WIP: Analyzing Students' Practices Behaviors in an Introductory Computer Science Course and Monitoring Their Practices Behaviors in a Subsequent Class

This innovative practice WIP aims to analyze students' practice behavior and its impacts on students' performance and retention. Studies have shown that memories weaken over time, and the most significant drop in retention happens just a day after you learn something new. Ebbinghaus's forgetting curve suggests that people tend to forget newly learned materials in days or weeks when there is no attempt to review the learned materials. To prevent forgetting, we need to reinforce what we learn by using techniques such as spaced retrieval practice and interleaving. We did that in an Introductory Computer Science Course (CS1). We used quizzes as low-stakes retrieval practice activities (RPAs) that students could take as many times as they want during the semester, along with the U-Behavior teaching and learning method. The U-Behavior method is composed of an application that generates personalized visualizations of student's study behaviors and self-reflections to help students improve their study behaviors to reinforce long-term learning. In a previous study, with data from a Fall 2021 CS1 course, we found a statistically significant increase in final exam scores, final coding exam, and final course grades for students who practice desirable behaviors, spacing and mixing their practice over the semester, compared with students who did not. This study presents a work in progress that uses data from Fall 2023 CS1 course to analyze if the increase in grades persists in a different cohort of students for the same course as well as to extend the previous study by monitoring students practice behaviors in a subsequent class, CS2, that is being taught this Spring 2024 semester. Of 94 students registered in CS1 Fall 2023, a total of 56 consented to participate in the study. Of the 56 students, 18 demonstrated desirable behaviors by spacing and interleaving their practice during the semester, and 38 did not. Initial analysis of Fall 2023 CS1 data showed a statistically significant increase on final exam and final course grades for students who practice desirable study behaviors. Contrary to Fall 2021 CS1 data, no statistical significance was found regarding final coding exam grades for Fall 2023 CS1 students between students who practice desirable behaviors and those who didn't. We analyzed if students who demonstrated desirable practice behaviors are continuing practice in a spaced and interleaved in the subsequent class, CS2. Initial findings and future directions are presented.