{"589186":{"#nid":"589186","#data":{"type":"news","title":"IC Ph.D. student Katie Cunningham receives NSF fellowship","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003ESchool of Interactive Computing Ph.D. student \u003Cstrong\u003EKatie Cunningham\u003C\/strong\u003E was selected last week as a 2017 National Science Foundation (NSF) \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.nsfgrfp.org\/\u0022\u003EGraduate Research Fellowship Program\u003C\/a\u003E (GRFP) recipient.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe fellowship grants Cunningham $34,000 per twelve-month period over the course of a maximum of three years. The financial support may be used in any three 12-month units over the course of a five-year period that begins in 2017.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ECunningham was awarded based on a proposal for research in the field of computing education, a facet of computing she says has become vital to everyday life.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;With so many jobs in that area and such a shift toward technology and automation, it\u0026rsquo;s important that people know how to deal with computing,\u0026rdquo; she said.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EShe aims to examine one particular classroom technique that might be useful for teaching introductory programming.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;I\u0026rsquo;m interested in examining the kinds of things students draw and sketch when they trace through code,\u0026rdquo; she said. \u0026ldquo;Can certain types of sketching help students do better when they learn introductory programming?\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EShe grew interested in this topic while working as a teacher for a program in California. As she watched students there work with code, she found that they worked solely with the numbers and text on their computer screen.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;They weren\u0026rsquo;t really drawing,\u0026rdquo; she said. \u0026ldquo;I found that the drawing techniques we encouraged were really useful for those students, so I was inspired to study it at Georgia Tech.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EEssentially, the idea is that by drawing or sketching a visual representation of their work as they code, students may be able to better understand the operations of how the computer works.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;It\u0026rsquo;s a term we call the \u0026lsquo;notional machine,\u0026rsquo;\u0026rdquo; Cunningham explained. \u0026ldquo;It\u0026rsquo;s this idea of how the computer processes the instructions. I think if students are drawing out the process for how their code is working, that can help them to fully understand how the instructions are working.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThat\u0026rsquo;s one benefit. Another, she said, is better collaboration. If a student is sketching the process, she posits, the teacher can better see and understand what they\u0026rsquo;re thinking.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EAt this point, as with any new research, she is unsure how it will work out. Potentially, though, she sees a scenario in which there is a better understanding of how students are thinking as they work through introductory coding and an easier process of correcting or directing to new approaches.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;Computing education is so new,\u0026rdquo; she said. \u0026ldquo;There are so few techniques like this. If it\u0026rsquo;s just paper and pencil, it could go to high schools. I think a lot of researchers have tried to look at this, but they\u0026rsquo;ve focused on creating software programs. The danger is that students just watch a visualization. The student needs to be engaged and fully involved in the process to really benefit.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ECunningham said she was honored to receive the fellowship.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;I feel like this award highlights the importance of this area of computing education,\u0026rdquo; she said.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":"","field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"IC Ph.D. student Katie Cunningham receives NSF fellowship for work in computing education."}],"uid":"33939","created_gmt":"2017-03-23 17:21:18","changed_gmt":"2017-03-23 17:21:18","author":"David Mitchell","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2017-03-23T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2017-03-23T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"589184":{"id":"589184","type":"image","title":"Katie Cunningham 1","body":null,"created":"1490289247","gmt_created":"2017-03-23 17:14:07","changed":"1490289247","gmt_changed":"2017-03-23 17:14:07","alt":"Katie Cunningham earned an NSF fellowship for her work in computing education.","file":{"fid":"224489","name":"Katie Cunningham.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Katie%20Cunningham.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Katie%20Cunningham.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":299516,"path_740":"http:\/\/tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/Katie%20Cunningham.jpg?itok=d0Pmdute"}}},"media_ids":["589184"],"groups":[{"id":"47223","name":"College of Computing"},{"id":"50876","name":"School of Interactive Computing"}],"categories":[{"id":"8862","name":"Student Research"}],"keywords":[{"id":"173830","name":"Katie Cunningham; School of Interactive Computing; College of Computing"},{"id":"80311","name":"computing education"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39501","name":"People and Technology"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EDavid Mitchell\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ECommunications Officer\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:david.mitchell@cc.gatech.edu\u0022\u003Edavid.mitchell@cc.gatech.edu\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["david.mitchell@cc.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}