TY - JOUR
T1 - Computational Creativity Exercises
T2 - An Avenue for Promoting Learning in Computer Science
AU - Peteranetz, Markeya S.
AU - Flanigan, Abraham E.
AU - Shell, Duane F.
AU - Soh, Leen Kiat
N1 - Funding Information:
Manuscript received November 1, 2016; revised February 28, 2017 and May 8, 2017; accepted May 8, 2017. Date of publication June 6, 2017; date of current version October 27, 2017. This work was supported in part by the National Science Foundation under Grant 0829647, Grant 1122956, and Grant 1431874, and in part by the UNL Phase II Pathways to Interdisciplinary Research Centers Grant. (Corresponding author: Markeya S. Peteranetz.) M. S. Peteranetz, A. E. Flanigan, and D. F. Shell are with the Department of Educational Psychology, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, NE 68588 USA (e-mail: mdubbs2@unl.edu; abrahamflanigan@gmail.com; dshell2@unl.edu).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2017 IEEE.
PY - 2017/11
Y1 - 2017/11
N2 - Computational thinking and creative thinking are valuable tools both within and outside of computer science (CS). The goal of the project discussed here is to increase students' achievement in CS courses through a series of computational creativity exercises (CCEs). In this paper, the framework of CCEs is described, and the results of two separate studies on their impact on student achievement are presented. Students in introductory CS courses completed CCEs as part of those courses. Students in Study 1 came from a variety of programs, and students in Study 2 were engineering majors. A profiling approach was used to test whether the impact of the CCEs could be accounted for by differences in students' motivated and self-regulated engagement. Overall, CCEs had positive impacts on students' grades and knowledge test scores, and although there were differences in achievement across the profiles, the impact of the CCEs was generally consistent across profiles. The CCEs appear to be a promising way to increase student achievement in introductory CS courses. Implications and directions for future research are discussed.
AB - Computational thinking and creative thinking are valuable tools both within and outside of computer science (CS). The goal of the project discussed here is to increase students' achievement in CS courses through a series of computational creativity exercises (CCEs). In this paper, the framework of CCEs is described, and the results of two separate studies on their impact on student achievement are presented. Students in introductory CS courses completed CCEs as part of those courses. Students in Study 1 came from a variety of programs, and students in Study 2 were engineering majors. A profiling approach was used to test whether the impact of the CCEs could be accounted for by differences in students' motivated and self-regulated engagement. Overall, CCEs had positive impacts on students' grades and knowledge test scores, and although there were differences in achievement across the profiles, the impact of the CCEs was generally consistent across profiles. The CCEs appear to be a promising way to increase student achievement in introductory CS courses. Implications and directions for future research are discussed.
KW - Achievement
KW - computational creativity
KW - computational thinking
KW - computer science education
KW - creativity
KW - motivation
KW - problem-solving
KW - self-regulated learning
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U2 - 10.1109/TE.2017.2705152
DO - 10.1109/TE.2017.2705152
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85020378841
SN - 0018-9359
VL - 60
SP - 305
EP - 313
JO - IRE Transactions on Education
JF - IRE Transactions on Education
IS - 4
M1 - 7940091
ER -