Improving Introductory Computer Science Education with DRaCO

Today, many introductory computer science courses rely heavily on a specific programming language to convey fundamental programming concepts. For beginning students, the cognitive capacity required to operate with the syntactic forms of this language may overwhelm their ability to formulate a solution to a program. We recognize that the introductory computer science courses can be more effective if they convey fundamental concepts without requiring the students to focus on the syntax of a programming language. To achieve this, we propose a new teaching method based on the Design Recipe and Code Outlining (DRaCO) processes. Our new pedagogy capitalizes on the algorithmic intuitions of novice students and provides a tool for students to externalize their intuitions using techniques they are already familiar with, rather than with the syntax of a specific programming language. We validate the effectiveness of our new pedagogy by integrating it into an existing CS1 course at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo. We find that the our newly proposed pedagogy shows strong potential to improve students’ ability to program

2010 IMSAloquium, Student Investigation Showcase

IMSA students engage in investigations in nanotechnology, particle physics, law, neonatal medicine, literature, transplantation biology, water purity, the educational achievement gap, neurobiology and memory, ethics, theatre, discrete mathematics, economics, and more.https://digitalcommons.imsa.edu/archives_sir/1002/thumbnail.jp

Constructionist Attempts at Supporting the Learning of Computer Programming: A Survey

Although programming is often seen as a key element of constructionist approaches, the research on learning to program through a constructionist strategy is somewhat limited, mostly focusing on how to bring the abstract and formal nature of programming languages into \u201cconcrete\u201d, possibly tangible objects, graspable even by children with limited abstraction power. We survey the literature in programming education and analyse some programming languages designed to help novices from a constructionist perspective

Proceedings of The Rust-Edu Workshop

The 2022 Rust-Edu Workshop was an experiment. We wanted to gather together as many thought leaders we could attract in the area of Rust education, with an emphasis on academic-facing ideas. We hoped that productive discussions and future collaborations would result. Given the quick preparation and the difficulties of an international remote event, I am very happy to report a grand success. We had more than 27 participants from timezones around the globe. We had eight talks, four refereed papers and statements from 15 participants. Everyone seemed to have a good time, and I can say that I learned a ton. These proceedings are loosely organized: they represent a mere compilation of the excellent submitted work. I hope you’ll find this material as pleasant and useful as I have. Bart Massey 30 August 202

Computer Aided Design and Grading for an Electronic Functional Programming Exam

Electronic exams (e-exams) have the potential to substantially reduce the effort required for conducting an exam through automation. Yet, care must be taken to sacrifice neither task complexity nor constructive alignment nor grading fairness in favor of automation. To advance automation in the design and fair grading of (functional programming) e-exams, we introduce the following: A novel algorithm to check Proof Puzzles based on finding correct sequences of proof lines that improves fairness compared to an existing, edit distance based algorithm; an open-source static analysis tool to check source code for task relevant features by traversing the abstract syntax tree; a higher-level language and open-source tool to specify regular expressions that makes creating complex regular expressions less error-prone. Our findings are embedded in a complete experience report on transforming a paper exam to an e-exam. We evaluated the resulting e-exam by analyzing the degree of automation in the grading process, asking students for their opinion, and critically reviewing our own experiences. Almost all tasks can be graded automatically at least in part (correct solutions can almost always be detected as such), the students agree that an e-exam is a fitting examination format for the course but are split on how well they can express their thoughts compared to a paper exam, and examiners enjoy a more time-efficient grading process while the point distribution in the exam results was almost exactly the same compared to a paper exam.Comment: In Proceedings TFPIE 2023, arXiv:2308.0611

Characterizing RNA Targets of TDP-43

TAR-DNA-binding 43kDa protein (TDP-43), is an RNA binding protein that has been linked to the pathology of neurodegenerative diseases such as ALS and FTLD. However, pathological mechanisms involving TDP-43, remain elusive. Current hypotheses have converged on altered RNA processing, due to a loss of function of TDP-43. To gain better insight into the pathogenic mechanisms linked to TDP-43, we hypothesised that a loss of function may lead to alterations in splicing and/or changes in protein expression in transcripts potentially linked to neurodegeneration. Thus, 2-dimensional electrophoresis (2-DE) gels and splice-junction microarrays were utilised to identify targets of TDP-43 whose expression exhibited association with altered TDP-43 levels. The 2-DE analyses depicted changes in several proteins (spots), which, upon subsequent validation, did not reveal any correlations with differential spot intensities. In contrast, the splice-junction arrays identified TDP-43 dependent changes in 2371 genes from which candidate genes for validation were selected upon fulfilment of criteria for being altered when TDP-43 was depleted and reversible by overexpression of wild type TDP-43, but not with mutant (F4L) TDP-43. 162 genes were selected and further narrowed down based on a two-fold or higher splicing score. RT-PCR validation confirmed 6/19 transcripts, POLDIP3, BCL2L11, MADD, STAG2, BRD8 and FNIP1, as undergoing TDP-43 dependent splicing. Protein level alterations, were also observed in MADD and STAG2, following which, TDP-43 binding sites were mapped. Lastly, using an inducible TDP-43 aggregation model, a loss of function effect for TDP-43 was recapitulated i. e. similar changes in splicing profiles as when TDP-43 was knocked down, for all six of the above genes, thus, supporting a loss of function hypothesis in TDP-43 aggregates. Our results further contribute to the number of genes known to be affected by TDP-43, with the distinct observation of involvement in apoptotic and mitotic pathways, which may have implications for TDP-43 proteinopathies