Nathan Bean | Teaching Assistant Professor

Richard B. and Mary Jo Myers Cornerstone Teaching Scholar

Ph.D. -2022, Kansas State University
Curriculum and Instruction/Computer Science Education
M.A. - 2009, Kansas State University
English/Creative Writing
M.S. - 2005, University of Abertay Dundee
Computer Games Technology
B.S. - 2003, Kansas State University
Computer Science

Contact information

2216 Engineering Hall
785-532-7942
nhbean@k-state.edu
Personal website

Professional experience

Nathan Bean has ten years of experience in the software development industry creating full-stack web applications for Envisage Consulting and Wellspring Web Design. He was the program coordinator for INSIGHT, a NSF-Funded program that partnered graduate students in Computer Science and other disciplines with teachers in K-12 schools to develop curriculum to bring sensor technology into the classroom. He also volunteers for the Boy Scouts of America, and is a certified COPE director.

Research

Bean’s primary area of research is at the intersections of education and computing, especially the use of computers, simulations, and games as learning tools. He is a Co-Director of the Advancing Teaching and Learning in Computer Science (ALT+CS) Lab, which focuses on developing and evaluating curriculum materials, pedagogy approaches, and and educator professional development for Computer Science Education at all levels (Pre-K through postgraduate).

He was also a researcher on the NSF-funded CI-TEAM project, which developed the concept of a “hackable glass box” simulation – a simulation that allowed students not only to examine how the simulation works, but to change and adapt it.

Bean has also been involved in several teacher preparation programs to bring computational thinking and computing into K-12, including the development of curriculum materials released under a creative commons license and available on his website. Additionally, his group conducted a pilot study of a mastery experience approach to developing teacher self-efficacy in computational thinking in fall 2013 and fall 2014. This two-hour intervention involved pre-service teachers from all discipline areas and demonstrated a large, statistically significant positive effect, pre (M=21.50, SD = 8.16) to post (M=31.75, SD=6.45),t(107)=13.613, p<.0001, Cohen’s effect size value (d=1.316) using an early short form of the Teacher Self-Efficacy for Computational Thinking (TSECT) instrument he developed.

Academic highlights

Bean has developed a number of courses for the computer science department, including courses Introduction to Computer Science, Foundations of Game Programming, Game Engine Design, Web Page Development, Web Application Development, and Object-Oriented Design, Implementation, and Testing. He is the mentor for the Game Development Club. He helped prepare the first Aesthesia event, organize the Annual K-State Invitational Game Jam, and helps with the CS department’s open house efforts every spring.

Bean also utilizes the software engineering capstone project course he teaches to advance the research and extension mission of K-State. Student teams in the course are assigned a project drawn from needs of research faculty and community members, and are charged with creating a software-based solution. This gives the students real-world development experiences working on software that are addressing critical needs in agriculture, education, engineering, and other areas. All software developed through the class efforts are released under open-source licenses.