Postdoctoral Fellowship: STEMEdIPRF: SAGE4ICE: Student Analogy Generation Empowerment for Computing Education

About This Grant

Computing concepts are often highly abstract and can be difficult for introductory students to learn. Instructors use analogies to make these computing concepts more relatable and memorable. However, analogies may contain references that are not always relatable to students. This gap between instructor-student shared references and students' experiences can lead to students' confusion. Students can make their own analogies to learn course content, however, student analogy creation is largely an unguided process with that leads to mixed results. This project is designed to create classroom activities, tools, and an online library that will guide students as they create more robust and personalized analogies. This has the potential to help students more meaningfully and effectively learn computing concepts. By developing these shared learning tools, this project aims to improve comprehension, confidence, and persistence for learners from all backgrounds in introductory computing courses. As a result, this project has the potential to increase the nation’s pool of well-prepared computing professionals. This project is designed to address two primary challenges: (i) scaffolding novices to decompose abstract introductory computing concepts into key components, and (ii) guiding students to map key conceptual components onto personally meaningful analogous experiential domains. By developing digital scaffolding tools and peer- and instructor-feedback mechanisms that deliver timely formative assessment, the project aims to help learners test and refine their analogical conceptions. This could lead students to develop conceptual models that are more robust and less vulnerable to common naïve conceptions. The team will iteratively refine scaffolding and structured peer-feedback processes developed in past pilot studies. This work will be deployed in approximately eight introductory computing courses at multiple institutions. A mixed-methods, design-based framework will be used to guide iterative development of the scaffolding and feedback protocols. A quasi-experimental study will measure effects on concept-inventory scores, self-efficacy, engagement, and retention. This work will result in open-access templates, data sets, and a public repository of vetted student analogies, which will provide an evidence-based model for constructivist, personalized computing instruction. This project is funded by the STEM Education Postdoctoral Research Fellowship (STEM Ed PRF) Program that aims to enhance the research knowledge, skills, and practices of recent doctorates in STEM, STEM education, education, and related disciplines to advance their preparation to engage in fundamental and applied research that advances knowledge within the field. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.