Katharine Childs
k.childs.1@research.gla.ac.uk
https://orcid.org/0009-0001-7185-6784
Research title: Promoting Interest and Broadening Participation in Computing among Middle School Pupils through Physical Computing Projects using Grounded Cognition Theory
Research summary
Katharine is an EPSRC-funded PhD student. Her research explores teaching programming using physical computing through the lens of grounded cognition. Although computing is becoming embedded as a subject in K-12 education worldwide, many students still struggle with learning abstract programming concepts. The tangible nature of physical computing (e.g. programming microcontroller boards to sense and respond to the physical world) may provide the sensorimotor grounding that grounded cognition theory posits is constitutive of conceptual understanding.
This work uses grounded cognition as a lens to better understand how learning experiences can be designed to support students’ conceptual development, and proposes that activities linked to relevant sensorimotor, affective, social, and environmental information can support stronger conceptual outcomes for learners.
Publications
2026
Childs, Katharine 
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0001-7185-6784 and Kallia, Maria ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8591-9651
(2026)
Exploring the Role of Grounded Cognition in Physical Computing: a Thematic Synthesis.
In: 20th WiPSCE Conference on Primary and Secondary Computing Education Research (WiPSCE 2026), Aachen, Germany, 11-13 March 2026,
ISBN 9798400725029
(doi: 10.1145/3801749.3801766)
Conference Proceedings
Childs, Katharine ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0001-7185-6784 and Kallia, Maria ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8591-9651
(2026)
Exploring the Role of Grounded Cognition in Physical Computing: a Thematic Synthesis.
In: 20th WiPSCE Conference on Primary and Secondary Computing Education Research (WiPSCE 2026), Aachen, Germany, 11-13 March 2026,
ISBN 9798400725029
(doi: 10.1145/3801749.3801766)
Prior publications
Works published at other institutions
Conference Proceedings
Veronica Cucuiat, Katharine Childs, Jane Waite, Sue Sentance (2026) Student Agency to Learn Programming with LLM tools - Draft Agency Framework and Student Self-Assessment Questionnaire Crossref. (doi: 10.1145/3830800.3830824)
Robert Whyte, Manni Cheung, Katharine Childs, Jane Waite, Sue Sentance (2026) Analysing Data Paradigms in K–12 Data Science Activities: A Systematic Literature Review Crossref. (doi: 10.1145/3801749.3801757)
Ethel Tshukudu, Katharine Childs, Gaokgakala Alogeng, Emma R. Dodoo, Douglas R. Case, Tebogo Videlmah Molebatsi (2026) Exploring K–12 Teacher Motivation to Engage with AI in Education Crossref. (doi: 10.1145/3770762.3772632)
Emma R. Dodoo, Katharine Childs, Ethel Tshukudu (2025) Exploring the Role of Culture and Bilingualism in Programming Activities: Lessons from African Educators Crossref. (doi: 10.1145/3736181.3747121)
Katharine Childs, Ethel Tshukudu, Gaokgakala Alogeng, Douglas Case, Tebogo Videlmah Molebatsi, Emma R. Dodoo (2025) Secondary Students' Conceptions of AI in an African Country Crossref. (doi: 10.1145/3736251.3747301)
Katharine Childs, Jane Waite (2024) Funds of identity and culturally responsive computing: K-5 teachers' adaptations to computing resources Crossref. (doi: 10.1145/3677619.3678106)
Katharine Childs, Alex Hadwen-Bennett, Jane Waite (2024) K-5 pupils' responses to culturally responsive computing lessons Crossref. (doi: 10.1145/3677619.3678120)
Alexandra Price, Katharine Childs, Sue Sentance (2024) It's Useful But Not Interesting: Girls on Computing in School Crossref. (doi: 10.1145/3689535.3689536)
Ethel Tshukudu, Maria Kallia, Katharine Childs, William Darragh (2023) Broadening Participation in Computing: Experiences of the Hour of Code in an African Country Crossref. (doi: 10.1145/3605468.3605502)
Hayley C Leonard, Katharine Childs, Jane Waite, Robert Whyte, Sue Sentance (2023) Engaging primary (K-5) computing teachers in culturally relevant pedagogy through professional development Crossref. (doi: 10.1145/3610969.3611118)
Rizvi, S., Sentance, S., Childs, K., Leonard, H., Quinlan, O., Waite, J. (2022) Use of storytelling to increase engagement and motivation in computing in lower primary schools ACM International Conference Proceeding Series Scopus - Elsevier. ISBN 9781450398541 (doi: 10.1145/3556787.3556876)
Article
Katharine Childs, Sue Sentance (2024) Investigating the impact of introducing pair programming to primary computing education on female pupils’ attitudes towards computing International Journal of Computer Science Education in Schools Crossref. (doi: 10.21585/ijcses.v7i1.218)
Additional information
Katharine holds a first-class BSc in IT & Computing from the Open University and an MSc (Distinction) in Computing Education from Nottingham Trent University.
