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Identity development in computing education: theoretical perspectives and an implementation in the classroom

Published: 05 November 2014 Publication History

Abstract

Identity development and personal experience have been drawn attention to in recent Computing education research addressing low engagement and retention or stereotypes and the gender gap in Computing. However, these findings have rarely been discussed in respect to how identity development could be implemented in the Computer Science classroom at primary and secondary schools. This paper integrates two theoretical perspectives on identity development -- a psychosocial and a sociocultural perspective. We then provide an example of how this theoretical framework can help to understand aspects of learning beyond knowledge acquisition and to design situated learning environments and experiences that foster identification processes and participation in group activities. The example is based on project work that aims to resemble a professional software development project, including a real client (the school) and professional roles taken by both the teacher and the students.

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  • (2025)Doing yourself, doing the collective, and doing the discipline: the model of computing students’ identity development in project-based learningComputer Science Education10.1080/08993408.2025.2467501(1-28)Online publication date: 17-Feb-2025
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    cover image ACM Other conferences
    WiPSCE '14: Proceedings of the 9th Workshop in Primary and Secondary Computing Education
    November 2014
    150 pages
    ISBN:9781450332507
    DOI:10.1145/2670757
    Permission to make digital or hard copies of all or part of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. Copyrights for components of this work owned by others than ACM must be honored. Abstracting with credit is permitted. To copy otherwise, or republish, to post on servers or to redistribute to lists, requires prior specific permission and/or a fee. Request permissions from [email protected]

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    Published: 05 November 2014

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    Author Tags

    1. identification
    2. identity development
    3. psychosocial and sociocultural aspects
    4. real-world context

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    • (2025)Doing yourself, doing the collective, and doing the discipline: the model of computing students’ identity development in project-based learningComputer Science Education10.1080/08993408.2025.2467501(1-28)Online publication date: 17-Feb-2025
    • (2023)Examining the role of computing identity in the computing experiences of women and racially minoritized undergraduates: a literature reviewJournal of Computing in Higher Education10.1007/s12528-023-09375-036:3(773-812)Online publication date: 22-May-2023
    • (2021)Identity in K-12 Computer Education Research: A Systematic Literature ReviewProceedings of the 17th ACM Conference on International Computing Education Research10.1145/3446871.3469757(169-183)Online publication date: 16-Aug-2021
    • (2021)Women in science and technology studies. A study about the influence of parents on their children’s choice of speciality. And about the trend of the different specialities in Spanish students2021 IEEE Global Engineering Education Conference (EDUCON)10.1109/EDUCON46332.2021.9454008(122-130)Online publication date: 21-Apr-2021
    • (2021)Team Mensa: A case study of supporting middle school girls' interest in computer science through an informal learning programJournal of Research on Technology in Education10.1080/15391523.2020.186423954:3(359-374)Online publication date: 19-Jan-2021
    • (2020)Conceptual Model of Generic Learning Design to Teach Cultural Artifacts in Computing EducationIndigenous Studies10.4018/978-1-7998-0423-9.ch015(279-294)Online publication date: 2020
    • (2020)Centering the Identities of Girls of Color in Computational Thinking Programs2020 Research on Equity and Sustained Participation in Engineering, Computing, and Technology (RESPECT)10.1109/RESPECT49803.2020.9272507(1-7)Online publication date: 10-Mar-2020
    • (2020)Professional Competencies in Computing Education: Are They Important?2020 IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference (FIE)10.1109/FIE44824.2020.9273987(1-5)Online publication date: 21-Oct-2020
    • (2019)Salient Measures of an Engaged Computing Education Community2019 IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference (FIE)10.1109/FIE43999.2019.9028513(1-5)Online publication date: Oct-2019
    • (2019)Schools (K–12)The Cambridge Handbook of Computing Education Research10.1017/9781108654555.019(547-583)Online publication date: 15-Feb-2019
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