Matthew Ahrens
Papers
1
Total Citations
66
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1
About
Matthew Ahrens is a leading researcher in computing education, with a particular focus on how collaborative learning shapes students’ understanding of computer science. His work draws on distributed cognition theory to challenge traditional, individualistic models of learning, arguing that knowledge in computing is often shared across people, tools, and environments. His most cited paper, “Using Distributed Cognition Theory to Analyze Collaborative Computer Science Learning” (2015, 66 citations), provides a foundational framework for studying group work in settings ranging from peer instruction to robotics competitions. This contribution has been instrumental in shifting the field’s attention from isolated skill acquisition to the social and material dimensions of learning. Ahrens’s research has had a lasting impact on the design of collaborative computing curricula and assessment methods, influencing both classroom practice and educational technology development. His work is widely cited by scholars seeking to understand how students co-construct computational knowledge, and it continues to inform efforts to make computing education more inclusive and effective through collaborative, hands-on approaches.
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