Framing Classroom Climate for Student Learning and Retention in Computer Science

Despite the best laid plans, counterproductive student behavior can interfere with faculty establishment of supportive classroom climates. This paper describes methods for framing the climate of the computer science classroom to minimize outspoken students' unwanted displays of intellectual prowess and engender co-learning behavior among students. Explicit framing of a supportive climate reduces student anxiety about their status among peers, leads them to expect to co-learn concepts, and reduces trepidations about speaking up in class. The framing is grounded by preemptively establishing expectations and addressing concerns through student discussion; asking students to go outside of their interaction style comfort zones for speaking in class; and explicitly describing teaching choices and classroom processes. The framing is reinforced by exposing wrong answers as useful rather than embarrassing, turn-taking techniques for equal student participation, and collaborative learning for assignments and in-class problem solving. Classroom-based retention techniques are important for retaining students who are less experienced with computer science and unsure how to interpret peers' public knowledge claims in relation to their own knowledge or faculty expectations.