The abstraction transition taxonomy: developing desired learning outcomes through the lens of situated cognition

We report on a post-hoc analysis of introductory programming lecture materials. The purpose of this analysis is to identify what knowledge and skills we are asking students to acquire, as situated in the activity, tools, and culture of what programmers do and how they think. The specific materials analyzed are the 133 Peer Instruction questions used in lecture to support cognitive apprenticeship -- honoring the situated nature of knowledge. We propose an Abstraction Transition Taxonomy for classifying the kinds of knowing and practices we engage students in as we seek to apprentice them into the programming world. We find students are asked to answer questions expressed using three levels of abstraction: English, CS Speak, and Code. Moreover, many questions involve asking students to transition between levels of abstraction within the context of a computational problem. Finally, by applying our taxonomy in classifying a range of introductory programming exams, we find that summative assessments (including our own) tend to emphasize a small range of the skills fostered in students during the formative/apprenticeship phase

Environmental Engineering (Laboratory)

This module will give the students an understanding of the Environmental Engineering (Laboratory) for the course DAC 12203 offered by the Centre of Diploma Studies (CeDS), Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia (UTHM)

Findings and recommendations for research-based practice in science education

Aquest informe presenta les conclusions de la investigació desenvolupada en el marc del projecte TRACES. Les conclusions es presenten en forma de recomanacions per a possibles iniciatives i polítiques futures centrades en l'educació científica. Aquestes recomanacions estan dirigides a tots els actors rellevants en l'escenari de l'educació científica i sobretot als investigadors acadèmics, polítics i professors de primària i secundària

Introductory programming: a systematic literature review

As computing becomes a mainstream discipline embedded in the school curriculum and acts as an enabler for an increasing range of academic disciplines in higher education, the literature on introductory programming is growing. Although there have been several reviews that focus on specific aspects of introductory programming, there has been no broad overview of the literature exploring recent trends across the breadth of introductory programming. This paper is the report of an ITiCSE working group that conducted a systematic review in order to gain an overview of the introductory programming literature. Partitioning the literature into papers addressing the student, teaching, the curriculum, and assessment, we explore trends, highlight advances in knowledge over the past 15 years, and indicate possible directions for future research

Challenges and Recommendations for the Design and Conduct of Global Software Engineering Courses: A Systematic Review

This SLR we are conducting traverses the many options available to Computer Science (CS) educators teaching CS courses involving global collaboration. The challenges and solutions in conducting global software engineering courses will be addressed. While there is a rich source of literature covering this topic, there is limited consolidated guidance available for CS educators wishing to implement a global course, in collaboration with other institutions. So building upon the existing knowledge in the literature in the area will help to produce a report that will serve as a broad ranging resource for global software engineering educators. The SLR focusses on two areas: 1. Learning GSE Theory: Developing courses based on GSE theory. I.e. How to teach students about developing software across multi-site teams (to include things like cultural training – i.e. how to build trust amongst a team that hasn’t met face to face, etc.). AND 2. Learning GSE by doing: Developing courses that show how to apply GSE methods in the classroom. E.g. where students develop software in multi-site teams (where the software developed is not really the focus, but ‘how’ to develop the software is what we would be looking at). We also include studies that take a hybrid approach by including a combination of theory and practice. I.e. research that presents experiences of running hybrid courses aimed at developing student capabilities in working as global professionals which have varying degrees of cross-site collaboration, and theorypractice balance

Research-practice interactions as reported in recent design studies: Still promising, still hazy

This study portrays recent research–practice connections found in 18 design research reports focusing on the creation of instructional solutions. Solutions in different stages of development varied greatly in duration, ranging from one lesson to a whole year curriculum, spanned all levels of education, many subjects (science, math, language, culture, teacher education, etc.). Close collaboration between researchers and practitioners was prominent in all of the 18 projects studied. Participants in primary and secondary education projects have quite distinct roles regarding the teaching and researching, but they design their instruction solutions often collaboratively. Nearly all projects reported on how designed solutions were anchored in research, either from literature or from in-house project data. All articles indicated that research fed (re-)design, but few specified how. Based on our findings, we call for increased research and reporting on the specific strategies employed by design research participants to facilitate the production of new theoretical understanding through design of instructional solution

Improving the Skills of Demand Function Counting and Demand Curve Drawing Using Drill Method and Think Pair Share (TPS)

This research aims to determine whether there is an increased of demand function counting and demand curve drawing using drill method and think pair share. It was a classroom action research that used drill and think pair share learning methods. The subjects of the research were students at class X IPS 4 in Senior High School 11 Semarang. Data were analyzed by using the simple descriptive statistics analysis with the mean of the evaluation result. Findings show that the mean of drill and think pair share learning methods in Class X IPS 4 Senior High School Negeri 11 Semarang was 72.94 and 76.10 at the pre-cycle. The study completeness was only by 13 students (39%). After conducting the first cycle, there was an improvement for 78.06 and 89.04. The study completeness was 18 students (55%). In the second cycle, students' learning outcomes increased up to 95.76 and 99.29 with learning completeness was 33 students (100%)

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)