What’s Motivation Got to Do with It? A Survey of Recursion in the Computing Education Literature

One of the most challenging topics for both computing educators and students is recursion. Pedagogical approaches for teaching recursion have appeared in the computing education literature for over 30 years, and the topic has generated a significant body of work. Given its persistence, relatively little attention has been paid to student motivation. This article summarizes results on teaching and learning recursion explored by the computing education community, noting the relative lack of interest in motivation. It concludes by briefly discussing an approach to teaching recursion is appealing for students interested in web development

Development of Variational Thinking Skills in Programming Teaching

The paper presents an example of methodological approach to the development of variational thinking skills in teaching programming. Various ways in solving a given task are implemented for the purpose. One of the forms, through which the variational thinking is manifested, is related to trail practical actions. In the process of comprehension of the properties thus acquired, students are doing their own (correct or incorrect) conclusions for other, hidden properties and at the same time they discover possibilities for new ways of action and acquiring of new effects. The variability and the generalizing function of thinking are in a close interrelation, and their interaction to a great extend determines the dynamics of the cognitive activity of the student

THE "POWER" OF TEXT PRODUCTION ACTIVITY IN COLLABORATIVE MODELING : NINE RECOMMENDATIONS TO MAKE A COMPUTER SUPPORTED SITUATION WORK

Language is not a direct translation of a speaker’s or writer’s knowledge or intentions. Various complex processes and strategies are involved in serving the needs of the audience: planning the message, describing some features of a model and not others, organizing an argument, adapting to the knowledge of the reader, meeting linguistic constraints, etc. As a consequence, when communicating about a model, or about knowledge, there is a complex interaction between knowledge and language. In this contribution, we address the question of the role of language in modeling, in the specific case of collaboration over a distance, via electronic exchange of written textual information. What are the problems/dimensions a language user has to deal with when communicating a (mental) model? What is the relationship between the nature of the knowledge to be communicated and linguistic production? What is the relationship between representations and produced text? In what sense can interactive learning systems serve as mediators or as obstacles to these processes

Overcoming the Newtonian Paradigm: The Unfinished Project of Theoretical Biology from a Schellingian Perspective

Defending Robert Rosen’s claim that in every confrontation between physics and biology it is physics that has always had to give ground, it is shown that many of the most important advances in mathematics and physics over the last two centuries have followed from Schelling’s demand for a new physics that could make the emergence of life intelligible. Consequently, while reductionism prevails in biology, many biophysicists are resolutely anti-reductionist. This history is used to identify and defend a fragmented but progressive tradition of anti-reductionist biomathematics. It is shown that the mathematicoephysico echemical morphology research program, the biosemiotics movement, and the relational biology of Rosen, although they have developed independently of each other, are built on and advance this antireductionist tradition of thought. It is suggested that understanding this history and its relationship to the broader history of post-Newtonian science could provide guidance for and justify both the integration of these strands and radically new work in post-reductionist biomathematics

Viewing basic math through the lens of history: Undergraduates’ reflective learning in a history-augmented mathematics classroom

This study is aimed at determining first-year university students’ reflections when Fibonacci tiling, the ancient Chinese fang cheng procedures, and the ancient Indian meru prastara recursions were introduced as historical snippets in an adventure pedagogy for basic mathematics. Seventy-eight first year students enrolled in a course in basic mathematics at a University in North Central Nigerian provided composite self-reports in an action research paradigm, describing their reflective learning after exposure to the historical snippets. Qualitative data reduction strategies were used to explore the students’ reflections and progress in the course. The results of the study revealed that the introduction of the historical snippets aids in concretizing of concepts, spurring of behavioural engagement in learners, adding of aesthetic value to mathematics, sustaining of students attention, computational ease and effective recall of mathematical procedures. The activities of the cultural and historical augmentation were reported by participants as plays that accomplish real mathematical tasks. The outcome of this study has strengthened the belief that the history-as-a-tool style of mathematics instruction stimulates curiosity and sustains interest in students while establishing meaningful relationships between abstract ideas and practical applications in the context of the real world

Replication, Communication, and the Population Dynamics of Scientific Discovery

Many published research results are false, and controversy continues over the roles of replication and publication policy in improving the reliability of research. Addressing these problems is frustrated by the lack of a formal framework that jointly represents hypothesis formation, replication, publication bias, and variation in research quality. We develop a mathematical model of scientific discovery that combines all of these elements. This model provides both a dynamic model of research as well as a formal framework for reasoning about the normative structure of science. We show that replication may serve as a ratchet that gradually separates true hypotheses from false, but the same factors that make initial findings unreliable also make replications unreliable. The most important factors in improving the reliability of research are the rate of false positives and the base rate of true hypotheses, and we offer suggestions for addressing each. Our results also bring clarity to verbal debates about the communication of research. Surprisingly, publication bias is not always an obstacle, but instead may have positive impacts---suppression of negative novel findings is often beneficial. We also find that communication of negative replications may aid true discovery even when attempts to replicate have diminished power. The model speaks constructively to ongoing debates about the design and conduct of science, focusing analysis and discussion on precise, internally consistent models, as well as highlighting the importance of population dynamics

Identificando algunas causas del fracaso en el aprendizaje de la recursividad: análisis experimental en las asignaturas de programación

La recursividad es una herramienta muy potente para la solución de problemas complejos, sin embargo constituye uno de los conceptos más difíciles de entender por los alumnos cuando están aprendiendo a programar. En este artículo se describe una experiencia desarrollada en las asignaturas de Fundamentos de Programación I y de Metodología de la Programación en la Escuela Superior de Informática en Ciudad Real, que tenía como objetivo identificar las necesidades del alumnado a la hora de enfrentarse a la asimilación del concepto de recursividad. El hecho de haber realizado la experiencia en distintos cursos nos ha servido para identificar empíricamente los aspectos que más dificultades les suponen en distintas etapas de su aprendizaje. El estudio que se presenta en este artículo nos ha permitido contrastar la opinión y experiencia de los distintos grupos de estudiantes. Las conclusiones de esta experiencia y las lecciones aprendidas permitirán diseñar en el futuro una herramienta para la visualización de la recursividad que se adapte a las distintas necesidades del alumno, dependiendo de la etapa de aprendizaje en la que se encuentre.SUMMARY -- Recursion is a powerful tool for solving complex problems but it really is one of the most difficult concepts for students to understand when learning to program. This article describes the experience developed in the subjects of Fundamentals of Programming I and Programming Methodology in the School of Informatics in Ciudad Real in order to identify the needs of students when faced with the assimilation of recursion. The fact that the experience has been carried out in different courses has allowed us to identify empirically those aspects more difficult for the understanding of recursive algorithms at different stages of the learning. The study presented in this article allows us to contrast the opinion and experience of different groups of students. The conclusions of this experience and the lessons learned will enable design a tool for visualization of recursion to suit different needs depending on the student's learning stage