Computer Science Education

Computer Science Education publishes high-quality papers with a specific focus on teaching and learning within the computing discipline. The journal seeks novel contributions that are accessible and of interest to researchers and practitioners alike. We invite work with learners of all ages and across both classroom and out-of-classroom learning contexts.

We welcome submissions that are situated in the computing education research literature and draw on diverse theories and research methods, including those that borrow from allied fields such as educational psychology, cognitive science, and the learning sciences. Papers may present work at various scales, from lab-based small-scale investigations to classroom interventions to national/international policy or implementation analyses but must clearly go beyond experience reports or descriptions of curricular initiatives.

The journal is not dedicated to any single research orientation. It welcomes a variety of methods, e.g., quantitative, qualitative, experimental, case-study, computational, or mixed-methods work, as long as these methods rigorously address the questions posed by authors.

Topics of General Interest to our Readers:
● Research on learning computer programming notations and tools, including visual, block-based, and other text-based coding environments used by novices
● Design-Based Research on the development and evaluation of computer-supported tools or educational technology for the teaching and learning of computing concepts
● Evidence-based pedagogical approaches for computer science in primary, secondary, and higher education contexts
● Efforts to broaden participation in computing at all levels
● Research on the social, cultural, and ethical dimensions of computing education
● Early childhood considerations around computing education content
● Research on computational thinking, including studies of "unplugged" and everyday forms of computational reasoning
● The role of computation in the broader Maker movement (i.e., computational making)
● Robotics, computing-enabled engineering, and other forms of physical computing
● Design-Based Implementation Research on scaling up state or national computing curricula
● CS pedagogical content knowledge and the training of both pre-service and in-service computing educators for learners of all ages
● Workplace studies of continuing education for adult computing professionals
● Coding schools, bootcamps, and other non-traditional learning environments

Submissions describing research that is not specific to the teaching and learning of Computer Science content and, e.g., instead focus on the general use of technology for teaching or in which the consideration of Computer Science content is only incidental, are usually considered to be out-of-scope and likely to be desk-rejected by the editors-in-chief. The editors-in-chief also reserve the right to desk-reject submissions describing pilot studies or work that is otherwise too formative.

Types of Submissions:
Original manuscripts submitted to the journal are typically no more than 12,000 words excluding references, and can be made in one of three categories:
● Empirical Studies: Theoretically grounded and rigorously described empirical work applying appropriate research methods to explore specific research questions in a clearly articulated context.
● Registered Reports: Theoretically grounded and rigorously described work applying appropriate research methods where the submission is split into two stages. Stage 1 involves peer reviewing the study plan, before data collection has occurred. An accept-in-principle/reject decision is made at this stage (possibly after revisions). If the accept-in-principle decision is given, the study is conducted, written up and resubmitted as a stage 2 submission. Stage 2 is similar to a full paper except that the parts already agreed in stage 1 do not need to be reviewed again.
● Review Articles: Work that synthesizes and interprets a body of existing literature relevant for the computing education field in order to uncover new insights or identify future research opportunities. Use of systematic or meta-analytic methods are not required, but should be clearly explained when used.

Peer Review Policy:

All research articles in this journal have undergone rigorous peer review, based on initial editor screening and anonymized refereeing by at least two anonymous referees.

Authors can choose to publish gold open access in this journal.

Read the Instructions for Authors for information on how to submit your article.