It is common to think of learning as the acquisition of knowledge by an individual learner. Starting a century ago, Lev Vygotsky developed a different perspective on learning, initiating a tradition of educational res...
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It is common to think of learning as the acquisition of knowledge by an individual learner. Starting a century ago, Lev Vygotsky developed a different perspective on learning, initiating a tradition of educational research whose momentum and influence continue to grow. One of Vygotsky's key principles is the general genetic law of cultural development that states that whatever skilled cognition that individuals carry out within their own minds is preceded by homologous activity carried out by a social group of which this individual was a part. In linking the individual and society through this law, learning is not simply a matter of the acquisition of domain knowledge. Rather, it is a cyclic process by which a social group, in its functioning through joint activity, leads to individuals taking into themselves (i.e., internalizing) the social forms of activity. In this article, our goal is to explicate Vygotsky's genetic law and demonstrate its utility for yielding novel insight into computing education. We provide an extended illustration of the use of Vygotsky's law in examining a teacher and students in a university setting write code together during a class session. What our analysis reveals is that the teacher and students together enact a sequential, rule-based, and dialogical process of problem decomposition and code writing far different from the plan and schema-based models for programming that have emerged from prior research focused on the individual student and their cognitive strategies and structures. We provide commentary on implications of the genetic law for both research and practice in computing education.
The codeCurator is an automatic C++ solution grader used in teaching programming to first year College students in Ateneo de Naga University. It provides programming exercises and challenge problems based on a prescri...
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ISBN:
(纸本)9781479907694
The codeCurator is an automatic C++ solution grader used in teaching programming to first year College students in Ateneo de Naga University. It provides programming exercises and challenge problems based on a prescribed sequence of programming topics. The exercises and challenge problems are designed to help students get a grip on formulation of functions, class methods, complete class implementation, or complete stand-alone programs in C++. Solutions are typically short and are checked using automatic testing techniques similar to online judge of ACM ICPC problems. In this paper, we present an analysis of the frequency of submissions, similarity of submitted solutions, categories of problems, and prospects on how to achieve an effective delivery of instruction.
Students in non-CS STEM majors often have specific difficulties with programming content in their coursework. Instructor feedback is usually limited to the results obtained and major algorithmic errors, due to the nat...
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ISBN:
(纸本)9781450358903
Students in non-CS STEM majors often have specific difficulties with programming content in their coursework. Instructor feedback is usually limited to the results obtained and major algorithmic errors, due to the nature of coding assignments. The authors' aim is to investigate whether presenting code and receiving feedback from their peers in class makes an appreciable difference in non-CS STEM-major students' learning of programming. The poster will present data collected over two semesters from five sections of three programming-heavy chemistry, engineering and math courses taught at the University of Wisconsin-Stout. Student groups were asked to present their homework attempts to the class, their peers were asked to fill out surveys containing Yes/No questions and comments on the attempts, and this feedback was passed on to the presenting students, who were then given time to improve their work before submitting their final versions. Comparison of student performance statistics in exams, between semesters during which the study was implemented and prior semesters, is used as a tool to assess student learning. Results of the study from two semesters have shown that group composition and the type of questions asked in the survey are the two major factors at play. The poster will also discuss the enhanced design of the study during the third and final semester in spring 2019 that will take these results into account. DOI: http://***/10.1145/3287324.3293820
This study investigated the difficulties encountered by novice Alice programmers. The researchers conducted one-on-one clinical interviews with 22 10th-grade students at a senior high school in Taipei, Taiwan. The par...
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ISBN:
(纸本)9781450326056
This study investigated the difficulties encountered by novice Alice programmers. The researchers conducted one-on-one clinical interviews with 22 10th-grade students at a senior high school in Taipei, Taiwan. The participants were offered nine Alice programming tasks, each requiring the use of a different set of programming constructs, which included objects, primitive methods, expressions, built-in functions, variables, conditional execution, repetition control, arrays, user-defined methods, and parameter passing. Each participant was observed closely as s/he worked through the given tasks. Whenever an impasse occurred while a student was trying to solve a problem, the observer would intervene by asking a sequence of questions with increasing specificity, ranging from strategic prompts to hints to provides, in order to determine the cause of the impasse. This study summarized the common difficulties for each of the Alice programming constructs used by the participants in the programming tasks, and students' difficulties were categorized into four types: connection, location, usage, and math-and-other difficulties. Students having connection difficulties were unable to apply appropriate programming constructs to implement the actions required; location difficulties indicated students? inability to locating, in the Alice interface, the programming constructs they needed; usage difficulties referred in general to semantic errors in a student's programs; whereas math-and-other difficulties were caused mainly by students' inadequate math knowledge. It is hoped that the findings of this research will help Alice instructors to improve their students' performance by familiarizing themselves with the existence of the identified difficulties, and by addressing the missing conceptions or misconceptions underlying those difficulties.
Literature has estimated that about 33% of students who start a computer science degree program eventually drop or fail their first programming course. With the decreasing number of college graduates entering the comp...
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ISBN:
(纸本)9781450329668
Literature has estimated that about 33% of students who start a computer science degree program eventually drop or fail their first programming course. With the decreasing number of college graduates entering the computing industry, the workforce is missing out on the wealth and breadth of innate student ability and skills that are switching to non-STEM fields. This project developed, implemented and researched the effects of an innovative instructional strategy that integrated cutting-edge devices into an intermediate programming curriculum. Assignments were designed with the Java Software Ddevelopment Kkit for Java to strengthen student motivation and engagement by tapping into their creativity, collaborative skills, and critical thinking by using the InterAxon Muse, Oculus Rift, and the LeapMotion devices. Preliminary data indicates that although students may have enough motivation and interest in programming to persevere through the course, the implementation of this teaching methodology positively impacted their views and beliefs about programming skills and their relevance to their education. As well, survey data shows that student self-efficacy increased immediately after this educational intervention. Finally, instructor reflections point to a general shift in class morale and engagement with the inclusion of the assignments where students were required to solve problems without documentation. Future implications are also presented in this poster.
Programs written by students in an introductory Computer Science course were analyzed and patterns abstracted from them. These patterns include style of modularization, choice of constructs, choice of vocabulary, and ...
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ISBN:
(纸本)9780897911269
Programs written by students in an introductory Computer Science course were analyzed and patterns abstracted from them. These patterns include style of modularization, choice of constructs, choice of vocabulary, and style of communication through user-interaction and documentation. Individual characteristics of the students, such as their focus on detail or on aggregate conceptual units, their manner of organizing knowledge, and their perception of the purpose of computer programs was compared with the patterns in the students' programs, with tentative relationships being identified.
coaster is a project that teaches a semester-long introductory computer graphics class by means of ten programming assignments. The assignments are incremental - each one building on the previous ones - and ultimately...
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ISBN:
(纸本)9781450329668
coaster is a project that teaches a semester-long introductory computer graphics class by means of ten programming assignments. The assignments are incremental - each one building on the previous ones - and ultimately require implementation of most of the course content in the final one: a first-person rollercoaster simulation. Briefly described, the assignments (and their course contents) are: circles ("warmup", 2D graphics, applying trigonometry),wire track (3D graphics, parametric curves),wire car (meshes),"hedgehog" car (face and vertex normals),shaded car (lighting models and vertex shaders),shaded track (extrusion, model transforms),surfaces (Bézier surfaces, height maps),first person (viewing transforms, animation, splines),dynamics (physics-based modeling), andtextures (textures, pixel shaders).There is also an eleventh project of the student's own (approved) design. Students are provided with template code for the first ten programming assignments. The languages used are C++ on the CPU and GLSL on the GPU. Students are presumed to have access to OpenGL/GLSL 3.3/3.30 and the GLUT and GLEW *** undergraduate and graduate students take the class. and it has been presented twice at Washington State University, both times with about half of the students on a remote campus receiving it as a live telecourse. Student response has been very *** goal of this lightning talk is to elicit interest from the computer graphics teaching community in making coaster systematically available to other universities by providing source code and training to instructors.
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