ABSTRACT
Enabling middle school children to learn from code shared on the internet may provide computer science learning opportunities to those who would not otherwise have them. We augmented a programming environment designed for middle school children to automatically generate tutorials from code snippets in order to help users learn new programming skills. In our new system, users select code snippets from a program shared on the web and then complete an automatically generated tutorial in order to re-create that snippet within their own program. To evaluate the potential learning gains from our generated tutorials, we conducted a between-subjects study in which we evaluated the performance of children introduced to new programming constructs through automatically generated tutorials. Participants who used the automatically generated tutorials performed 64% better on a near transfer task compared to participants without generated tutorials.
- Bergman, L. et al. 2005. DocWizards: a system for authoring follow-me documentation wizards. Proc. UIST, 191--200. Google ScholarDigital Library
- Bhardwaj, A. P. et al. 2011. Redprint: integrating API specific "instant example" and "instant documentation" display interface in IDEs. Proc. UIST, 21--22. Google ScholarDigital Library
- Brandt, J. et al. 2010. Example-centric programming: integrating web search into the development environment. Proc. CHI, 513--522. Google ScholarDigital Library
- Brandt, J. et al. 2009. Two studies of opportunistic programming: interleaving web foraging, learning, and writing code. Proc. CHI, 1589--1598. Google ScholarDigital Library
- Carroll, J. M. et al. 1987. The minimal manual. Hum.-Comput. Interact. 3, 2 (1987), 123--153. Google ScholarDigital Library
- Carroll, J. M. and Rosson, M. B. 1987. Paradox of the Active User.Google Scholar
- Chi, P.-Y. et al. 2012. MixT: automatic generation of step-by-step mixed media tutorials. Proc. CHI EA, 1499--1504. Google ScholarDigital Library
- Coachmarks: http://www.developer.apple.com/techpubs/mac/AppleGuide/AppleGuide-24.html.Google Scholar
- Dorn, B. and Guzdial, M. 2006. Graphic designers who program as informal computer science learners. Proc. ICER, 127--134. Google ScholarDigital Library
- Fernquist, J. et al. 2011. Sketch-sketch revolution: an engaging tutorial system for guided sketching and application learning. Proc. UIST, 373--382. Google ScholarDigital Library
- Grabler, F. et al. 2009. Generating photo manipulation tutorials by demonstration. Proc. SIGGRAPH, 1--9. Google ScholarDigital Library
- Gross, P. et al. 2011. Dinah: an interface to assist non-programmers with selecting program code causing graphical output. Proc. CHI, 3397--3400. Google ScholarDigital Library
- Gross, P. and Kelleher, C. 2010. Non-programmers identifying functionality in unfamiliar code: strategies and barriers. Journal of Visual Languages & Computing. 21, 5 (Dec. 2010), 263--276. Google ScholarDigital Library
- Gross, P. and Kelleher, C. 2010. Toward transforming freely available source code into usable learning materials for end-users. Proc. PLATEAU, 6:1--6:6. Google ScholarDigital Library
- Gross, P. A. et al. 2010. A code reuse interface for non-programmer middle school students. Proc. IUI, 219--228. Google ScholarDigital Library
- Grossman, T. et al. 2010. Chronicle: capture, exploration, and playback of document workflow histories. Proc. UIST, 143--152. Google ScholarDigital Library
- Grossman, T. and Fitzmaurice, G. 2010. ToolClips: an investigation of contextual video assistance for functionality understanding. Proc. CHI, 1515--1524. Google ScholarDigital Library
- Harms, K. J. et al. 2012. Designing a community to support long-term interest in programming for middle school children. Proc. IDC, 304--307. Google ScholarDigital Library
- Harms, K. J. et al. 2011. Improving learning transfer from stencils-based tutorials. Proc. IDC, 157--160. Google ScholarDigital Library
- Hartmann, B. et al. 2007. Programming by a sample: rapidly creating web applications with d.mix. Proc. UIST, 241--250. Google ScholarDigital Library
- Hartmann, B. and Dhillon, M. 2010. HyperSource: bridging the gap between source and code-related web sites. Adjunct proc. UIST, 421--422. Google ScholarDigital Library
- Huang, J. and Twidale, M. B. 2007. Graphstract: minimal graphical help for computers. Proc. UIST, 203--212. Google ScholarDigital Library
- IEEE Job Site: http://careers.ieee.org/article/European_Job_Outlook_0312.php. Accessed: 2013-01-22.Google Scholar
- Intrinsic Motivation Inventory: http://www.selfdeterminationtheory.org/questionnaires/10-questionnaires/50. Accessed: 2012-09-16.Google Scholar
- Kelleher, C. et al. 2007. Storytelling alice motivates middle school girls to learn computer programming. Proc. CHI, 1455--1464. Google ScholarDigital Library
- Kelleher, C. and Pausch, R. 2005. Stencils-based tutorials: design and evaluation. Proc. CHI, 541--550. Google ScholarDigital Library
- Knabe, K. 1995. Apple guide: a case study in user-aided design of online help. Proc. CHI, 286--287. Google ScholarDigital Library
- Looking Glass: http://lookingglass.wustl.edu.Google Scholar
- MacLaurin, M. 2009. Kodu: end-user programming and design for games. Proc. FDG, xviii--xix. Google ScholarDigital Library
- Nakamura, T. and Igarashi, T. 2008. An application-independent system for visualizing user operation history. Proc. UIST, 23--32. Google ScholarDigital Library
- Oney, S. and Brandt, J. 2012. Codelets: linking interactive documentation and example code in the editor. Proc. CHI, 2697--2706. Google ScholarDigital Library
- Palmiter, S. et al. 1991. Animated demonstrations vs. written instructions for learning procedural tasks: a preliminary investigation. Int. J. Man-Mach. Stud. 34, 5 (1991), 687--701. Google ScholarDigital Library
- Papert, S. 1980. Mindstorms: children, computers, and powerful ideas. Basic Books, Inc. Google ScholarDigital Library
- Pryor, J. H. et al. 2010. The American Freshman: National Norms for Fall 2009.Google Scholar
- Resnick, M. et al. 2009. Scratch: programming for all. Commun. ACM. 52, 11 (2009), 60--67. Google ScholarDigital Library
- Rosson, M. B. et al. 2005. Who, What, and How: A Survey of Informal and Professional Web Developers. Proc. VL/HCC, 199--206. Google ScholarDigital Library
- Ying Zhang et al. 2009. SmartTutor: Creating IDE-based interactive tutorials via editable replay. Proc. ICSE, 559--562. Google ScholarDigital Library
- 2011. Computing Education and Future Jobs: A Look at National, State, and Congressional District Data. National Center for Women & Informaton Technology.Google Scholar
- 1987. Gender Differences on the California Statewide Assessment of Attitudes and Achievement in Science. Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association.Google Scholar
- Taulbee Survey Report 2010-2011. Computing Research Association.Google Scholar
- 2000. Tech-Savvy: Educating Girls in the New Computer Age. American Association of University Women Educational Foundation.Google Scholar
Index Terms
- Automatically generating tutorials to enable middle school children to learn programming independently
Recommendations
Developing a hardware and programming curriculum for middle school girls
Women and ComputingIf you ask most children-or even most adults-to draw a picture of a computer scientist, you are likely to get a picture of a man. Despite the personal and professional rewards careers in technology, women are underrepresented in high-tech industry, and ...
Using Foundational CS1 Curricula for Middle School & Early High School Computer Programming Education
SIGCSE 2023: Proceedings of the 54th ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education V. 1Teaching computer programming to K-12 learners is widely recognized as important for invoking interest in computing in college and beyond. Specifically, with respect to middle school students, several computing education efforts do an excellent job of ...
Pair Programming Interactions in Middle School: Collaborative, Constructive, Dismissive, or Disengaged? (Abstract Only)
SIGCSE '18: Proceedings of the 49th ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science EducationPair programming is considered a best practice since it has been shown to reduce the gender gap and increases confidence for university students in introductory computer programming courses. However, little is known about what it looks like in middle ...
Comments