Classifying and recognizing students' sorting algorithm implementations in a data structures and algorithms course

We discuss an instrument for recognizing and classifying algorithms (Aari) in terms of whiteboxtesting. We examined freshmen students' sorting algorithm implementations in a datastructures and algorithms course in two rounds: at the beginning of the course before thestudents received any instruction on sorting algorithms, and after taking lectures on sortingalgorithms. We evaluated the performance of Aari with the implementations of each roundseparately. The results show that the sorting algorithms (in Java), which Aari has been trainedto recognize (Insertion sort, Selection sort, Bubble sort, Quicksort and Mergesort), arerecognized with an average accuracy of about 90%. When considering all the submitted sortingalgorithm implementations (including the variations of the standard algorithms), Aari achievedan overall accuracy being 71% and 81% for the first and second round, respectively. The manual analysis of the implementations revealed that students have manymisconceptions related to sorting algorithms. For example, they include unnecessary swaps intheir Insertion or Selection sort implementations. Based on the data, we present acategorization of these types of variations. We also discuss how these categories can be used toimprove education of sorting methods, and to further develop Aari as a white-box testing tool,which gives feedback to the students on their inappropriate solutions and asks them to correctthe problem; something black-box testing is not capable of doing

Research on teaching and learning in Physics and Chemistry in NorDiNa Papers

Peer reviewe

Aalto Online Learning etsii uudenlaista kulttuuria oppimiseen ja opetukseen

Aalto-yliopisto käynnisti vuoden 2016 alussa viisivuotisen hankkeen, Aalto Online Learning (A!OLE). Strategisen kehityshankkeen tarkoituksena on tuottaa uudenlaisia sulautuvaan opetukseen soveltuvia verkko-opetusmateriaaleja, niitä tukevia ohjelmistoja/teknologioita ja näiden varaan rakentuvia uusia pedagogisia konsepteja. Kokonaisuudessaan tavoitteena on uudistaa yliopiston opetusta yhdistämällä verkko-opetuksen ja lähiopetuksen parhaita piirteitä ottaen huomioon eri oppiaineiden (tekniikka, luonnontieteet, kauppatieteet ja taide) ja eri kurssimuotojen tarpeet ja sitä kautta parantaa oppimistuloksia sekä rikastaa opiskelua uudentyyppisten aktiviteettien avulla. Tässä artikkelissa kuvataan A!OLE-hankkeen taustalla olevaa ajattelua ja projektin toimintamalleja. Hanke on lähtenyt erittäin hyvin käyntiin ja mukana on jo nyt yli 100 opettajaa yli 70 pilottihankkeessa. Aalto-yliopiston ylioppilaskunta palkitsi hankkeen vuoden oppimisen edistämistekona keväällä 2017

Didactic Focus Areas in Science Education Research

This study provides an overview of the didactic focus areas in educational research in biology, chemistry and physics, seeking to identify the focus areas that are investigated frequently and those that have been studied rarely or not at all. We applied the didactic focus-based categorization analysis method (DFCM), which is based on an extension of the didactic triangle. As the data set, we used 250 papers published in the Nordic Studies in Science Education (NorDiNa) between 2005 and 2013, and the European Science Education Research Association (ESERA) 2013 conference proceedings covering education at upper secondary and tertiary levels. The results show that the teacher’s pedagogical actions and the student–content relationship were the most frequently studied aspects. On the other hand, teachers’ reflections on the students’ perceptions and attitudes about goals and content, and teachers’ conceptions of the students’ actions towards achieving the goals were studied least. Irrespective of the publication forum, the distributions of foci to different categories were quite similar. Our historical analysis completes the recent studies in the field as it is based on the theory driven categorization system instead of the data driven approaches used by the previous researchers. Moreover, our further observations on more recent publications suggest that no significant changes have taken place, and therefore wider discussion about the scope and the coverage of the research in science education is needed

Computing education theories : what are they and how are they used?

In order to mature as a research field, computing education research (CER) seeks to build a better theoretical understanding of how students learn computing concepts and processes. Progress in this area depends on the development of computing-specific theories of learning to complement the general theoretical understanding of learning processes. In this paper we analyze the CER literature in three central publication venues -- ICER, ACM Transactions of Computing Education, and Computer Science Education -- over the period 2005--2015. Our findings identify new theoretical constructs of learning computing that have been published, and the research approaches that have been used in formulating these constructs. We identify 65 novel theoretical constructs in areas such as learning/understanding, learning behaviour/strategies, study choice/orientation, and performance/progression/retention. The most common research methods used to devise new constructs include grounded theory, phenomenography, and various statistical models. We further analyze how a number of these constructs, which arose in computing education, have been used in subsequent research, and present several examples to illustrate how theoretical constructs can guide and enrich further research. We discuss the implications for the whole field

Research on Teaching and Learning In Biology, Chemistry and Physics In ESERA 2013 Conference

This paper provides an overview of the topics in educational research that were published in the ESERA 2013 conference proceedings. The aim of the research was to identify what aspects of the teacher-student-content interaction were investigated frequently and what have been studied rarely. We used the categorization system developed by Kinnunen, Lampiselkä, Malmi and Meisalo (2016) and altogether 184 articles were analyzed. The analysis focused on secondary and tertiary level biology, chemistry, physics, and science education. The results showed that most of the studies focus on either the teacher’s pedagogical actions or on the student - content relationship. All other aspects were studied considerably less. For example, the teachers’ thoughts about the students’ perceptions and attitudes towards the goals and the content, and the teachers’ conceptions of the students’ actions towards achieving the goals were studied only rarely. Discussion about the scope and the coverage of the research in science education in Europe is needed.Peer reviewe

Didaktinen kolmio luonnontieteen opetuksen tutkimuksen arvioinnissa

Peer reviewe

Program Leadership from a Nordic Perspective - Program Leaders' Power to Influence Their Program

Поточний інформаційний список містить перелік статей про Сумський державний університет з періодичних видань, які надійшли до бібліотеки за лютий