Designing an Assessment for Introductory Programming Concepts in Middle School Computer Science
Shuchi Grover
Abstract
Teaching of computer science (CS is rapidly expanding in schools. Learning to program is a key ingredient of school CS curricula, and consequently, there is a need for quality measures of student learning of foundational programming concepts. However, high-quality tools for measuring student learning in introductory CS have been under-developed and under-researched. This experience report shares the process of design and refinement of a summative paper-based assessment (that could also be administered online) for introductory programming in middle grades (6-8). We share our experiences with the use of assessment as a pre-post measure in a middle school introductory programming course in diverse, urban school classrooms in the US and use that data to conduct validity, reliability and item discrimination analyses.