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- Creators: Craig, Scotty D.
- Creators: Ganesh, Tirupalavanam G.
Description
Introductory programming courses, also known as CS1, have a specific set of expected outcomes related to the learning of the most basic and essential computational concepts in computer science (CS). However, two of the most often heard complaints in such courses are that (1) they are divorced from the reality of application and (2) they make the learning of the basic concepts tedious. The concepts introduced in CS1 courses are highly abstract and not easily comprehensible. In general, the difficulty is intrinsic to the field of computing, often described as "too mathematical or too abstract." This dissertation presents a small-scale mixed method study conducted during the fall 2009 semester of CS1 courses at Arizona State University. This study explored and assessed students' comprehension of three core computational concepts - abstraction, arrays of objects, and inheritance - in both algorithm design and problem solving. Through this investigation students' profiles were categorized based on their scores and based on their mistakes categorized into instances of five computational thinking concepts: abstraction, algorithm, scalability, linguistics, and reasoning. It was shown that even though the notion of computational thinking is not explicit in the curriculum, participants possessed and/or developed this skill through the learning and application of the CS1 core concepts. Furthermore, problem-solving experiences had a direct impact on participants' knowledge skills, explanation skills, and confidence. Implications for teaching CS1 and for future research are also considered.
ContributorsBillionniere, Elodie V (Author) / Collofello, James (Thesis advisor) / Ganesh, Tirupalavanam G. (Thesis advisor) / VanLehn, Kurt (Committee member) / Burleson, Winslow (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2011
Description
Web-based learning resources have been criticized as being developed with minimal consideration as to the effectiveness of the design principles or guidelines used to create them. Extraneous material is oftentimes present and necessary for learners to engage in effective learning with multimedia learning material. Signaling learners towards important information between images and corresponding text has been shown to be an effective method for providing learners a way to quickly find information between the two parts of the learning material. However, not all signaling methods are equally effective in all applications. This study investigates a novel signaling method, using spatial isolation of text, as a way to signal learners in a web-based format compared to a traditional highlighting method and a non-signaled control group. Improved learning performance was observed for knowledge retention using text isolation as the signaling method, but no other significant effects were observed between the other conditions. Additionally, transfer of knowledge across all conditions showed no significant differences either. While minimal support for the effectiveness of isolated text signaling was demonstrated, the statistical means trend across all post-test knowledge assessments suggest that further evaluation of the novel signaling method is justified.
ContributorsChin, Joshua (Author) / Craig, Scotty D. (Thesis advisor) / Branaghan, Russell (Committee member) / Roscoe, Rod (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2017