Understanding the development of interest in CS: An experience sampling approach (Proposal to NSF 19-4327)
Authors: Rosenberg Joshua 
Published: June 2019

Overview. Who can considers themselves to be an expert in and who can study and later work in computer science (CS) are essential questions for individuals in a democratic society, especially in light of the role of CS and computing and digital technology more broadly in so many areas of contemporary life. Past research has shown that there exists a substantial difference in who pursues an interest, a major, or an occupation in CS and others, particularly for female individuals and for people of color (Sax et al., 2017). Moreover, research has shown that some overall factors, such as competence-related beliefs and co-curricular supports, might begin to explain these differences (e.g., Lishinski, Yadav, Good, &amp; Enbody, 2016). However, scholars have not adequately addressed what drives these differences at the level at which policymakers and educators seeking to support and sustain a more representative population of CS experts can most effectively act, namely, at a situation-to-situation level, rather than in terms of what happens in courses, programs of study, or occupations in general and overall. What drives differences in who pursues CS may be due, then, to situation-specific factors, such as experiences that spark students’ interest in the domain, that have not yet been the focus of study. The proposed project would address this gap through examining how a specific, key outcome, sustained, individual interest in CS, develops from finer-grained, situational interest, through the use of a novel (in CSEd) methodology, experience sampling (or ESM; Hektner, Schmidt, &amp; Csikszentmihalyi, 2007). This study is carried out in the context of an introductory undergraduate computer science (CS) course (for majors and non-majors) at a large, Southeastern United States, research-intensive university with around 175 students. This proposed study is framed in terms of interest development, particularly to understand how students’ in-the-moment interest is sparked in specific situations and then accumulates into more ongoing and sustained individual interest. This method involves asking individuals to respond to short, regularly occurring surveys about their experiences in the course (via a text message sent to them) after each class. Thus, how students’ initial interest, as well as their individual characteristics, such as their initial interest and their CS self-concept, relate to students’ situation-to-situation interest (as measured via ESM) can be queried. Further, how contextual factors - those internal to students, such as how challenging they perceived each class’ activities to be, as well as those external to students, such as the focus of each class - relate to students’ situational interest can also be explored. Finally, how students’ situational interest relates to changes in their longer-term, individual interest, can also be better understood. Intellectual Merit. Particularly as scholars in related fields argue that a watershed, rather than a pipeline, may be a more generative way of looking at who pursues a STEM major (National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, 2018), understanding what contextual factors impact the development of interest at a fine-grained level has the potential to generate new accounts of how students pursue CS majors. The proposed project also has the potential to contribute foundational knowledge about how interest develops in a domain—CS—in which the phenomenon of interest development has not yet been studied. Additionally, the project has the potential to contribute to interest development theory, which posits that situational interest changes, over time, into well-developed individual interest, yet which has not been studied with an approach (such as ESM) suitable for understanding situational interest.Broader Impacts. This proposed work has the potential to inform the conversation about how to expand access to and broaden participation in computing through revealing which factors, such as particular instructional practices or experiences, are most critical for educators and administrators to target. This work also has the potential to bolster the capacity for others at my institution—and in similar higher education contexts—to carry out impactful research in CS education, particularly the Chair of the CS department, the post-doctoral scholar, the graduate students, and the undergraduate students involved in the project. This work has the potential to contribute to debates on what factors may explain differences in who pursues, is supported, and sustains computing and technology and careers. Finally, this work has the potential to bolster the potential for researchers in CSEd and in other fields to make use of a new data collection approach, the ESM, and an associated data analytic technique.