Diogene-CT: tools and methodologies for teaching and learning coding

Computational thinking is the capacity of undertaking a problem-solving process in various disciplines (including STEM, i.e. science, technology, engineering and mathematics) using distinctive techniques that are typical of computer science. It is nowadays considered a fundamental skill for students and citizens, that has the potential to affect future generations. At the roots of computational-thinking abilities stands the knowledge of computer programming, i.e. coding. With the goal of fostering computational thinking in young students, we address the challenging and open problem of using methods, tools and techniques to support teaching and learning of computer-programming skills in school curricula of the secondary grade and university courses. This problem is made complex by several factors. In fact, coding requires abstraction capabilities and complex cognitive skills such as procedural and conditional reasoning, planning, and analogical reasoning. In this paper, we introduce a new paradigm called ACME (“Code Animation by Evolved Metaphors”) that stands at the foundation of the Diogene-CT code visualization environment and methodology. We develop consistent visual metaphors for both procedural and object-oriented programming. Based on the metaphors, we introduce a playground architecture to support teaching and learning of the principles of coding. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first scalable code visualization tool using consistent metaphors in the field of the Computing Education Research (CER). It might be considered as a new kind of tools named as code visualization environments

Diogene-CT: tools and methodologies for teaching and learning coding

AbstractComputational thinking is the capacity of undertaking a problem-solving process in various disciplines (including STEM, i.e. science, technology, engineering and mathematics) using distinctive techniques that are typical of computer science. It is nowadays considered a fundamental skill for students and citizens, that has the potential to affect future generations. At the roots of computational-thinking abilities stands the knowledge of computer programming, i.e. coding. With the goal of fostering computational thinking in young students, we address the challenging and open problem of using methods, tools and techniques to support teaching and learning of computer-programming skills in school curricula of the secondary grade and university courses. This problem is made complex by several factors. In fact, coding requires abstraction capabilities and complex cognitive skills such as procedural and conditional reasoning, planning, and analogical reasoning. In this paper, we introduce a new paradigm called ACME ("Code Animation by Evolved Metaphors") that stands at the foundation of the Diogene-CT code visualization environment and methodology. We develop consistent visual metaphors for both procedural and object-oriented programming. Based on the metaphors, we introduce a playground architecture to support teaching and learning of the principles of coding. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first scalable code visualization tool using consistent metaphors in the field of the Computing Education Research (CER). It might be considered as a new kind of tools named as code visualization environments

Children and computers: the development of graphical user interfaces to improve the quality of interaction

The development of educational multimedia since 1994 has been characterised by a rapid expansion of new technologies. In the context of an exciting and controversial exploration of techniques, research into how children used computers in the classroom had been limited. The thesis therefore included a wide-ranging study into factors informing a deeper understanding of the way 5 to7-year-old school children use interactive computer programs. The thesis originated in contextual studies undertaken by the researcher in classrooms. The contextual research raised issues that are not the common ground of educational multimedia practitioners. These issues were explored in depth in the literature review. The thesis tested the potential improvements in interface design - an interactive educational CD-ROM using audio and visual resources from a BBC School Radio music series. The focus was not the music content or the teaching of the subject. The results of testing the research tool that used observation of groups of three children, interviews with individual children and teachers were summarised and improvements identified. The aim was to seek answers to the question 'How can the quality of computer interface interaction be improved?' Improvements were considered by enhancing the quality of interaction through greater depth of engagement by using the computer mouse to move icons on the computer screen. In the process of contextual research the following issues were raised: the need for teachers to have a method of mediating the content of educational CD-ROMs, the physiological demands made on children in terms of eye search; the difficulties they encountered using navigation metaphors; and the potential of pseudo 3-D perspective interfaces. The research re-evaluates the relationship between children and computers in the familiar context of groups of three children using computers in the primary classroom, and resulted in a coherent set of suggestions for a more effective holistic paradigm for the design of multimedia programs that takes into account practical realities in classroom environments. .

Legal Discourse, Conceptual Metaphors, and Basic Writing Programming: A Study of Ayers v. Fordice

In what ways does legal discourse influence our perceptions of students labeled as basic writers and these students’ perceptions of themselves? How does standards-based discourse affect student writers’ abilities to define themselves in academe? This dissertation involves an examination of legal and public discourse surrounding Ayers v. Fordice, one of the most prominent desegregation cases in higher education, in an attempt to answer these questions. Its intent is to explore how conceptual metaphors prevalent in these discourses affect our understandings of basic writing programming in the state of Mississippi but also in the field of composition more globally. My project is framed within three fields of study: composition theory, studies of language and law, and socio-cognitive linguistics. My study begins by contextualizing the exigency for additional research regarding how legal discourse impacts institutional policies, public discourse, and composition classrooms. I then examine how legal discourse shapes institutional policies and public discourse surrounding basic writing programming through critical discourse analysis of the federal judicial opinions that constitute the Ayers case and identify three primary conceptual metaphors that are repeated throughout the twenty-five year long case. This study led me to conduct archival research regarding how the public responded to the court case and the institutional agreements that resulted. The same conceptual metaphors present in the judicial opinions of the case were overwhelmingly present in archived federal and local newspaper articles as well as letters to state government officials from private citizens. My readings of these documents show that while the final Ayers settlement suggests additional access for Mississippi students traditionally denied entry to college, the legal and public discourse addressing the case does not support these same aims. The study concludes by calling for an awareness of how conceptual metaphors are yoked to the discourse surrounding basic writing programs among writing program administrators and presenting suggestions for making rhetorical spaces that will allow basic writing students to define themselves

Non-Deterministic Computational Thinking: Challenges and Opportunities

An educational paradigm that has improved problem-solving capacity is computational thinking, which uses characteristics such as decomposition, abstraction, pattern recognition, and algorithmic thinking. However, most of the resources developed under this paradigm are deterministic. However, the current world is not linear. Non-deterministic dynamics play a vital role in today\u27s world. Decisions about the same fact can cause different events, and students must be prepared to live with such uncertainties. This article discusses challenges and possibilities in the development of non-deterministic computational thinking resources. This work shows a large field of research yet to be worked on, with new possibilities and a great potential to connect new resources with the students\u27 daily lives

An aesthetics of touch: investigating the language of design relating to form

How well can designers communicate qualities of touch? This paper presents evidence that they have some capability to do so, much of which appears to have been learned, but at present make limited use of such language. Interviews with graduate designer-makers suggest that they are aware of and value the importance of touch and materiality in their work, but lack a vocabulary to fully relate to their detailed explanations of other aspects such as their intent or selection of materials. We believe that more attention should be paid to the verbal dialogue that happens in the design process, particularly as other researchers show that even making-based learning also has a strong verbal element to it. However, verbal language alone does not appear to be adequate for a comprehensive language of touch. Graduate designers-makers’ descriptive practices combined non-verbal manipulation within verbal accounts. We thus argue that haptic vocabularies do not simply describe material qualities, but rather are situated competences that physically demonstrate the presence of haptic qualities. Such competencies are more important than groups of verbal vocabularies in isolation. Design support for developing and extending haptic competences must take this wide range of considerations into account to comprehensively improve designers’ capabilities

A gentle transition from Java programming to Web Services using XML-RPC

Exposing students to leading edge vocational areas of relevance such as Web Services can be difficult. We show a lightweight approach by embedding a key component of Web Services within a Level 3 BSc module in Distributed Computing. We present a ready to use collection of lecture slides and student activities based on XML-RPC. In addition we show that this material addresses the central topics in the context of web services as identified by Draganova (2003)

Teachers' Professional Identity: a study into how teachers in one Slovenian primary school talk about their professional identity and work following participation in NLP-based CPD in comparison with other teachers

The study investigates how teachers in one Slovenian primary school talk about their professional identity and work following participation in Neuro-linguistic Programming (NLP) based CPD in comparison with other teachers. NLP is usually defined as a behavioural model and a set of explicit techniques, developed by Bandler and Grinder (1976) by studying patterns created in interaction between brain, language and body. This study has defined NLP as an approach to developing professional practice through modelling. The background to the study was the researcher's personal experience of being a teacher in the midst of the conflicts in ex-Yugoslavia in the 1990s and the main aim has been to explore the teachers' subjective experiences and representations of their professional identity and their work with a hope of developing the professional practice. The study examined comparatively two groups of teachers (14 Slovenian primary school teachers) looking for similarities and differences in the way they talk about their professional identity and their work. The epistemological position of the study is interpretivism combined with several overarching frameworks including 'constructive' critical theory and a 'constructive' action research approach. Semi-structured interviews, non-participant structured observations, reflective diaries and video-stimulated interviews were used for data collection and the data was coded both deductively and inductively. The study showed significant differences and some similarities between the two groups of teachers and their way of talking about professional identity and their work. The teachers who attended NLP-based CPD tended to see themselves as nurturers/carers and awakeners, underpinning their professional identity with values such as fun, curiosity and enjoyment. The teachers who did not attend NLP-based CPD emphasized the importance of being an instructor, underpinning it with values such as responsibility, equality and fairness. Evidence suggests that teachers who attended NLP-based CPD talk about themselves as more self-sustained and in more positive terms than other teachers. They also appear more prepared to maintain their professional identity irrespective of personal, social or political changes/critical events. There was also evidence of similarities in the two groups' perception of the teacher identity as being multifaceted and teaching being a calling. The study can have interesting implications for the design of continuing professional development (CPD) courses, where less focus on skills and knowledge and more focus on beliefs, values and identity might be more effective