Examining Middle School Students’ Attitudes Toward Computing after Participating in a Physical Computing Unit

Providing greater access to computer science (CS) education for K-12 students in the United States (U.S.) has increased interest in integrating CS concepts within authentic science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) contexts. Physical computing is one method that has demonstrated promising results in other countries (e.g., England) and has been receiving growing attention in the U.S., yet there remains limited research on physical computing within the U.S. Therefore, this study utilized a modified version of the Computing Attitude Questionnaire (Yadav et al., 2014) to examine changes in 71 middle school students’ attitudes toward computing after participating in a four-week physical computing unit. Students reported significant gains in all five computing attitude constructs (definition, comfort, interest, classroom applications, and career/future use). Further analyses revealed male students had significantly greater gains than females in the career/future use construct, and there were no significant differences when controlling for completion of prior engineering design coursework (PEDC). Additionally, while the majority (77%) of students indicated they preferred physical computing over screen-based experiences for future computing lessons, analyses found gender and PEDC were not significant predictors of students’ preference for learning computing concepts. This study provides implications for improving computer science instruction within authentic STEM contexts.

The Version of Record of this manuscript has been published and is available in Interactive Learning Environments, 2023, https://doi.org/10.1080/10494820.2023.2194326

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Work Title Examining Middle School Students’ Attitudes Toward Computing after Participating in a Physical Computing Unit
Access
Open Access
Creators
  1. Tyler S. Love
Keyword
  1. Integrated STEM Education
  2. Design and Technology Education
  3. Technology and Engineering Education
  4. Tangible Interaction
  5. Computer Science Education
License CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 (Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives)
Work Type Article
Publisher
  1. Interactive Learning Environments
Publication Date April 2023
Publisher Identifier (DOI)
  1. 10.1080/10494820.2023.2194326
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Deposited March 21, 2023

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Version 1
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  • Created
  • Updated
  • Added Creator Tyler S. Love
  • Added ILE Physical Computing Manuscript Accepted Version.pdf
  • Updated License Show Changes
    License
    • https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
  • Published
  • Updated Publisher Show Changes
    Publisher
    • Taylor and Francis
    • Interactive Learning Environments
  • Updated