Paper Abstracts (2013)

Nineteenth Conference of the Association of Christians in the Mathematical Science

Modeling Elementary Students\u27 Computer Science Outcomes With In-School and Out-of-School Factors

This two-paper dissertation explores factors influencing the attitudes of Grade 5 students who are learning computer science (CS) in schools. It statistically examines the effects of out and in-school factors on students’ attitudes toward computing. The first paper of this dissertation examines the influence of parental support as perceived by the students on their interest and their self-assessed ability to engage in computer programming, thus underscoring the crucial role of parental support on learners’ attitudes. It also investigates how involving families in CS activities by sending a CS-themed board game influences students’ interest. The study finds that perceptions of parental support positively influence students’ interest and their self-assessed ability to engage in computer programming. It also finds that sending CS artifacts home can significantly mediate the influence of parental support on students’ interest in programming. The second paper focuses on developing reliable measurements of students’ perceptions of mathematics and CS-integrated instructional activities. These measures are called exit tickets and are used to collect immediate student responses relating to their experiences after instructional activities. Building on prior research, this paper statistically examines whether students’ exit ticket responses predict self-assessed ability, interest, and identification with CS. Results show that perceived enjoyment reported on exit tickets significantly predicts self-assessed ability, interest, and identification with CS. Perceived ease also significantly predicts self-assessed ability. The remaining correlations between exit ticket measures and post-survey measures are not significant. The findings suggest that student exit tickets are effective tools to gauge engagement and correlate with student attitudes toward computing. Specifically, students who report finding the lesson enjoyable and easy are more likely to express a positive attitude toward programming. This suggests that brief exit ticket surveys could serve as effective indicators of student engagement, potentially replacing longer surveys. Identifying the factors that shape students’ attitudes toward CS provides valuable insights into the design of instructional methods, curricula, and family engagement strategies. Such initiatives can foster a positive attitude among young learners towards CS, significantly contributing to shaping their beliefs and challenging stereotypes associated with computing

A Competitive-Collaborative Approach for Introducing Software Engineering in a CS2 Class

Introductory Computer Science (CS) classes are typically competitive in nature. The cutthroat nature of these classes comes from students attempting to get as high a grade as possible, which may or may not correlate with actual learning. Further, there is very little collaboration allowed in most introductory CS classes. Most assignments are completed individually since many educators feel that students learn the most, especially in introductory classes, by working alone. In addition to completing "normal" individual assignments, which have many benefits, we wanted to expose students to collaboration early (via, for example, team projects). In this paper, we describe how we leveraged competition and collaboration in a CS2 to help students learn aspects of computer science better — in this case, good software design and software testing — and summarize student feedback

The ChildsPlay Approach: Evaluating an Experimental Approach for Teaching Introductory CS at University

University students first learning about computer science (CS) can be intimidated and frustrated by programming. In addition, the general-purpose programming languages chosen for introducing students to programming contain several features that have the potential to overwhelm and distract them from focused curriculum topics, which can lead to reduced retention of CS students and less student comprehension of fundamental CS concepts. We hypothesize that a more successful introductory CS course can be achieved by using a new approach that uses a familiar, physical game theme and a delayed-coding, concept-first approach followed by a language with a smaller feature set designed specifically for teaching fundamental CS concepts, such as types, values, conditions, control structures, and functions. To test this hypothesis, we examine two sections of a first-year university CS orientation class. One section was taught using the university’s traditional approach for teaching the course. The second section was taught using the new approach. We evaluate each approach’s effectiveness by comparing multiple outcomes from the different sections of the course including student retention, subsequent class performance, grades, reported engagement and interest in the class, and reported changes in debugging practices. Based on student survey responses before and after the two sections, we find that students in the experimental section using the new approach like the use of games as a way to teach about computation but had lower engagement in their class, likely due to the programming language used. We find no difference in student performance in subsequent computer science courses

A comparison of preschool and elementary school children learning computer science concepts through a multilanguage robot programming platform

This paper describes a school intervention to teach fundamental Computer Science (CS) concepts to 3-11 year old students with a multilanguage robot programming platform (using drag and drop, Python and C++ languages) in Argentina. We analyze students´ performance and learning process based on multiple choice test and classroom observations. Data show that all students can intuitively learn sequence, conditional, loops and parameters and that girls performed slightly better than boys. Older students can easily combine these concepts to write a program. The multilanguage platform promotes student spontaneous exploration of more sophisticated CS concepts and languages. These findings imply that introducing CS in mandatory schooling from an inquiry based approach is both achievable and beneficial.Fil: Gómez, Marcos J. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Matemática, Astronomía y Física; Argentina.Fil: Benotti, Luciana. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Matemática, Astronomía y Física; Argentina.Fil: Benotti, Luciana. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina.Fil: Martínez, Cecilia. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Filosofía y Humanidades; Argentina.Fil: Martínez, Cecilia. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina.Otras Ciencias de la Computación e Informació

19th Conference of The Associations of Christians In The Mathematical Sciences

Association of Christians in the Mathematical Sciences 19th Biennial Conference Proceedings, May 29 - June 1, 2011, Bethel University

Senior Computer Science Students’ Task and Revised Task Interpretation While Engaged in Programming Endeavor

Developing a computer program is not an easy task. Studies reported that a large number of computer science students decided to change their major due to the extreme challenge in learning programming. Fortunately, studies also reported that learning various self-regulation strategies may help students to continue studying computer science. This study is interested in assessing students’ self-regulation, in specific their task understanding and its revision during programming endeavors. Task understanding is specifically selected because it affects the entire programming endeavor. In this qualitative case study, two female and two male senior computer science students were voluntarily recruited as research participants. They were asked to think aloud while answering five programming problems. Before solving the problem, they had to explain their understanding of the task and after that answer some questions related to their problem-solving process. The participants’ problem-solving process were video and audio-recorded, transcribed, and analyzed. This study found that the participants’ were capable of tailoring their problem-solving approach to the task types, including when understanding the tasks. Given enough time, the participants can understand the problem correctly. When the task is complicated, the participants will gradually update their understanding during the problem-solving endeavor. Some situations may have prevented the participants from understanding the task correctly, including overconfidence, being overwhelmed, utilizing an inappropriate presentation technique, or drawing knowledge from irrelevant experience. Last, the participants tended to be inexperienced in managing unfavorable outcomes

Computational Thinking Unplugged: Comparing the Impact on Confidence and Competence from Analog and Digital Resources in Computer Science Professional Development for Elementary Teachers

The demand for computer science instruction is increasing across the K-12 spectrum, but in many cases elementary teachers are ill prepared to teach the subject. Based on prior research showing a preference for analog interfaces, this study compared the impact of analog and digital interface modalities on teachers’ confidence and competence gains in professional development on computational thinking conceived within the framework of cognitive acceleration. The analog group used the Robot Turtles board game and the digital group used the Scratch Jr. app on iPads while receiving the same professional development content. A single-case experimental design approach with a multiple-baseline approach to establish control and appropriate randomization techniques was used to allow for generalization of findings and identification of a functional relationship. Teachers were assessed using the Elementary Teacher Computer Programming Self-Efficacy Scale for confidence and the Computational Thinking Test for competence. The results indicated a significant and higher effect size on confidence for the analog cases as compared to the digital. Visual analysis confirmed these findings and provided emerging support for a functional relationship. Recommendations for modifications to current professional development, classroom instruction, and policy making practices to adopt an analog-first approach to computer science based on the foundational concepts of computational thinking were identified based on these findings

Programming unplugged : insights from theoretical models and teacher experiences.

Unplugged approaches to teaching Computational Thinking (CT), which are based on activities that do not require the use of a digital device or programming, are widely used in computing education. Evidence from the literature and practice indicates that this approach can be used successfully, although views on the value of Unplugged computing have been varied. Recently it was found that rather than comparing Unplugged with other approaches, combining Unplugged with teaching programming enabled students to achieve the same level of programming competence, but with higher self-efficacy, and a larger vocabulary in the programming language compared to a similar time span spent on programming alone. Despite this improved understanding of how to use Unplugged activities, there is little understanding of why they are effective and what ways they can be combined with plugged-in exercises effectively in a programming classroom and for teachers’ professional development (PD). In this thesis we use practical observations viewed through the lenses of theories of learning to understand why the Unplugged approach is effective. Computational Thinking in school curricula is about teaching students to understand how to use computation to solve problems, to create, and to discover new questions that can fruitfully be explored in other disciplines and professions as well as Computer Science. Teachers need to be able to effectively communicate the ideas of Computational Thinking to students and apply these within the context of their classroom. Our initial studies with teachers indicated that understanding the nature of the commonly identi- fied difficulties and confusion caused by computer jargon among teachers is important for finding ways for effective classroom delivery. We found that the concerns from teach- ers finding computer jargon difficult can be because the computational context in which they are applied makes them difficult for teachers to understand, rather than not knowing their meanings in the first place, and appropriate support can enable teachers to learn the techniques and skills that the terminology refers to. Using Unplugged material in teachers’ professional development, we tried to understand how they perceive the utility of Unplugged, particularly in introductory programming and understanding the jargon. Findings indicate that alternating Unplugged content in introductory programming does not hinder the teachers’ teaching efficacy and self-efficacy towards computer programming, yet teachers can be equipped with more content within the same time frame as a conventional teaching approach. Another lens that we use to understand how Unplugged and programming relate is the Notional Machine (NM), an abstract model of a computer created by teachers to facilitate learners’ understanding. It represents something they can (mentally) interact with to draw learners’ attention to hidden aspects of computing, is implicit in all programming teaching methods, and is a key to successful programming. We explore how Unplugged activities seem to have a close connection with Notional Machine, and therefore use the lens of Notional Machine to understand the relationship between Un- plugged and programming. Reviewing the existing Unplugged activities through this lens, we can understand where Unplugged has been successful in teaching programming and why. We also identify the possible gaps in Unplugged activities that need addressing for it to be further successful as a programming education tool. Accordingly, in our professional development experimental studies we developed and trialled new Unplugged activities focusing on modeling basic programming concepts, and studied their usefulness in alternating with conventional programming teaching practices. The usefulness of Unplugged activities in introductory programming was then considered through the lens of Semantic Waves, a concept that describes an ideal learning journey of a novice learner over a course of learning while shifting between expert and novice understanding, abstract and concrete context, and technical and simple meanings. Studying the behavior of the Semantic Waves of Unplugged activities we saw how, heuristically, the Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) can be seen as a differentiation of a semantic profile of an Unplugged activity, essentially shifting learners back and forth between existing and new knowledge, while learning a programming concept. The Semantic Waves of Unplugged activities used to model programming concepts were analysed and compared with a plugged-in only lessons that taught the same concepts to show how alternating Unplugged activities with plugged-in experience successfully covers a wider semantic range, indicating the possibility of avoiding both learner anxiety as well as boredom, and enabling teachers to find better teaching strategies that suit their classrooms. Semantic profiles show the balance between what learners know and what they should know about what is actually happening, and the use of Unplugged activities supports the flow needed for creating effective semantic profiles, particularly in programming classrooms