Research

CSinc Research Group

With the amazing support of the outreach programme from schools, and the uptake in teacher PD sessions, the CSinc team are conducting longitudinal research to improve the CSinc approaches.

Students and teachers have been participating in surveys (during outreach camps and teacher PD), where last year the team collected 2500 surveys. This is vital in the CSinc dvelopment. This research will inform the team on pedogicial development, content and activity development and perhaps most importantly will help the CSinc team reach and inform students, of what Computer Science really is, addressing streotypes and incorrect perceptions of the subject.

Below are some the publications from team members, while not all of it is directly related to CSinc, they are relevant to introductory computer science..

The research group spans three academic instituions. The group is always looking for new members, from PhD students to academic members. Please contact us for further details.

The Research Group:

Aidan Mooney - Maynooth University
Amanda O'Farrell - TU Dublin
Brett Becker - UCD
Eileen Costelloe - TU Dublin
Karen Nolan - TU Dublin
Keith Nolan - Maynooth University
Keith Quille - TU Dublin
Kevin Marshall - Microsoft Ireland
Roisin Faherty - TU Dublin
Susan Bergin - Maynooth University

Undergraduate Team/Contributors:

2019 Craig Whelan - TU Dublin - Software Development
2020 Adnaan Rahman - TU Dublin - TY programme and VLE Development
2020 Darren Conroy - TU Dublin - TY programme (Course Content - Introduction to Computer Science)
2020 Alan Greene - TU Dublin - Software Development & TY programme (Course Content - Python)
2020 Ciaran Mangan - TU Dublin - TY programme (Course Content - HTML and CSS)
2020 Emmanuel Olabi Adeleye - TU Dublin - TY programme and VLE Development
2020 Niamh Brady - TU Dublin - TY programme (Course Content - BBC micro:bit)
2020 Ioana Gelip - TU Dublin - Software Development
2020 Iryna Slynko - TU Dublin - Software Development
2020 Andrzej Zero - TU Dublin - Software Development
2020 Alvaro Dominguez de la Torre Mosquera - TU Dublin - Compass Research Project

Publications

Conferences

• A Collaborative Online micro:bit K-12 Teacher PD Workshop. In 2020 International Computing Education Research Conference (ICER ’20), August 10–12, 2020, Virtual Event,New Zealand. ACM, New York

• Promoting a Growth Mindset in CS1: Does One Size Fit All? A Pilot Study. In Proceedings of the 2020 ACM Conference on Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education (ITiCSE’20), June 15–19, 2020, Trondheim, Norway.

• Developing an Inclusive K-12 Outreach Model. In Proceedings of the 2020 ACM Conference on Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education (ITiCSE’20), June 15–19, 2020, Trondheim, Norway.

• An International Pilot Study of K-12 Teachers' Computer Science Self-Esteem. In Proceedings of the 2020 ACM Conference on Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education (ITiCSE’20), June 15–19, 2020, Trondheim, Norway.

• Predicting Student Success. Early for a VTOS Student International Conference on Engaging Pedagogy - ICEP, University of Limerick, Limerick, Ireland, Dec. 12 & 13, 2019

• An International Comparison of K-12 Computer Science Education Intended and Enacted Curricula. Koli Calling '19: Proceedings of the 19th Koli Calling International Conference on Computing Education Research, November 2019

• CSinc: An Inclusive K-12 Outreach Model. Koli Calling '19: Proceedings of the 19th Koli Calling International Conference on Computing Education Research, November 2019

• An International Study Piloting the MEasuring TeacheR Enacted Computing Curriculum (METRECC) Instrument. ITiCSE '19 Proceedings of the 2019 ACM Conference on Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education, 2019

• An International Benchmark Study of K-12 Computer Science Education in Schools. ITiCSE '19 Proceedings of the 2019 ACM Conference on Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education, 2019

• 50 Years of CS1 at SIGCSE: A Review of the Evolution of Introductory Programming Education Research. Proceedings of the 50th ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education (SIGCSE 2019), Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA, February 2019. ACM.

• Second Level Computer Science: The Irish K-12 Journey Begins. Proceedings of the 18th Koli Calling International Conference on Computing Education Research (Koli Calling ’18) ACM, Koli, Finland, 2018.

• Programming: predicting student success early in CS1. a re-validation and replication study. ITiCSE 2018 Proceedings of the 23rd Annual ACM Conference on Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education, 2018

• Insights on Gender Differences in CS1: A Multi-institutional, Multi-variate Study. ITiCSE '17 Proceedings of the 2017 ACM Conference on Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education, 2017

• Does Scratch improve self-efficacy and performance when learning to program in C#? An empirical study. International Conference on Engaging Pedagogy - ICEP, Dec 2016, At Maynooth University, Maynooth, Co Kildare

• Programming: Further Factors that Influence Success. PPIG - Psychology of Programming Interest Group, St Catharine's College, University of Cambridge, UK, Volume: 27th Annual Workshop 2016

• VEAP: a visualisation engine and analyzer for preSS#. Koli Calling '16 Proceedings of the 16th Koli Calling International Conference on Computing Education Research, 2016

• Programming: Factors that Influence Success Revisited and Expanded. International Conference on Engaging Pedagogy - ICEP, College of Computing Technology, Dublin, Ireland, Dec. 3 & 4, 2015

Journals

• Keith Quille & Susan Bergin (2019) CS1: how will they do? How can we help? A decade of research and practice, Computer Science Education, 29:2-3, 254-282, DOI: 10.1080/08993408.2019.1612679

• Using Machine Learning Techniques to Predict Introductory Programming Performance. International Journal of Computer Science and Software Engineering (IJCSSE), Volume 4, Issue 12, December 2015

• PreSS#. A Web-Based Educational System to Predict Programming Performance. International Journal of Computer Science and Software Engineering (IJCSSE), Volume 4, Issue 7, July 2015

PhD Thesis

• Keith Quille (2018) Predicting and Improving Performance on Introductory Programming Courses (CS1), Department of Computer Science, National University of Ireland Maynooth.

Books

• Brett A. Becker & Keith Quille (2020) Leaving Certificiate Computer Science (To Appear)

News Articles

• Girls 'just as good as boys' at computer science work. The Irish Independent. October 16th, 2017

• Algorithm can predict students’ drop-out rate. Sunday Business Post. November 22nd, 2015

CSinc Research Group

The Research Group:

Aidan Mooney - Maynooth University Amanda O'Farrell - TU Dublin Brett Becker - UCD Eileen Costelloe - TU Dublin Karen Nolan - TU Dublin Keith Nolan - Maynooth University Keith Quille - TU Dublin Kevin Marshall - Microsoft Ireland Roisin Faherty - TU Dublin Susan Bergin - Maynooth University

Undergraduate Team/Contributors:

Publications

Aidan Mooney - Maynooth University
Amanda O'Farrell - TU Dublin
Brett Becker - UCD
Eileen Costelloe - TU Dublin
Karen Nolan - TU Dublin
Keith Nolan - Maynooth University
Keith Quille - TU Dublin
Kevin Marshall - Microsoft Ireland
Roisin Faherty - TU Dublin
Susan Bergin - Maynooth University