A Review of Cognitive Apprenticeship Methods in Computing Education Research
Cognitive Apprenticeship (CA) is an influential education theory that outlines how experts can transfer their skills and knowledge to a learner for reasoning-based tasks, such as reading comprehension or mathematical problem solving. Specifically, CA includes 6 teaching methods—modeling, scaffolding, coaching, reflection, articulation, and exploration—that facilitate learners’ observation, acquisition, and externalization of implicit processes and techniques for completing a task. In this paper, we present a systematic literature review of 143 conference papers across ACM and IEEE venues about CA in computer science education literature. Specifically, we aim to understand which teaching methods are typically referenced, the theory level (i.e., depth of CA theory discussion) present in the literature, and the key findings related to CA-based teaching approaches. Our review reveals that CA has been cited in computing education research as a guiding theory for various course designs, though there is a clear emphasis on works related to modeling, scaffolding, and coaching whereas reflection, articulation, and exploration are under-explored. We found that CA methods have been effective in improving students’ enthusiasm towards computing, improving pass-rates in courses, and improving instructors’ capacity to accommodate more students by reducing instructor workload. However, a key challenge of CA approaches that emerged from our review is the difficulty in scaling the approach in settings with a high student to instructor ratio. Through this literature review, we aim to highlight effective CA approaches and how future initiatives can leverage CA to improve student learning.
Fri 22 MarDisplayed time zone: Pacific Time (US & Canada) change
13:45 - 15:00 | Active LearningPapers at Meeting Rooms B117-119 Chair(s): Shanon Reckinger University of Illinois at Chicago | ||
13:45 25mTalk | Putting the Service into Service Learning: A Report on a Survey of CS Faculty Papers Avery Harrell University of Colorado Boulder, Sidney Lentz University of Colorado Boulder, Fujiko Robledo Yamamoto University of Colorado Boulder, Amy Voida University of Colorado Boulder, Lecia Barker University of Colorado Boulder DOI | ||
14:10 25mTalk | A Review of Cognitive Apprenticeship Methods in Computing Education Research Papers Anshul Shah University of California, San Diego, Adalbert Gerald Soosai Raj University of California, San Diego DOI | ||
14:35 25mTalk | Bite-Sized Experiential Education for Computer and Information Science Papers Julia Dean CU Boulder, Lecia Barker University of Colorado Boulder, Amy Voida University of Colorado Boulder DOI |