Student conceptions about the field of computer science

Computer Science is a complex field, and even experts do not always agree how the field should be defined. Though a moderate amount is known about how precollege students think about the field of CS, less is known about how CS majors' conceptions of the field develop during the undergraduate curriculum. Given the difficulty of understanding CS, how do students make educational decisions like what electives or specializations to pursue? This work presents a theory of student conceptions of CS, based on 37 interviews with students and student advisers and analyzed with a grounded theory approach. Students tend to have one of three main views about CS: CS as an academic discipline focused on the mathematical study of algorithms, CS as mostly about programming but also incorporating supporting subfields, and CS as a broad discipline with many different (programming and non-programming) subfields. I have also developed and piloted a survey instrument to determine how prevalent each kind of conception is in the undergraduate population. I also present a theory of student educational decisions in CS. Students do not usually have specific educational goals in CS and instead take an exploratory approach to their classes. Particularly enjoyable or unenjoyable classes cause them to narrow their educational focus. As a result, students do not reason very deeply about the CS content of their classes when they make educational decisions. This work makes three main contributions: the theory of student conceptions, the theory of student educational decisions, and the preliminary survey instrument for evaluating student conceptions. This work has applications in CS curriculum design as well as for future research in the CS education community.PhDCommittee Chair: Guzdial, Mark; Committee Member: Bruckman, Amy; Committee Member: Edwards, Keith; Committee Member: Yasmin Kafai; Committee Member: Zegura, Elle

The Former Premonstratensian Convent Complex in Strzelno. Select Problems of the Reconstruction of Mediaeval and Modern Development

The former Premonstratensian convent complex in Strzelno, in the past one of the largest in the Greater Poland- Kujawy region, was subject to structural transformations in the course of several centuries. The existence of the Romanesque convent, probably created at the time of the foundation of two churches (the rotunda and the monastic basilica) is testified not only by the in situ extant Romanesque portal adjoining the n orthern basilica, but also by the newly discovered (today: walled up) passage in the northern arm of the transept of the church of the Holy Trinity. In the wake of the fires and cataclysms which affected the Strzelno churches at the end of the thirteenth century and during the fourteenth century, the object was given a purely defensive character. The greatest construction intervention, apart from the re designing of the basilica in the Gothic style, was the granting of a Baroque form to the rotunda of St. Prokop (Holy Cross), excluded from religious cult at the end o f the eighteenth century. Repair conducted upon the initiative of the Prussian government did not prevent devastation and, consequently, the pulling down of the Gothic-Baroque object in 1813— 1898. The historical qualities of the Strzelno churches were discovered during the in te r-w a r period, and work on the restoration of the Romanesqu character of the rotunda was completed in 1948-1952, albeit it was conducted not totally in accordance with the principles of conservation