Effect of Implementing Subgoals in Code.org's Intro to Programming Unit in Computer Science Principles

Not reported at abstract depth; students in Code.org Computer Science Principles classrooms

US high school, Code.org Computer Science Principles course.

Compared students who received a redesigned subgoal-oriented unit against students receiving the original unit — not randomised, and the cohorts differ. Code.org's own research lead is a co-author, so this is a curriculum-vendor-involved evaluation of the vendor's own unit; it is recorded here partly as the archive's worked example of vendor involvement in the coding-curriculum literature. All outcomes are course questions and a practice AP Performance Task, researcher- or vendor-designed. Read at abstract depth.

Subgoal students did better on problem-solving questions but not on knowledge-based questions, and wrote more in open-ended responses including the practice AP Performance Task. At least a third kept using the subgoal comments after the scaffolding was faded, and teachers reported the subgoals helped struggling students most. No standardized outcome and no effect size is reported at abstract depth.

Medium. Non-randomised cohort comparison.

A single implementation study of an effect whose record is mixed — see Morrison, Margulieux & Guzdial (2015), the non-replication inside the same research programme.