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CS0 vs. CS1:: Understanding Fears and Confidence amongst Non-majors in Introductory CS Courses

Authors:

Adalbert Gerald Soosai RajAuthors Info & Claims

SIGCSE 2023: Proceedings of the 54th ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education V. 1

Pages 25 - 31

https://doi.org/10.1145/3545945.3569865

Published: 03 March 2023 Publication History

Abstract

Previous research has been devoted to improving the experience of non-majors in introductory CS courses. In this study, we compare the experiences of non-majors in two different introductory CS courses, specifically with respect to fears about taking the course and change in confidence levels. CS0 is a computing course intentionally designed for non-majors, and CS1 is a more traditional introductory computing course. Both of these courses were composed primarily of non-majors and were taught by the same instructor. Survey data was collected from 124 students enrolled in CS0, and 502 students enrolled in CS1. Through qualitative analysis, we found that the fears of non-major students entering both of these introductory CS courses fell into one or more of nine distinct categories (e.g., Coding, Perceiving STEM as Difficult, Managing Workload). Additionally, using students' confidence levels at the beginning and end of the courses, we found that students in CS0 had a greater increase in confidence level than those in CS1. Finally, we explored connections between students' fears and how their confidence changed by the end of the course. We found that students across both courses with fears related to coding, lack of preparation, and being left behind had the highest average increase in confidence levels.

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Cited By

Gao ZYan HWu YCui CZhang YFeng J(2024)Exploring Relations between Programming Learning Trajectories and Students' MajorsProceedings of the ACM Turing Award Celebration Conference - China 202410.1145/3674399.3674497(177-180)Online publication date: 5-Jul-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3674399.3674497
Sanhueza FGutierrez FVasquez AMonga MLonati VBarendsen ESheard JPaterson J(2024)Exploring the Acceptance and Effectiveness of Parsons Problems on Scaffolding CS1 RetakersProceedings of the 2024 on Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education V. 110.1145/3649217.3653590(681-687)Online publication date: 3-Jul-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3649217.3653590
Li YChen MHunt AZhang HO'Rourke E(2024)Exploring the Interplay of Metacognition, Affect, and Behaviors in an Introductory Computer Science Course for Non-MajorsProceedings of the 2024 ACM Conference on International Computing Education Research - Volume 110.1145/3632620.3671119(27-41)Online publication date: 12-Aug-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3632620.3671119

Index Terms

CS0 vs. CS1:: Understanding Fears and Confidence amongst Non-majors in Introductory CS Courses
1. Social and professional topics
  1. Professional topics
    1. Computing education
      1. Computing education programs
        Computer science education

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Published In

cover image ACM Conferences

SIGCSE 2023: Proceedings of the 54th ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education V. 1

March 2023

1481 pages

ISBN:9781450394314

DOI:10.1145/3545945

General Chairs:
Maureen Doyle
Northern Kentucky University, USA
,
Ben Stephenson
University of Calgary, Canada
,
Program Chairs:
Brian Dorn
University of Nebraska at Omaha, USA
,
Leen-Kiat Soh
University of Nebraska-Lincoln, USA
,
Lina Battestilli
North Carolina State University, USA

Copyright © 2023 Owner/Author.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution International 4.0 License.

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SIGCSE: ACM Special Interest Group on Computer Science Education

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Association for Computing Machinery

New York, NY, United States

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Published: 03 March 2023

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SIGCSE 2023: The 54th ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education

March 15 - 18, 2023

Toronto ON, Canada

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Overall Acceptance Rate 1,595 of 4,542 submissions, 35%

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Cited By

Gao ZYan HWu YCui CZhang YFeng J(2024)Exploring Relations between Programming Learning Trajectories and Students' MajorsProceedings of the ACM Turing Award Celebration Conference - China 202410.1145/3674399.3674497(177-180)Online publication date: 5-Jul-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3674399.3674497
Sanhueza FGutierrez FVasquez AMonga MLonati VBarendsen ESheard JPaterson J(2024)Exploring the Acceptance and Effectiveness of Parsons Problems on Scaffolding CS1 RetakersProceedings of the 2024 on Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education V. 110.1145/3649217.3653590(681-687)Online publication date: 3-Jul-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3649217.3653590
Li YChen MHunt AZhang HO'Rourke E(2024)Exploring the Interplay of Metacognition, Affect, and Behaviors in an Introductory Computer Science Course for Non-MajorsProceedings of the 2024 ACM Conference on International Computing Education Research - Volume 110.1145/3632620.3671119(27-41)Online publication date: 12-Aug-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3632620.3671119

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