Graph Algorithm Animation with Grrr

We discuss geometric positioning, highlighting of visited nodes and user defined highlighting that form the algorithm animation facilities in the Grrr graph rewriting programming language. The main purpose of animation was initially for the debugging and profiling of Grrr code, but recently it has been extended for the purpose of teaching algorithms to undergraduate students. The animation is restricted to graph based algorithms such as graph drawing, list manipulation or more traditional graph theory. The visual nature of the Grrr system allows much animation to be gained for free, with no extra user effort beyond the coding of the algorithm, but we also discuss user defined animations, where custom algorithm visualisations can be explicitly defined for teaching and demonstration purposes

Rule Based Data Structure Animation

There are many types of methods to display Animated Data Structures. Most of the methods are very cumbersome and require an in-depth know:!.edge of a particular animation language. These animatior. languages require the developer to think in programming terms instead of tte rules that are associated with a data structure. This means that for any learner, whether it is a student, developer, or a researcher I they will be required to spend as much time or more in developing the Data Structure Animation software as they would spend developing the actual software in a more traditional programming languages. The fo llow ing documen t presents a simplified Data Structure Animator that is designed to be rule based. This will enable the user to design Data Structure Animation using the more natural rules associated with the Data Structure

Analysis of the effects of a Constructivist-Based Mathematics Problem Solving Instructional Program on the achievement of Grade Five Students in Belize, Central America.

This thesis examined whether social constructivist activities can improve the mathematical competency of grade five students in Belize, Central America. The sample included 342 students and eight teachers from two rural and urban schools. A switching replication design was employed enabling students in the experimental groups to be taught using social constructivist activities for 12 weeks and the controls exposed to similar instructional practices from weeks 7 to 12. Students‘ performance was assessed using Pre-test, Post test 1 and 2 with an internal consistency of 0.89, 0.90 and 0.93 respectively. As revealed by the repeated measures ANOVA within subject analysis, there were significant differences among the pre-test and post test 1 and 2 results. That is, students in the control groups, who were instructed using a procedural approach from weeks 1 to 6, demonstrated higher gains than the experimental groups who were immersed in social constructivist activities. Furthermore, when the control groups became immersed in similar activities from weeks 7 to 12, they continued to outperform the experimental groups who were exposed to social constructivist activities alone. Hence, due to this unexpected result, the aim of this thesis became to explain why these results came about and what implications for teaching were highlighted by the consideration. Besides the quantitative results highlighted above, qualitative data was also obtained as part of the study. For example, students were videoed within constructivist math groups and their performance analyzed using Pirie and Kieren‘s (1994) Model of Growth for Mathematical Understanding. The data from the video recording revealed that use of one step math problems did not enabled students to restructure their thinking to solve innovative problems. Data from semi-structured interviews also revealed that some students lacked basic math skills and were not exposed or guided to solve complex problems. Besides the need for careful examination of social constructivist activities on performance, this thesis underscores the importance of relevant teaching and learning activities, the important role of teachers during social constructivist activities and the need to identify suitable forms of assessment to measure performance

The 1992 SRC Algorithm Animation Festival

DEC’s business and technology objectives require a strong research program. The Systems Research Center (SRC) and three other research laboratories are committed to filling that need. SRC began recruiting its first research scientists in l984—their charter, to advance the state of knowledge in all aspects of computer systems research. Our current work includes exploring high-performance personal computing, distributed computing, programming environments, system modelling techniques, specification technology, and tightly-coupled multiprocessors. Our approach to both hardware and software research is to create and use real systems so that we can investigate their properties fully. Complex systems cannot be evaluated solely in the abstract. Based on this belief, our strategy is to demonstrate the technical and practical feasibility of our ideas by building prototypes and using them as daily tools. The experience we gain is useful in the short term in enabling us to refine our designs, and invaluable in the long term in helping us to advance the state of knowledge about those systems. Most of the major advance

The 1993 SRC Algorithm Animation Festival

This report describes the 1993 SRC Algorithm Animation Festival. The festival continues an experiment in developing algorithm animations bynon-experts,started the previous year, and described in SRC Research Report #98. This year nineteen researchers at Digital Equipment Corporation's Systems Research Center worked for two weeks on animating algorithms. Most of the participants had little (if any) experience writing programs that involved graphics. This report explains why we organized the festival, and describes the logistics of the festival and the advances in our algorithm animation system. This report presents the complete code for a simple, but non-trivial, animation of first-fit binpacking. Finally, this report contains snapshots from the animations produced during the festival. 1 Background In SRC Research Report #98, we reported on the 1992 SRC Algorithm Animation Festival [2], held during the summer of '92 at Digital Equipment Corporation's Systems Research Center (SRC). Th..