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The Association of High School Computer Science Content and Pedagogy with Students’ Success in College Computer Science

Published: 24 April 2020 Publication History

Abstract

The number of computer science (CS) courses has been dramatically expanding in U.S. high schools (HS). In comparison with well-established courses in mathematics and science, little is known about how the decisions made by HS CS teachers regarding how and what to teach impact student performance later in introductory college CS courses. Drawing on a large sample of 2,871 introductory college CS students at 115 U.S. institutions who had taken a CS course in HS, we examined the topic coverage and prevailing instructional methods in the HS course and investigated how these experiences influenced student performance in college CS. Controlling for differences in student background, we find two predictors of higher grades in college CS: greater frequency of coding-related activities in HS (programming, debugging, studying algorithms) and lower frequency of “non-coding” computer use (e.g., data analysis, computer security). Interaction models revealed a more complex story. Coding-related activity more heavily benefited students who did not have coding help available at home. In the 28% of college CS courses in which instructors employed innovative pedagogies, students with higher ACT or SAT mathematics scores had a greater advantage than in traditionally taught courses. Finally, in the innovative college courses, students whose HS CS exams had typically included testing on vocabulary did worse than students whose exams had not included such tests.

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    cover image ACM Transactions on Computing Education
    ACM Transactions on Computing Education  Volume 20, Issue 2
    June 2020
    174 pages
    EISSN:1946-6226
    DOI:10.1145/3382496
    Issue’s Table of Contents
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    Publication History

    Published: 24 April 2020
    Accepted: 01 January 2020
    Revised: 01 January 2020
    Received: 01 August 2018
    Published in TOCE Volume 20, Issue 2

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    Author Tags

    1. Introductory programming
    2. K-12 education
    3. computational thinking
    4. curricula
    5. instructional practices
    6. programming

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