The effects of prior experience and gender on middle school students' computer science learning and monitoring accuracy in the Use-Modify-Create progression

Abstract

This study investigated middle school students' computer science (CS) learning and monitoring accuracy in the Use-Modify-Create (UMC) progression. This study also examined the effects of prior experience and gender on CS learning and monitoring accuracy measured with sensitivity (proportion of confidence in correct answers) and specificity (proportion of uncertainty in incorrect answers). A total of 255 middle school students participated in this study. A one-group pretest-posttest design was used, and the data were analyzed using multilevel modeling and repeated-measures correlation tests. The results show a non-significant interaction effect of prior experience and gender on students' CS learning and monitoring accuracy. We found that gender significantly interacted with students' CS learning and monitoring accuracy, primarily specificity. In particular, UMC progression was able to reduce the gender gap in CS performance, and improved male monitoring accuracy. The results also showed a significant positive correlation between students' CS performance and sensitivity, and negative correlation with specificity. We discuss the results around the potential advantage of using a UMC progression strategy to reduce gender gaps in CS education, as well as the extent to which UMC can facilitate better instructional environments for serving students with a range of prior experiences.