PPIG discuss: your favorite CSEd paper(s)

[Christian Holmboe]

In an attempt to gain further insight in what has been accomplished over the past 30 years of research in computer Science Education, I now turn to you fellow PPIG'ers for tips and pointers.

1. Which papers, books or edited volumes do you personally consider to be major contributions to the Research in Teaching and Learning of Computer Science (not only programming)?

Two of my personal favorites are:

Pea, R. D. (1986). Language-independent conceptual "bugs" in novice programming. Journal of Educational Computing Research, 2(1), 25-36.

Brooks, R. (1999). Towards a theory of the cognitive processes in computer programming. International Journal Human-Computer Studies, 51, 197-211.

2. A few attempts have been made at writing papers reviewing this research. Which ones do you think have done a good job covering the field (or a part of it)?

I am aware of the following - among a few others:

Soloway, E., & Ehrlich, K. (1984). Empirical Studies of Programming Knowledge. Transactions on Software Engeneering, SE-10(5), 595-609.

Soloway, E., & Spohrer, J. (Eds.). (1989). Studying the Novice Programmer. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

Hoc, J.-M., Green, T. R. G., Samurcay, R., & Gilmore, D. J. (Eds.). (1990). Psychology of Programming. London: Academic Press.

Holmboe, C., George, C., & McIver, L. (2001). Research Agenda for Computer Science Education. Paper presented at PPIG, Bournemouth, UK.

Katz, I. R., Petre, M., & Leventhal, L. (Eds.). (2001). Special Issue: Empirical Studies of Programmers. International Journal of Human-Computer Studies, 54(2).

Clancy, M., Stasko, J., Guzdial, M., Fincher, S., & Dale, N. (2001). Models and Areas for CS Education Research. Computer Science Education, 11(4), 323-341.

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I hope this sets some of your minds working and make you remember things you have read that I have not mentioned - or that newcomers can use this as a starting point for reading up. I will be happy to compile any contributions and share it with all of you in a future newsletter.

Have a lovely summer (to those in the northern hemisphare).

Christian Holmboe (Norway)