Bootstrap builds research-based curricula and pedagogy that support meaningful, engaging, and effective learning experiences for all students. Below are links to papers that comprise Bootstrap’s research base.
The papers below are listed in reverse-chronological order. While older papers are sometimes superseded by newer ones, we have listed them here to show how our thinking has evolved.
Curriculum Design
These papers describe the constraints and resulting designs for several different Bootstrap curricula.
Expanding Models for Physics Teaching: A Framework for the Integration of Computational Modeling
Education Sciences, 2024
Teaching computation in science courses can enhance science education, but doing so requires that teachers expand the vision of their discipline beyond the traditional view of science presented in most curricula. This article describes a design-based research (DBR) program that included collaboration among high school teachers and professional development leaders in physics and computer science education.
Integrated Data Science for Secondary Schools: Design and Assessment of a Curriculum
ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education (SIGCSE), 2022
We propose that secondary-school data-science curricula should be based on four key ingredients: two are technical (programming and statistics, with visualization sitting at their intersection), while two are human-facing (meaningful domains, and civic responsibility). We describe their relationship and argue for their importance.
Evolving a K-12 Curriculum for Integrating Computer Science into Mathematics
ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education, 2021
We discuss the initial design and the various modifications we have made over the years to better support math instruction, leading to our goal of using integrated curricula to cover standards in both math and CS.
Data Science as a Route to AI for Middle- and High-School Students
AAAI 2019 Fall Symposium: Teaching AI in K-12, 2019
This paper briefly describes [Bootstrap:Data Science]’s design, content, and outcomes, and explains its value on the road to AI curricula.
Evaluation and Assessment
These papers examine the effectiveness of various Bootstrap curricula, and report on the lessons we have learned.
Expanding Models for Physics Teaching: A Framework for the Integration of Computational Modeling
Education Sciences, 2024
Teaching computation in science courses can enhance science education, but doing so requires that teachers expand the vision of their discipline beyond the traditional view of science presented in most curricula. This article describes a design-based research (DBR) program that included collaboration among high school teachers and professional development leaders in physics and computer science education.
Integrated Data Science for Secondary Schools: Design and Assessment of a Curriculum
ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education (SIGCSE), 2022
We propose that secondary-school data-science curricula should be based on four key ingredients: two are technical (programming and statistics, with visualization sitting at their intersection), while two are human-facing (meaningful domains, and civic responsibility). We describe their relationship and argue for their importance.
Evolving a K-12 Curriculum for Integrating Computer Science into Mathematics
ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education, 2021
We discuss the initial design and the various modifications we have made over the years to better support math instruction, leading to our goal of using integrated curricula to cover standards in both math and CS.
Assessing Bootstrap:Algebra Students on Scaffolded and Unscaffolded Word Problems
ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education (SIGCSE), 2018
This paper reports on a more detailed study with (a) data from more than 3x as many students, (b) analysis of performance changes in incorrect answers, (c) problems in which the Bootstrap scaffolds have been removed, and (d) an IRT analysis… Our results confirm that students improve on algebraic word problems after completing the module, even on unscaffolded problems.
Technology Base
These papers describe some of the advanced technologies that we create and use to build the various software components that support Bootstrap.
Combining Interactive and Whole-Program Editing with REPARTEE
Workshop on Evaluation and Usability of Programming Languages and Tools, 2021
Interactive evaluation with a REPL (Read-Eval-Print Loop) is a feature of many programming environments, especially in environments for teaching programming. However, REPLs do have confusions and stumbles for beginners related to navigating between programs and interactive evaluation.
Adapting Student IDEs for Blind Programmers
Koli Calling International Conference on Computing Education Research, 2020
Even in the absence of legal demands, our discipline has a moral obligation to accommodate the needs of all students…
Accessible AST-Based Programming for Visually-Impaired Programmers
ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education, 2019
Users had improved accuracy when completing tasks, were significantly better able to orient when reading code, and felt better about completing the tasks when using the tool.
Event Loops as First-Class Values: A Case Study in Pedagogic Language Design
The Art, Science, and Engineering of Programming, 2019
The new design enables programmatic control over event-driven programs. This simplifies reflecting on program behavior, and eliminates many unnecessary curricular dependencies imposed by the old design.
Position Statements
These papers describe our positions on various topics that impact the design of Bootstrap curricula.
Data-Centricity: A Challenge and Opportunity for Computing Education
Communications of the ACM, 2020
Rethinking the content of introductory computing around a data-centric approach to better engage and support a diversity of students.
What Does It Mean for a Curriculum to Succeed?
Communications of the ACM, 2019
Examining the expansion, proliferation, and integration of computing education everywhere across academic disciplines.
Blocks Versus Text: Ongoing Lessons from Bootstrap
Blocks and Beyond Workshop, 2015
One important viewpoint that we do not believe has been explored in the literature is the effect on teachers during professional development workshops….
Why Computer Science Doesn’t Matter
Communications of the ACM, 2009
Aligning computer science with high school mathematics can help turn it into an essential subject for all students.
