Evidence or Excitement: Which Predicts Implementation of Research-based Pedagogy by CS Educators?

There is a lack of clarity on how to increase the adoption of research-based pedagogy in CS education. Past research indicates that evidence from education studies was not an influential factor, while educator excitement was a significant one. Based on an educator survey, we found that peer-reviewed citations correlated with educator familiarity and intended adoption. Interestingly, perceived benefits and challenges, which we used as a proxy for excitement, had a statistically significant yet smaller effect size. These results suggest that despite previous findings, evidence from education research might influence adoption. This work also offers a quantitative metric for educator excitement.