Using the SOLO Taxonomy to Understand Subgoal Labels Effect in CS1

is work extends previous research on subgoal labeled instructions by examining their effect across a semester-long, Java-based CS1 course. Across four quizzes, students were asked to explain in plain English the process that they would use to solve a programming problem. In this mixed methods study, we used the SOLO taxonomy to categorize student responses about problem-solving processes and compare students who learned with subgoal labels to those who did not. e use of the SOLO taxonomy classification allows us to look deeper than the mere correctness of answers to focus on the quality of the answers produced in terms of completeness of relevant concepts and explanation of relationships among concepts. Students who learned with subgoals produced higher-rated answers in terms of complexity and quality on three of four quizzes. Also, they were three times more likely to discuss issues of data type on a question about assignments and expressions than students who did not learn with subgoal labeling. is suggests that the use of subgoal labeling enabled students to gain a deeper and more complex understanding of the material presented in the course

A conceptual model for re ecting on expected learning vs. demonstrated student performance

© 2013, Australian Computer Society, Inc. Educators are faced with many challenging questions in designing an effective curriculum. What prerequisite knowledge do students have before commencing a new subject? At what level of mastery? What is the spread of capabilities between bare-passing students vs. the top-performing group? How does the intended learning specification compare to student performance at the end of a subject? In this paper we present a conceptual model that helps in answering some of these questions. It has the following main capabilities: capturing the learning specification in terms of syllabus topics and outcomes; capturing mastery levels to model progression; capturing the minimal vs. aspirational learning design; capturing confidence and reliability metrics for each of these mappings; and finally, comparing and re ecting on the learning specification against actual student performance. We present a web-based implementation of the model, and validate it by mapping the final exams from four programming subjects against the ACM/IEEE CS2013 topics and outcomes, using Bloom's Taxonomy as the mastery scale. We then import the itemised exam grades from 632 students across the four subjects and compare the demonstrated student performance against the expected learning for each of these. Key contributions of this work are the validated conceptual model for capturing and comparing expected learning vs. demonstrated performance, and a web-based implementation of this model, which is made freely available online as a community resource

Outdoor Education Integrated Curriculum Program Impact on Adolescent Self-Authorship

One of the challenges currently faced by secondary schools is to teach 21st century skills, such as self-authorship. Self-authorship is the command of one’s life, or the capacity to invent one’s beliefs, identity, and relationships with others. This study investigated the impact a one-semester outdoor education program has on adolescents’ perceived self-authorship development, as measured by the 27-item self-report Self-Authorship Questionnaire (SAQ). The sample population (n=26) for this study was made up of 10th and 12th grade students from two classes of one-semester outdoor education programs at a public secondary school in Ontario, Canada. Analysis of paired t-tests of the treatment phase (pretest and posttest) showed significant differences in participant scores for three of the four SAQ dimensions: situational coping, interpersonal leadership, and self-efficacy. Independent t-test analysis of the pretest and posttest (treatment phase) SAQ scores indicated no significant differences between males and females within the grade level or between 10th and 12th graders on all SAQ dimensions. Moreover, participants perceived confounding variables (i.e., instructor, teaching experiences, winter camping, canoeing, and solo experiences) substantially impacted their self-authorship development. Participants reported large positive (1.10 to 1.39) effect size scores, demonstrating that a one-semester outdoor education program can have a significant impact on adolescents’ perceived self-authorship development

Annual Report of Undergraduate Research Fellows, August 2008 to May 2009

Annual Report of Undergraduate Research Fellows from August 2008 to May 2009

An Evaluation of Gamification to Assess Students’ Learning on Their Understanding of First Year Computer Science Programming Module

This research examines the use of gamification to develop an assessment tool, to assess students’ learning of a first year computer science module. The students’ undertaking of the first semester Programming and Algorithms module in 2015 were assessed on their knowledge of the programming language Python. The incorporation of gamification when assessing students can have various potential benefits. The research aims to identify these benefits and issues. Assessments and games have almost opposite effects on opinions on people, as games are usually expected to have an entertainment value but this is not the case for assessments. The research examines if the game elements in the assessment tool causes the students to see this tool differently. A variety of experiments were carried out and the organisation of these experiments were vital to the success of the project. The first assessment was to test students through a written test. The findings of this experiment were used in order to develop a game to assess the students. Interviews with computer programming lecturers were conducted before the game was developed (to derive requirements). A game was developed and used to assess the students learning. The game is accessible via a website, thus platform agnostic, enabling feasibility in partaking of this experiment. The opinions of the students in relation to the game were also gathered immediately after the students had completed the game. The second experiment stage then took place to assess the students with a written test that had the same questions as the written test before the students played the game. Interviews with computer programming lecturers were conducted after all other experiments were completed (to evaluate the outcomes). The game was able to assess students’ learning and obtain vast amount of information. All students indicated they liked the game and enjoyed it which also means that the students enjoyed the assessment process. Several beneficial elements for incorporating gamification were identified. Such as improvement of students’ knowledge which was determined through the comparison of the written test performance

Introductory programming: a systematic literature review

As computing becomes a mainstream discipline embedded in the school curriculum and acts as an enabler for an increasing range of academic disciplines in higher education, the literature on introductory programming is growing. Although there have been several reviews that focus on specific aspects of introductory programming, there has been no broad overview of the literature exploring recent trends across the breadth of introductory programming. This paper is the report of an ITiCSE working group that conducted a systematic review in order to gain an overview of the introductory programming literature. Partitioning the literature into papers addressing the student, teaching, the curriculum, and assessment, we explore trends, highlight advances in knowledge over the past 15 years, and indicate possible directions for future research

How Sex Education Effects Sexual Practices: The relationship between high school sexual health education and subsequent sexual practices in high school and college

This study sought to determine the relationship between high school sexual health education programming and subsequent sexual behaviors in high school and college, asking three primary research questions: How does the comprehensiveness of an individual’s sex education program in high school influence their sexual behaviors in high school in terms of frequency, agency, pleasure, and safety? How does the comprehensiveness of an individual’s sex education in high school influence their sexual behaviors in college in terms of frequency, agency, pleasure, and safety? And among those who took sexual health education courses, what is the relationship between curricular characteristics and students’ identities? This study answered these questions through both qualitative and quantitative means with a survey sent to a collegiate undergraduate population asking students to reflect on their sexual health education participation in high school and subsequent sexual practices in high school and college. There were two primary findings of this study: that more abstinence-plus sex education content was positively correlated with higher frequencies of sexual practices in high school and that the socioeconomic status (SES) of an individual impacted access to the sexual health education programs students experienced in terms of duration and content. These findings have implications for how we design and implement sexual health education programming across the United States

A study of novice programmer performance and programming pedagogy.

Identifying and mitigating the difficulties experienced by novice programmers is an active area of research that has embraced a number of research areas. The aim of this research was to perform a holistic study into the causes of poor performance in novice programmers and to develop teaching approaches to mitigate them. A grounded action methodology was adopted to enable the primary concepts of programming cognitive psychology and their relationships to be established, in a systematic and formal manner. To further investigate novice programmer behaviour, two sub-studies were conducted into programming performance and ability. The first sub-study was a novel application of the FP-Tree algorithm to determine if novice programmers demonstrated predictable patterns of behaviour. This was the first study to data mine programming behavioural characteristics rather than the learner’s background information such as age and gender. Using the algorithm, patterns of behaviour were generated and associated with the students’ ability. No patterns of behaviour were identified and it was not possible to predict student results using this method. This suggests that novice programmers demonstrate no set patterns of programming behaviour that can be used determine their ability, although problem solving was found to be an important characteristic. Therefore, there was no evidence that performance could be improved by adopting pedagogies to promote simple changes in programming behaviour beyond the provision of specific problem solving instruction. A second sub-study was conducted using Raven’s Matrices which determined that cognitive psychology, specifically working memory, played an important role in novice programmer ability. The implication was that programming pedagogies must take into consideration the cognitive psychology of programming and the cognitive load imposed on learners. Abstracted Construct Instruction was developed based on these findings and forms a new pedagogy for teaching programming that promotes the recall of abstract patterns while reducing the cognitive demands associated with developing code. Cognitive load is determined by the student’s ability to ignore irrelevant surface features of the written problem and to cross-reference between the problem domain and their mental program model. The former is dealt with by producing tersely written exercises to eliminate distractors, while for the latter the teaching of problem solving should be delayed until the student’s program model is formed. While this does delay the development of problem solving skills, the problem solving abilities of students taught using this pedagogy were found to be comparable with students taught using a more traditional approach. Furthermore, monitoring students’ understanding of these patterns enabled micromanagement of the learning process, and hence explanations were provided for novice behaviour such as difficulties using arrays, inert knowledge and “code thrashing”. For teaching more complex problem solving, scaffolding of practice was investigated through a program framework that could be developed in stages by the students. However, personalising the level of scaffolding required was complicated and found to be difficult to achieve in practice. In both cases, these new teaching approaches evolved as part of a grounded theory study and a clear progression of teaching practice was demonstrated with appropriate evaluation at each stage in accordance with action researc

Repertoire selection for high school band assessment

Selecting repertoire is one of the most dynamic responsibilities music educators face, as it often serves as the music curriculum for band directors. Selecting high quality repertoire for students that achieves musical, educational, and culturally responsive goals is vital as part of their ensemble experience. When selecting repertoire for assessment, band directors must determine what repertoire their ensemble can perform well according to the Virginia and Band and Orchestra Directors Association performance rubric, while demonstrating musical and educational growth. The purpose of this study is to examine elements used by high school band directors when choosing repertoire for assessment. Research questions are: 1) What factors do band directors use in selecting repertoire for assessment?, 2) How much research do band directors conduct when choosing this repertoire?, 3) What are the main goals band directors hope their students achieve in repertoire selection?, 4) Do band directors consider their musical preferences in repertoire choice?, and 5) Does the process change as assessment approaches? Acknowledging the responses of high school band directors in a district of Virginia can enlighten the process behind repertoire selection, and to help improve repertoire selections for the music curriculum