Pollock, L., Mouza, C., Atlas, J., & Harvey, T. (2015). Field Experiences in Teaching Computer Science: Course Organization and Reflections. In Proceedings of the 46th ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education (SIGCSE '15)(pp. 374-379). Kansas City, MO: ACM.

Summary

Type: Empirical

Purpose: The purpose of this paper was to describe a course-based model that partners undergraduate CS students with partnering teachers.

Findings: 1. After taking this course, undergraduate were more confident in their CS skills and their ability to communicate the technical information ti students. 2. After taking this course, undergraduates improved in their content knowledge that resulting from interacting with classroom students. 3. Undergraduates were able to share their content expertise and the partnering teachers were able to share their pedagogical expertise. 4. Undergraduates ability to explain ideas and concepts to students without giving the answer directly was improved over time 5. Field experience model improved the undergraduate students ability to communicate to diverse audiences.

Recommendations: 1. Offer additional opportunities for teaching and modeling 2. More discussions both theoretical and practical around how students learn. 3. Additional supports need to be provided to undergraduates as they take in leadership roles such as co-teaching with the partner teacher in the H.S. engineering classes.


Methodology

Sample Size: 24

School Size: 1350

Participant Type: Majority of participants were undergraduates in CS. There was a small number of participants from biomedical engineering and mathematics.

Notes: There were three offers of this course-based model to partner undergraduates with teachers using a field experience model. The course was offer in spring 2013, fall 2013, and spring 2014. There were 7 undergraduate students and 2 partner teachers in spring 2013. There were 9 undergraduate students and 3 partner teachers in fall 2014. There were 8 undergraduate students and 3 partner teachers in spring 2014.