The FCS1
Tew, A. E., & Guzdial, M. · 2011
grade Dreviewindependentreplicated
Sample
Not confirmed
Population
CS1 students across multiple languages and institutions.
Design
An instrument-development and validation study, not an effect study. The full registered title is "The FCS1: a language independent assessment of CS1 knowledge"; Crossref registers the main title separately. Included because it is the origin of the only serious attempt at a validated, language-independent measure of CS1 knowledge — the thing whose scarcity is this subject's central methodological problem. Read at secondary depth.
Key findings
The first validated, language-independent assessment of foundational CS1 knowledge, built explicitly as computing's answer to physics' Force Concept Inventory. Its existence — and the fact that a decade later its authors were still writing about how rarely it and its successor get used — is the measurement story of this subject.
Genetic confound
Not applicable — instrument validation.
Replication notes
Replicated and re-validated as the SCS1 by Parker, Guzdial & Engleman (2016), which found weaker reliability than the original.
DOI / URL
10.1145/1953163.1953200
Effects
| Outcome | Metric | Value | Measure | Timing | Vs | Horizon | Class |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A validated language-independent CS1 knowledge instrument | instrument validation | validated; specific psychometrics not read | validated-instrument | not applicable | none | not-applicable | domain-skill |
Cited by
- Does teaching programming actually teach programming — and does the method matter?moderate supportconf: mediumgc: low