UC San Diego

Introductory computer programming (i.e. CS1) is the entry point into the computer science major at higher education institutions worldwide. It introduces foundational concepts to students that are then built upon in future courses. Computer science as a whole has struggled to attract and retain students in the major, particularly women and students from minority backgrounds. Researchers have explored reasons as to why students are struggling to complete their CS1 course and remain in the major. Current research has uncovered a wide range of different factors which have been studied mostly in isolation from each other, thus not being able to provide a full view of the CS1 student experience. This dissertation presents an (1) exploration of the current state of CS1 research and its organization into an existing theoretical framework, (2) a holistic view of student experiences in early computing courses, and (3) the benefits and role of pedagogical best practices in supporting student learning in CS1.Regarding exploration: we surveyed the current state of CS1 literature to gain an understanding of what factors related to student CS1 success have been studied and mapped the findings to an existing student learning framework: Biggs' 3P model. We find the factors explored included areas such as internal student factors, instructional practices, the student's learning process, and many more. Regarding holistic: we collected student experience surveys from students of the first four courses students at UCSD stake during their computer science program. We found lower performing students report higher levels of stress across multiple areas compared to their higher performing peers. Regarding pedagogy: we analyzed 12 years of longitudinal student data to understand how the implementation of a trio of best practices (peer instruction, pair programming, and media computation) in introductory programming courses at UCSD demonstrated improvement to student performance and retention within the program. Regression models and significance testing provide evidence that the presence of these best practices were significant in these positive outcomes. Despite these improvements, certain groups such as women and minorities were still failing and being retained at lower rates in the major than their peers.