From Challenge to Enjoyment: Designing to Support Identification With Computer Science

• In Event: Inclusion in Computer Science Education: Documenting, Designing, and Supporting Transformative Learning in Computer Science Classrooms

Abstract

In this presentation, we explore the conditions that supported students with little to no prior programming experience to learn, persist, and enjoy a week-long programming camp. While no students entered the camp with strong claims to their knowledge of or deep connection to computer science, by the end of the week, students had created projects that told a story or shared a visual performance with their families. They were proud of their work, persisted in the face of challenge, and described the camp as “fun,” “interesting,” and “cool.” While this feedback was gratifying, it was also somewhat surprising, particularly as they used a programming tool, NetLogo, that has its own syntax that makes it challenging for novices. Therefore, this analysis explores the conditions of the learning environment that contributed to students feeling supported and competent.
We take as a starting point for this work the assumption that people develop ideas about themselves and their capabilities based on their experiences in the world (Lave & Wenger, 1991; Nasir & Hand, 2008). Thus, “computer science people” are not born but rather made through their experiences with the discipline. These experiences are not merely individual but connect to broader narratives and stereotypes about who is expected to succeed (Larnell, 2016; Shah & Leonardo, 2016). This means that interactions have weight in terms of the ways students are positioned in the moment, and with respect to broader narratives that students can draw on to make sense of those interactions and experiences (Gresalfi & Hand, 2019).
We focus on the experiences of six students whose racial and gender identities have been historically marginalized in computer science: Baare, Brandon, and Eric (Black boys), and Faith, Kayla, and Kristine (white girls). Drawing on interviews, surveys, and screencaptures of students’ computers during student/teacher interactions, we looked for experiences of challenge, and considered what supported students to persist. Preliminary analyses show that teachers engaged in several practices that may have supported students’ persistence, including having enthusiastic reactions to students’ ideas, explaining why code is written the way it is, following students’ lead, and positioning students as competent. In addition, mistakes seemed to be normalized in the camp. In their final interviews, nearly all of the focal students agreed that mistakes were okay and could even be an opportunity to learn. In addition to the ways that teachers and students interacted, we conjecture that the nature of the tasks may have contributed to students’ persistence in pursuing their ideas.
Findings from this work have implications for how we think about both learning and identity. With respect to the former, we find that developing conditions that invite students to feel capable in the face of challenge supports them to spend more time on activities. Given that learning requires deep engagement with a discipline, this is a first important feature of high quality learning environments. Second, we find that these challenges--when coupled with interactions and structures that are supportive and identity affirming--lead to feelings of competence and enjoyment, key precursors of identifying with a discipline.

Authors

• Melissa Sommefeld Gresalfi, Vanderbilt University

• Selena Steinberg, Indiana University

• Candice Love, Vanderbilt University