Computer Science Education

C-Sheep: Controlling Entities in a 3D Virtual World as a Tool for Computer Science Education

by Eike Falk Anderson

Co-authored with Leigh McLoughlin - presented as a poster at Future Play 2006

You’re it! Body, Action, and Object in STEM Learning (ICLS 2012 Symposium)

by Dor Abrahamson

FOREWORD:
I organized this symposium to encourage dialogue among design-based researchers of STEM learning whose work is grounded in an embodied-cognition epistemological perspective on what it means to know. My sense is that we're working in parallel, and that we could avail a great deal by beginning to reflect collectively. The proceedings paper, written in advance of the conference gathering, captures the sense of inviting this collective reflection among the variety of embodied-cognition "flavors." I hope you find it interesting.

CITATION:
Abrahamson, D. (Chair & Organizer). You’re it! Body, action, and object in STEM learning (M. Eisenberg, Discussant). In P. Freebody, T. de Jong, E. Kyza & P. Reimann (Eds.), Proceedings of the International Conference of the Learning Sciences: Future of Learning (ICLS 2012). Sydney: University of Sydney / ISLS.

ABSTRACT:
In this special double symposium, sixteen established and emerging scholars from seven US universities,... more ABSTRACT:
In this special double symposium, sixteen established and emerging scholars from seven US universities, who share theoretical perspectives of grounded cognition, empirical contexts of design for STEM content domains, and analytic attention to nuances of multimodal expression, all gather to explore synergy and coherence across their diverging research questions, methodologies, and conclusions in light of the conference theme “Future of Learning.” Jointly we ask, What are the relations among embodiment, action, artifacts, and discourse in the development of mathematical, scientific, engineering, or computer-sciences concepts? The session offers emerging answers as well as implications for theory and practice.

Press play: an experiment in creative computing using a novel pedagogic approach

by Eike Falk Anderson

J.Shutteworth, P. Every. E. Anderson, J.Halloran, C. Peters and F. Liarokapis. In Anglo Higher 2(1), 2010

In at the Deep End: An Activity-Led Introduction to First Year Creative Computing

by Eike Falk Anderson

Eike Falk Anderson, Christopher E. Peters, John Halloran, Peter Every, James Shuttleworth, Fotis Liarokapis, Richard Lane and Michael Richards

to appear in COMPUTER GRAPHICS Forum 2012 (in print)
DOI: 10.1111j.1467-8659.2012.03066.x

Misconceptions about the nature of the computing disciplines pose a serious problem to university faculties that offer... more Misconceptions about the nature of the computing disciplines pose a serious problem to university faculties that offer computing degrees, as students enrolling on their programmes may come to realise that their expectations are not met by reality. This frequently results in the students’ early disengagement from the subject of their degrees which in turn can lead to excessive ‘wastage’, i.e. reduced retention. In this paper we report on our academic group’s attempts within creative computing degrees at a UK university to counter these problems through the introduction of a six week long project that newly enrolled students embark on at the very beginning of their studies. This group project provides a breadth-first, activity-led introduction to their chosen academic discipline, aiming to increase student engagement while providing a stimulating learning experience with the overall goal to increase retention. We present the methods and results of two iterations of these projects in the 2009/2010 and 2010/2011 academic years, and conclude that the approach worked well for these cohorts, with students expressing increased interest in their chosen discipline, in addition to noticeable improvements in retention following the first year of the students’ studies.

Policies Composition Through Graphical Components

by Vitor Roque

proc. of the 5th International Conference on Enterprise Information Systems - ICEIS2003, Angers, France, 23-26 April 2003.

Policy based management have gained a crescent importance in the two last years. New demands on
internetworking,... more Policy based management have gained a crescent importance in the two last years. New demands on
internetworking, on services specification, on QoS achievement and generically on network management
functionality, have driven this paradigm to a very important level. The main idea is to provide services that
allow specifying management and operational rules in the same way people do business. Despite the main
focus of this technology has been associated with network management solutions, its generality allows to
extend these principles to any business process inside an organization. In this paper we discuss the main
proposals in the field, namely the IETF/DMTF model, and we present a proposal that allows the
specification of policy rules through a user-friendly and component-oriented graphical interface.

In at the Deep End: An Activity-Led Introduction to First Year Creative Computing

by Christopher Edward Peters

Anderson, E.F., Peters, C.E., Halloran, J., Every, P., Shuttleworth, J., Liarokapis, F., Lane, R. and Richards, M. (2012). In at the Deep End: An Activity-Led Introduction to First Year Creative Computing. To appear in Computer Graphics Forum, Wiley-Blackwell.

Misconceptions about the nature of the computing discipline(s) pose a serious problem to faculties that offer... more Misconceptions about the nature of the computing discipline(s) pose a serious problem to faculties that offer computing degrees, as students enrolling on their programmes come to realise that their expectations are not met by reality. This frequently results in the students’ early disengagement from the subject of their degrees which in turn can lead to excessive ‘wastage’, i.e. reduced retention. In this paper we report on our academic group’s attempts within creative computing degrees at a UK university to counter these problems through the introduction of a six week long project that newly enrolled students embark on at the very beginning of their studies. This group project provides a breadth-first, activity-led introduction to their chosen academic discipline, aiming to increase student engagement while providing a stimulating learning experience with the overall goal to increase retention. Having run in two iterations, we believe that this approach has been successful, with students showing increased interest in their chosen discipline and noticable improvements in retention following the first year of the students’ studies.

Student usage patterns and perceptions for differentiated lab exercises in an undergraduate programming course

by Heng Ngee Mok

Differentiated instruction in the form of tiered take-home lab exercises was implemented for students of an... more Differentiated instruction in the form of tiered take-home lab exercises was implemented for students of an undergraduate-level programming course. This paper attempts to uncover the perceptions and usage patterns of students toward these new lab exercises using a comprehensive survey. Findings reveal that these tiered exercises are generally very well received and preferred over their traditional "one size fits all" counter-parts. Although the study does not show that tiered exercises have improved proÞciency or scores, it does seem to indicate higher student engagement and motivation levels. Based on the survey results, a list of recommendations is put forth for the structure and format of tiered exercises that can be applied to future offerings of this programming course as well as to other similar courses.

Using artificial intelligence to help bridge students from high school to college

by Susan Lowes

With Elizabeth Sklar and others. Published in AAAI Spring Symposium, 2008.

This paper describes work from the Bridges to Computing project at Brooklyn College of the City University of New... more This paper describes work from the Bridges to Computing project at Brooklyn College of the City University of New York. This project focuses on the transition from high school to college with the intention of encouraging more students to study some aspect of computer science. The Bridges project has both introduced new undergraduate courses into our computer science curriculum and revised existing courses, as well as developed activities for high school students to help better prepare them for college-level computer science. Here, we report on the use of ideas from artificial intelligence implemented within several of these interventions.

Overview of EIREX 2011: Crowdsourcing

by Jorge Morato

Julián Urbano, Diego Martín, Mónica Marrero, Jorge Morato. arXiv.org > cs > arXiv:1203.0518. January 2012

The second Information Retrieval Education through EXperimentation track (EIREX 2011) was run at the University Carlos... more The second Information Retrieval Education through EXperimentation track (EIREX 2011) was run at the University Carlos III of Madrid, during the 2011 spring semester. EIREX 2011 is the second in a series of experiments designed to foster new Information Retrieval (IR) education methodologies and resources, with the specific goal of teaching undergraduate IR courses from an experimental perspective. For an introduction to the motivation behind the EIREX experiments, see the first sections of [Urbano et al., 2011a]. For information on other editions of EIREX and related data, see the website at this http URL The EIREX series have the following goals: a) to help students get a view of the Information Retrieval process as they would find it in a real-world scenario, either industrial or academic; b) to make students realize the importance of laboratory experiments in Computer Science and have them initiated in their execution and analysis; c) to create a public repository of resources to teach Information Retrieval courses; d) to seek the collaboration and active participation of other Universities in this endeavor. This overview paper summarizes the results of the EIREX 2011 track, focusing on the creation of the test collection and the analysis to assess its reliability.

Prospective Computer Teachers’ Mental Images about the Concepts of “School” and “Computer Teacher”

by Halil Eksi

Aslıhan SABAN
Educational Sciences: Theory & Practice - 11(1) • Winter • 435-446

In this phenomenological study, prospective computer teachers’ mental images related to the concepts of
“school”... more In this phenomenological study, prospective computer teachers’ mental images related to the concepts of
“school” and “computer teacher” were examined through metaphors. Participants were all the 45 seniors
majoring in the Department of Computer and Instructional Technologies at Selcuk University, Ahmet Kelesoglu
Faculty of Education during the 2009-2010 academic year. They were asked to produce one metaphor for their
either experienced or ideal “school” image and one metaphor for their either experienced or ideal “computer
teacher” image. Collected data were analyzed by using the “content analysis” technique. According to the findings,
participants produced 33 valid metaphors about the “school”. While 16 of these metaphors reflected their past
schooling experiences, 17 of them reflected their ideal schools. Based on their common characteristics, all the
33 metaphors were grouped into 9 categories (a disciplinary center, a shaping place, a work center, an outdated
place, a place of enlightenment, a place of hope, a place of growth, a place of solidarity and a fun place). In
the same way, participants produced a total of 21 valid metaphors about the “computer teacher”. While 10 of
these metaphors reflected their past computer teachers, 11 of them represented their ideal computer teachers.
Based on their common characteristics, all the 21 metaphors were grouped into 6 categories (superior authority
figure, shaper, information provider, curer, guide and democratic leader). It appears that while participants
produced only teaching-focused metaphors to reflect their school experiences and computer teachers, they
developed both teaching- and learning-focused metaphors to reflect their ideal schools and computer teachers.

A Project Based Learning Model's Effectiveness on Computer Courses and Multiple Intelligence Theory

by Halil Eksi

Nesrin ÖZDENER, Tuğba ÖZÇOBAN
Educational Sciences: Theory & Practice
4 (1) • Mayýs / May 2004 • 164-170

With the philosophy of the natural and supernatural power of all children, multiple intelligences,
already... more With the philosophy of the natural and supernatural power of all children, multiple intelligences,
already important in education, has recently gained a different perspective. In the present study,
the project based learning model was compared with the traditional learning model. The study
was formed in project based learning model, to understand the reflection of grouping of similar
and different intelligence types on students’ success. While the influence of areas of intelligence
on project production was identified, the importance of students’ individual interests, abilities,
and intelligence areas have been observed. Pre-test and post-test group activities by considering
the students’ different intellingence areas were performed among 75 6th grade students majoring
in primary education. The results show that the project based learning model has a positive
effect on students success and that choosing the proper teaching method suitable to students
individual interests and abilities is very important.

Video subtitles: some creative uses

by Paul Chandler

Chandler, P. (2011). Creative uses of video subtitles. Infonet, 21(3)

There are a range of educational possibilities for the video subtitling:
- students providing additional ideas... more There are a range of educational possibilities for the video subtitling:
- students providing additional ideas and material to complement a video
- students creating a summary of the main point of a video as subtitles, which could be a multimodal equivalent to an 'insert subheading' task where students are provided with a slab of text, the headings erased, and need to construct suitable headings and subheadings
- students using subtitles to ask questions about the content, which could be a multimodal equivalent to a 'write on the reading' task where students respond to a piece by 'talking back' to the writer

Computing at school: stimulating computing education in the UK

by Sue Sentance

Exploring suggestions for improving a computing course: an empirical study

by Alberto Sampaio

Alberto Sampaio and Isabel Sampaio. 2010. Exploring suggestions for improving a computing course: an empirical study. In Proceedings of the 10th Koli Calling International Conference on Computing Education Research (Koli Calling '10). ACM, New York, NY, USA, 13-20. DOI=http://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=1930464.1930466&coll=DL&dl=GUIDE&CFID=56158333&CFTOKEN=20114232

The purpose of this study was to understand teachers' perceptions about possible course improvements based on... more The purpose of this study was to understand teachers' perceptions about possible course improvements based on students' suggestions. The course involves a software development project of median complexity. In this study the Q-methodology was used as the research methodology. Suggestions of possible improvements were collected from the students of the course and used as a concourse. A sample of the concourse was presented to the teachers, who rank-ordered them according a predefined scale and, next, data was analyzed. The analysis produced two distinct factors relative to teachers' opinions about possible course improvements. The resulting factors were then described and interpreted. This study shows and confirms the adequacy of Q for course improvement studies.

The first decade of informatics in dutch high schools

by jos tolboom

Bringing Undergraduate Students Closer to a Real-World Information Retrieval Setting: Methodology and Resources

by Jorge Morato

J. Urbano, M. Marrero, D. Martín, and J. Morato, "Bringing Undergraduate Students Closer to a Real-World Information Retrieval Setting: Methodology and Resources", ACM SIGCSE Annual Conference on Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education, 2011. pp. 293-297

We describe a pilot experiment to update the program of an Information Retrieval course for Computer Science... more We describe a pilot experiment to update the program of an Information Retrieval course for Computer Science undergraduates. We have engaged the students in the development of a search engine from scratch, and they have been involved in the elaboration, also from scratch, of a complete test collection to evaluate their systems. With this methodology they get a whole vision of the Information Retrieval process as they would find it in a real-world setting, and their direct involvement in the evaluation makes them realize the importance of these laboratory experiments in Computer Science. We show that this methodology is indeed reliable and feasible, and so we plan on improving and keep using it in the next years, leading to a public repository of resources for Information Retrieval courses.

3De - Synergetic Program Visualization: A Visual Learning-aid Tool for Novices Students

by affandy affandy

coding program is a dominant activity in programming cycle, nevertheless the equal attention must also given upon... more coding program is a dominant activity in programming cycle, nevertheless the equal attention must also given upon designing and evaluating the program in order to understanding the whole of the programming tasks. Unfortunately, these issues have not been addressed by current software visualization as a learning-aid tool. The development of 3De intended to help novice students to comprehend the multi forms of program from a higher level to a lower level within integrated environment. The basic idea of the system is to show students about the programming stages starting from designing problem-solving, developing code and validating logical flow of the program through visualizing multi level of program abstraction. Students preferred to construct their problem-solving visually, and 3De will simulate it to explain the program behaviour and data changing. A line-by-line auto generated syntax in C++ form will be produced accordingly and can be run in conventional C++ program developer

A Study of Tracing and Writing Performance of Novice Students in Introductory Programming

by affandy affandy

This work is done with support from the University of Teknikal Malaysia, Melaka and  the University of Dian Nuswantoro, Indonesia

The tasks of programming include complex knowledge and skills
that is, from understanding problems to evaluating... more The tasks of programming include complex knowledge and skills
that is, from understanding problems to evaluating validity of program. Novice students often face difficulties in learning programming due to various issues and the nature of the subject, which can be vague and invisible. A survey was conducted on 294 students from two universities to study novices’ problems in
dealing with tracking the logical flow and writing a simple code. The average score for tracking and writing skills were quite disappointing. Students were only able to master the static part of programming knowledge. They lacked the knowledge in understanding and tracing the dynamic behavior of the program.
This research attempts to propose a model to shift the internal working memory load of students through integrated visualization tools that can reveal the dynamic behavior of programs and related concepts that appear in each level of program abstractions.

Experiences of Prospective High School Teachers Using a Programming Teaching Tool

by Louis Major

Major, L., Kyriacou, T. and Brereton, O. P. (2011) Experiences of Prospective High School Teachers Using a Programming Teaching Tool. In Proceedings of the 11th Koli Calling International Conference on Computing Education Research (Koli Calling '11), Koli National Park, Finland, 17 - 20 November 2011. ACM. pp. 126-131.

During their time at school few high school students are exposed to basic computing concepts as Computer Science (CS)... more During their time at school few high school students are exposed to basic computing concepts as Computer Science (CS) is not considered to be an important part of the curriculum. As a result many high school students do not encounter programming during their studies. In the UK, despite newly qualified CS and ICT (Information and Communication Technology) teachers having specific subject knowledge, in recent years schools have steadily ‘watered down’ the content of CS courses and have aligned the subject with disciplines such as Business Studies. This has distanced Computing from the other sciences whilst adding to students’ confusion about what the subject actually entails. This paper presents the results of a study which involved 23 trainee CS/ICT teachers. The study took the form of a day-long workshop session and had the objectives of determining what perceptions and opinions the trainee teachers held in regards to programming as well as to discover the effectiveness and potential of a programming teaching tool based on the concept of a robot simulator. Analysis of data collected during the session shows how, despite the majority of trainees having some programming experience, a number of trainees had difficulty completing basic programming challenges. This displays how some CS/ICT teachers may lack fundamental programming knowledge. Moreover, whilst most of the trainees felt programming should be taught to high school students studying a CS or ICT course, fewer than half of the trainees said they had the confidence to teach the subject. An evaluation of the effectiveness of the robot simulator as a teaching tool is also presented as is a discussion on the implications which these findings may have.

Understanding Gender and Confidence In CS Course Culture

by Lilly Irani