CS Education Research

Broad Types of CS Education Research

• Understanding People
  • Example: What is “computational thinking”? How do people do it?
• Helping People (Designing Interventions)
  • Example: Help students master computational thinking

Which people? (Age/Expertise Matters)

When approaching CS education research, it is important to keep in mind which population the research is studying. The skills, cognitive abilities, motivations, etc. can vary widely, requiring, for example, different pedagogical techniques to promote effective learning. Here are some example populations; however, these should probably be viewed as a rather crude partitioning:

• Middle school
• High school
• Undergrads
• Professionals

Which skills?

Similar to different populations of learners, different skills may also require different pedagogical approaches to create effective learning. Here are some examples of skills that are commonly the focus of CS education:

• Programming/Coding/Program Comprehension
• Algorithms
• Design
• Creativity
• Problem solving
• Computational thinking