Abstract: Rather than conceptualizing school as a place where teachers transmit knowledge, we can envision more collective classroom cultures. In my dissertation, I investigate how researchers, teachers, and students can learn together as learners engage in personally meaningful work, based on development and implementation of Getting Unstuck, an intermediate Scratch curriculum for upper elementary classrooms. Opportunities for students to share their ideas and support one another as they work on personally authentic programming projects can help teachers and students build relationships with one another. Across all three papers, I demonstrate what is possible when we involve teachers and students more closely in the design and implementation of computing education reforms. By closely examining the complexities of learner interactions, I contribute to understandings of how any of us, across backgrounds, identities, and goals, might learn together.

Recommended citation: Haduong, P. (2023). Learning together: Three studies in elementary computing education [Doctoral dissertation, Harvard University].

Published in Proceedings of the 50th ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education (SIGCSE '19), 2018

Abstract: K–12 introductory programming experiences are often highly scaffolded, and it can be challenging for teachers and learners to transition from these scaffolded experiences to experiences of learner-directed creative work, where learners are solving problems and fluently expressing ideas through code.

Recommended citation: Haduong, P. and Brennan, K. (2019). "Helping K--12 Teachers Get Unstuck with Scratch: The Design of an Online Professional Learning Experience." In Proceedings of the 50th ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education (SIGCSE '19). ACM, New York, NY, USA, 1095-1101. https://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=3287479

Published in Information and Learning Sciences, 2019

Abstract: Some empirical evidence suggests that historically marginalized young people may enter introductory programming experiences with skepticism or reluctance, because of negative perceptions of the computing field. This paper aims to explore how learner identity and motivation can affect their experiences in an introductory computer science (CS) experience, particularly for young people who have some prior experience with computing.

Recommended citation: Haduong, P. (2019), "'I like computers. I hate coding': a portrait of two teens’ experiences." Information and Learning Sciences, Vol. 120 No. 5/6, pp. 349-365. https://doi.org/10.1108/ILS-05-2018-0037

Published in Computer Science Education, 2018

Abstract: The relationship between novices’ first programming language and their future achievement has drawn increasing interest owing to recent efforts to expand K–12 computing education.This article contributes to this topic by analyzing data from a retrospective study of more than 10,000 undergraduates enrolled in introductory computer science courses at 118 U.S. institutions of higher education.

Recommended citation: Chen, C., Haduong, P., Brennan, K., Sonnert, G., & Sadler, P. (2019). "The effects of first programming language on college students’ computing attitude and achievement: a comparison of graphical and textual languages." Computer Science Education, 29(1), 23-48. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/08993408.2018.1547564