Emergent requirements for supporting introductory programming

The problems associated with learning and teaching first year University Computer Science (CS1) programming classes are summarized showing that various support tools and techniques have been developed and evaluated. From this review of applicable support the paper derives ten requirements that a support tool should have in order to improve CS1 student success rate with respect to learning and understanding

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

Abstraction and Common Classroom Activities

In popularizing computational thinking, Wing notes that ‘abstraction is described as underlying computational thinking and computational thinking is described as fundamental to computing.’ Emerging curricular now require educators to incorporate computational thinking and abstraction into their teaching. Many refer to Piaget’s work as evidence of an age-related ceiling preventing younger pupils from being able to abstract. However, more recent evidence suggests that pupils use elements of abstraction in their general process of learning, and that the skill of abstraction can be explicitly taught. We draw on personal classroom experience to illustrate the points made in the literature. Common classroom activities such as using labelled diagrams, concept maps and storyboards are aligned to features of abstraction. We argue that abstraction can and should be taught to young pupils

Random forest application on cognitive level classification of E-learning content

The e-learning is the primary method of learning for most learners after the regular academics studies. The knowledge delivery through e-learning technologies increased exponentially over the years because of the advancement in internet and e-learning technologies. Knowledge delivery to some people would never have been possible without the e-learning technologies. Most of the working professional do focused studies for carrier advancement, promotion or to improve the domain knowledge. These learner can find many free e-learning web sites from the internet easily in the domain of interest. However it is quite difficult to find the best e-learning content suitable for their learning based on their domain knowledge level. User spent most of the time figuring out the right content from a plethora of available content and end up learning nothing. An intelligent framework using machine learning algorithms with Random Forest Classifier is proposed to address this issue, which classifies the e-learning content based on its difficulty levels and provide the learner the best content suitable based on the knowledge level .The frame work is trained with the data set collected from multiple popular e-learning web sites. The model is tested with real time e-learning web sites links and found that the e-contents in the web sites are recommended to the user based on its difficulty levels as beginner level, intermediate level and advanced level

Evaluation of the Hybrid Pedagogic Method in Students’ Progression in Learning Using Neural Network Modelling and Prediction

The COVID-19 pandemic has changed dramatically the way how universities ensure the continuous and sustainable way of educating students. This paper presents the evaluation of the hybrid pedagogic methods in students’ progression in Learning using neural network (NN) modelling and prediction. The hybrid pedagogic approach is based on the revised Bloom’s taxonomy in combination with the flipped classroom, asynchronous and cognitive learning approach. Educational data of labs and class test scores, as well as students’ total engagement and attendance metrics for the programming module are considered in this study. Conventional statistical evaluations are performed to evaluate students’ progression in learning. The NN is further modelled with six input variables, two layers of hidden neurons, and one output layer. Levenberg-Marquardt algorithm is employed as the back propagation training rule. The performance of neural network model is evaluated through the error performance, regression, and error histogram. Overall, the NN model presents how the hybrid pedagogic method in this case has successfully quantified students’ progression in learning throughout the COVID-19 period

Blended Learning Strategy in the New Normal Era (TPACK Competency Study)

This article discusses about Blended Learning Strategy in the New Normal Era using the TPACK Competency Study. The TPACK approach is an approach that was developed from the Pedagogy Content Knowledge (PCK) approach which integrates technology and learning. The purpose of this study was to get an idea of the teacher's strategy at SDN Kapuk Muara 03 in preparing blended learning in the new normal era. This research is a case study with a qualitative approach. Data collection techniques using observation and interviews. The focus of this research object is one of the teachers at SDN Kapuk Muara 03. The results show that the preparation of blended learning in the new normal era has been designed quite well by the teacher. The strategy is carried out with planned steps and stages: (1) planning and arranging face-to-face and online schedules in turns with the aim of avoid crowds, (2) preparing facilities and infrastructure related to health protocols, (3) carry out Covid-19 prevention conditioning through 5 M;  wear masks, wash hands with soap and running water, maintain distance, stay away from crowds, and limit mobilization and interaction, (4) conduct online and offline learning education for students and parents, (5) apply technological competence, pedagogical and knowledge content in blended learning, (6) conduct learning that leads to 4Cs, (7) apply self-feedback evaluation as understanding students on their learning outcomes

How to design activities for learning computational thinking in the context of early primary school in an after-school code club

Abstract. Computational Thinking (CT) and its related concepts have gained a lot of traction within the field of education. Many countries, including Finland and the United Kingdom, are in the process of integrating CT into their national curriculums to equip pupils with much needed 21st century digital skills, including coding (programming). As a result, several programs and activities are being developed to introduce pupils to CT. The need to develop appropriate teaching and learning materials, as well as train teachers to teach, and integrate computational thinking into their lessons is apparent. This thesis seeks to contribute to the body of knowledge on computational thinking by designing and testing instructional materials for early primary school. Computational thinking as a concept, how to integrate its concepts into coding, as well as how pupils understood the concept were explored. This study was conducted in an after-school coding club at an elementary school in the northern part of Finland. The duration for the coding club was 8 weeks. Each lesson lasted for 45 minutes. Participants were selected from among 1st and 2nd grade pupils. In selecting participants for this study, priority was given to pupils with no prior coding experience. 13 out of the selected 17 had no prior experience. The remaining 4 participants were randomly selected from the rest of the applicants who had coding experience. Worksheets and stickers were designed and tested for teaching and learning computational thinking. Lesson plans designed for the coding club included activities for teaching computational thinking using unplugged activities and Scratchjr. The unplugged activities were integrated into coding lessons to enhance the understanding of pupils during the coding lessons. This approach helped to connect theoretical computational thinking to real life practices and its application in the context of coding. Data collected included the unplugged activity worksheets of the participants, their Scratchjr projects, and self-efficacy beliefs regarding their ability to code and think computationally. These work products were evaluated qualitatively for evidence of understanding. The analysis of the self-efficacy beliefs of participants revealed that participants were confident of their computational thinking and coding abilities. The main outcome of this research is the instructional material (stickers, templates, and Scratchjr activities) which was designed for teaching and learning purposes. This unique experiment and pedagogical designs are explained to show how unplugged activities can be used to introduce pupils to computational thinking concepts

A review of programming code assessment approaches

Learning computer programming language in harmony with practical coding actively while ensuring proper content progression is critical in introductory programming cources. Novice programmers usually face difficulty in acquiring the foundation level programming concepts adequately that usually lead to disappointmenet and ultimately back off. Bloom's Taxonomy has been generally adopted by the educators as a standard for assessing learning progression of students. In past there have been lot of research work on adopting Bloom's Taxonomy and its variants for computer programming languages, however, none has specially looked at an automatic mechanism to evaluate the six levels of Bloom's taxonomy on code level directly. In this paper we reviewed different approaches for assessment of programming code and discuss the challenges involved to implement the Bloom's taxonomy in programming languages directly on code level