Enthusing and inspiring with reusable kinaesthetic activities

We describe the experiences of three University projects that use a style of physical, non-computer based activity to enthuse and teach school students computer science concepts. We show that this kind of activity is effective as an outreach and teaching resource even when reused across different age/ability ranges, in lecture and workshop formats and for delivery by different people. We introduce the concept of a Reusable Outreach Object (ROO) that extends Reusable Learning Objects. and argue for a community effort in developing a repository of such objects

Connecting Learning Environments Using Electronic Voting Systems

Many educational theories depend on learning as a process of dialogue between teacher and learner. Traditional university methods such as lectures and tutorials do not facilitate dialogue since students are unable or unwilling to speak out. The use of an electronic voting system in lectures, where all students can respond to questions set by the lecturer with the aggregated results displayed to the class, aims to alleviate barriers to dialogue in lectures and so improve learning. A recent study, by the authors, of a three-year use of a voting system in introductory programming lectures has shown that response rates by students are lower than expected. This paper outlines the educational purpose of using the system in this lecture course and postulates reasons for the low response rates. Based on these reasons, the paper presents an educational framework whereby students' votes not only enrich the lecture environment but are also used to facilitate learning in small group teaching sessions and the students' self-study environments

No Gender Difference in CS1 Grade for Students with Programming from High School: An Exploratory Study

Programming is an increasingly important skill in the 21st century. Therefore, many education systems internationally offer non-compulsory programming (NCP) courses during high school years. Aim. Our goal is to study the effect of NCP on first-semester student performance in CS1. Because interest in computing is more often associated with men than women, we also want to study gender differences. Method. A total of 232 students from a Norwegian university were involved in the study. High school grades from the public student registry were analysed together with questionnaire data and the CS1 grade. Results. The students with NCP performed significantly better in CS1 than those without (average grade 4.4 vs. 3.6, where A, B, … , F is coded as 5, 4, … , 0). For women the difference in performance with and without NCP was 4.4 vs. 3.2, for men it was 4.4 vs. 3.8. Conclusion. This study shows that for students with NCP, the notorious gender difference in CS1 performance was absent. The other results merit further considerations regarding mathematics and science backgrounds, grades, prior experience, and self-efficacy

Exploiting persistent linkage in software engineering environments

Persistent programming systems are designed to provide technology for the construction and maintenance of large, long-lived object-based application systems. Many successful prototypes have been constructed and a large body of application building experience is emerging. Three common attributes of persistent systems are persistent linkage, strong typing, and the referential integrity of data. Persistent linkage allows persistent objects to be included in the binding process. Strong typing guarantees that objects are only manipulated in a manner consistent with their type system descriptions. Referential integrity ensures that once a link (reference) to an object is established, its identity is unique and it persists over time. As a consequence no object can be deleted while another refers to it. Here we examine some of the advantages of providing software engineering environments within a persistent object system with strong typing and referential integrity. It is shown how the integration of system specifications, programs, configuration management tools and documentation all within a single persistent environment leads to powerful new techniques. This new power is achieved by sharing structured persistent data across the hitherto enclosing boundaries of system components

Contributing student pedagogy

<p>A Contributing Student Pedagogy (CSP) is a pedagogy that encourages students to contribute to the learning of others and to value the contributions of others. CSP in formal education is anticipatory of learning processes found in industry and research, in which the roles and responsibilities of 'teacher' and 'student' are fluid. Preparing students for this shift is one motivation for use of CSP. Further, CSP approaches are linked to constructivist and community theories of learning, and provide opportunities to engage students more deeply in subject material.</p> <p>In this paper we advance the concept of CSP and relate it to the particular needs of computer science. We present a number of characteristics of this approach, and use case studies from the available literature to illustrate these characteristics in practice. We discuss enabling technologies, provide guidance to instructors who would like to incorporate this approach in their teaching, and suggest some future directions for the study and evaluation of this technique. We conclude with an extensive bibliography of related research and case studies which exhibit elements of CSP.</p&gt