attention, which prevents us from excelling at both; 2) our emphasis on applying and refining general theories of learning is done at the expense of domain-specific theories of computer science knowledge, and 3) our use of theory as a critical lens in peer review prevents the publication of designs that may accelerate design progress. We present several recommendations for how to improve our use of theory, viewing it as just one of many sources of design insight in pursuit of improving learning of computing.

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Cited By

Schulte CSentance SSparmann SAltin RFriebroon-Yesharim MLandman MRücker MSatavlekar SSiegel ATedre MTubino LVartiainen HVelÁzquez-Iturbide JWaite JWu ZMonga MLonati VBarendsen ESheard JPaterson J(2025)What We Talk About When We Talk About K-12 Computing Education2024 Working Group Reports on Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education10.1145/3689187.3709612(226-257)Online publication date: 22-Jan-2025
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3689187.3709612
D’Angelo V(2024) Software testing education. Teaching the concept of confirmation bias from a pragmatic perspective of reasoning / La formación en pruebas de software. Enseñanza del concepto de sesgo de confirmación desde la perspectiva del razonamiento pragmático Studies in Psychology: Estudios de Psicología10.1177/0210939524127465645:2-3(297-337)Online publication date: 18-Sep-2024
https://doi.org/10.1177/02109395241274656
Bevilacqua JChiodini LMoreno Santos IHauswirth M(2024)Assessing the Understanding of Expressions: A Qualitative Study of Notional-Machine-Based Exam QuestionsProceedings of the 24th Koli Calling International Conference on Computing Education Research10.1145/3699538.3699554(1-12)Online publication date: 12-Nov-2024
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Index Terms

On Use of Theory in Computing Education Research
1. Social and professional topics
  1. Professional topics
    1. Computing education

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Published In

cover image ACM Conferences

ICER '18: Proceedings of the 2018 ACM Conference on International Computing Education Research

August 2018

307 pages

ISBN:9781450356282

DOI:10.1145/3230977

General Chairs:
Lauri Malmi
Aalto University, Finland
,
Ari Korhonen
Aalto University, Finland
,
Robert McCartney
University of Connecticut, USA
,
Andrew Petersen
University of Toronto Mississauga, Canada
,
Program Chairs:
Lauri Malmi
Aalto University, Finland
,
Robert McCartney
University of Connecticut, USA

Copyright © 2018 ACM.

Permission to make digital or hard copies of all or part of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. Copyrights for components of this work owned by others than the author(s) must be honored. Abstracting with credit is permitted. To copy otherwise, or republish, to post on servers or to redistribute to lists, requires prior specific permission and/or a fee. Request permissions from [email protected].

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Published: 08 August 2018

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August 13 - 15, 2018

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ICER '18 Paper Acceptance Rate 28 of 125 submissions, 22%;

Overall Acceptance Rate 189 of 803 submissions, 24%

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Cited By

Schulte CSentance SSparmann SAltin RFriebroon-Yesharim MLandman MRücker MSatavlekar SSiegel ATedre MTubino LVartiainen HVelÁzquez-Iturbide JWaite JWu ZMonga MLonati VBarendsen ESheard JPaterson J(2025)What We Talk About When We Talk About K-12 Computing Education2024 Working Group Reports on Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education10.1145/3689187.3709612(226-257)Online publication date: 22-Jan-2025
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3689187.3709612
D’Angelo V(2024) Software testing education. Teaching the concept of confirmation bias from a pragmatic perspective of reasoning / La formación en pruebas de software. Enseñanza del concepto de sesgo de confirmación desde la perspectiva del razonamiento pragmático Studies in Psychology: Estudios de Psicología10.1177/0210939524127465645:2-3(297-337)Online publication date: 18-Sep-2024
https://doi.org/10.1177/02109395241274656
Bevilacqua JChiodini LMoreno Santos IHauswirth M(2024)Assessing the Understanding of Expressions: A Qualitative Study of Notional-Machine-Based Exam QuestionsProceedings of the 24th Koli Calling International Conference on Computing Education Research10.1145/3699538.3699554(1-12)Online publication date: 12-Nov-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3699538.3699554
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