The Importance of Project-Scale Scaffolding for Retention and Experience in Computing Courses

Teaching students complex problem-solving skills using large-scale, real-world problems is challenging for both students and teachers alike. As a result, most courses use small, well-specified, toy-like problems, which are not representative of what students will encounter in the workforce. One approach that allows teachers to use large-scale problems in class is by introducing scaffolding. Scaffolding breaks a larger problem into smaller steps, which students can solve independently, while deemphasizing tangential concepts such as the complex configuration files needed to compile open-source software systems. Strong scaffolding supports student learning, preventing them from getting bogged down with unnecessary tasks or overwhelmed by complexity. This work investigates a scaffolded problem-based-learning module for computing courses, using a realistically-sized project with characteristics representative of the industry. The project was implemented in a computer science course with roughly 100 students, and the results speak to the importance of scaffolding for student success. In fact, there were two student assignments that lacked sufficient scaffolding, compared with other tasks, and the reduction in student scoring and persistence shows that project scaffolding is necessary when implementing these types of assignments. Most students felt the project helped prepare them for a job in their chosen field.