Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Computer Science / William H. Hsu / Since the introduction of new curriculum standards at K-12 schools, computational thinking has become a major research area. Creating and delivering content to enhance these skills, as well as evaluation, remain open problems. This work describes different interventions based on the Scratch programming language aimed toward improving student self-efficacy in computer science and computational thinking. These interventions were applied at a STEM outreach program for 5th-9th grade students. Previous experience in STEM-related activities and subjects, as well as student self-efficacy, were surveyed using a developed pre- and post-survey. The impact of these interventions on student performance and confidence, as well as the validity of the instrument are discussed. To complement attitude surveys, a translation of Scratch to Blockly is proposed. This will record student programming behaviors for quantitative analysis of computational thinking in support of student self-efficacy. Outreach work with Kansas Starbase, as well as the Girl Scouts of the USA, is also described and evaluated. A key goal for computational thinking in the past 10 years has been to bring computer science to other disciplines. To test the gap from computer science to STEM, computational thinking exercises were embedded in an electromagnetic fields course. Integrating computation into theory courses in physics has been a curricular need, yet there are many difficulties and obstacles to overcome in integrating with existing curricula and programs. Recommendations from this experimental study are given towards integrating CT into physics a reality. As part of a continuing collaboration with physics, a comprehensive system for automated extraction of assessment data for descriptive analytics and visualization is also described.

[No abstract submitted] / Education, Faculty of / Graduate

(no abstract available) / Arts, Faculty of / Philosophy, Department of / Graduate

No description available.

No description available.

Thesis (M.A.)--Boston University. PLEASE NOTE: Missing pages 33, 35, 37, 41-43, 48, 71. / PLEASE NOTE: Boston University Libraries did not receive an Authorization To Manage form for this thesis or dissertation. It is therefore not openly accessible, though it may be available by request. If you are the author or principal advisor of this work and would like to request open access for it, please contact us at open-help@bu.edu. Thank you. / 2999-01-01

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Thesis (M.A.B.S.)--International School of Theology, 1990. / Abstract. "Three magazine articles ..." Includes bibliographical references (leaves 52-54).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Florida State University, 1993. / Includes bibliography (leaves 282-291).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Florida State University, 1993. / Includes bibliography (leaves 282-291).