Toward Understanding and Enhancing Novice Students' Mental Models in Computer Science

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Briana Bettin
Keyword(s):  
Computer Science ◽  
Mental Models ◽  
Novice Students

Interactive Learning of Recursion

2012 ◽  
pp. 254-272 ◽  
Author(s):  
Antonio Pérez-Carrasco ◽  
J. Ángel Velázquez-Iturbide
Keyword(s):  
Science Education ◽  
Computer Science ◽  
Mental Models ◽  
Learning Process ◽  
Teaching Methods ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Conceptual Models ◽  
Computer Science Education ◽  
Interactive Learning ◽  
The Past

One concept that has proved to be especially difficult to comprehend in computer science education is recursion. This chapter provides an overview of past efforts on the teaching of recursion. The authors first introduce concepts and models about the teaching and learning of recursion. In particular, they identify models used by teachers to explain recursion (i.e. conceptual models) and models used by students in their learning process (i.e. mental models). Afterwards, they review the teaching methods used in the past. Finally, the authors survey visualization and animation systems for recursion, explaining how they support conceptual models and how they try to remove wrong mental models. They also include a comprehensive technical comparison of the systems and review the evaluations these systems have been subject to.

Gender influences on school students' mental models of computer science

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philipp Brauner ◽  
Martina Ziefle ◽  
Ulrik Schroeder ◽  
Thiemo Leonhardt ◽  
Nadine Bergner ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Computer Science ◽  
Mental Models ◽  
School Students ◽  
Gender Influences

scholarly journals Novice programmer’s misconception of programming reflected on problem-solving plans

2017 ◽  
Vol 1 (4) ◽  
pp. 14-24 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kyungbin Kwon
Keyword(s):  
Problem Solving ◽  
Natural Language ◽  
Mental Models ◽  
Strategic Knowledge ◽  
Introductory Programming ◽  
Instructional Supports ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Conditional Statements ◽  
Novice Students ◽  
The Way

Understanding the misconception of students is critical in that it identifies the reasons of errors students make and allows instructors to design instructions accordingly. This study investigated the mental models of programming concepts held by pre-service teachers who were novice in programming. In an introductory programming course, students were asked to solve problems that could be solved by utilizing conditional statements. They developed solution plans pseudo-code including a simplified natural language, symbols, diagrams, and so on. Sixteen solution plans of three different types of problems were analyzed. As a result, the students’ egocentric and insufficient programming concepts were identified in terms of the misuse of variables, redundancy of codes, and weak strategic knowledge. The results revealed that the students had difficulty designing solution plans that could be executed by computers. They needed instructional supports to master how to express their solution plans in the way computers run. Problem driven instructional designs for novice students were discussed.

scholarly journals Introducing Computer Science to High School Students Through Logic Programming

2018 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 204-228 ◽  
Author(s):  
TIMOTHY T. YUEN ◽  
MARITZA REYES ◽  
YUANLIN ZHANG
Keyword(s):  
High School ◽  
High School Students ◽  
Logic Programming ◽  
Computer Science ◽  
School Students ◽  
Introductory Computer Science ◽  
Cyclical Process ◽  
K 12 ◽  
Novice Students ◽  
Traditional Approaches

AbstractThis paper investigates how high school students in an introductory computer science (CS) course approach computing in the logic programming (LP) paradigm. This qualitative study shows how novice students operate within the LP paradigm while engaging in foundational computing concepts and skills: students are engaged in a cyclical process of abstraction, reasoning, and creating representations of their ideas in code while also being informed by the (procedural) requirements and the revision/debugging process. As these computing concepts and skills are also expected in traditional approaches to introductory K-12 CS courses, this paper asserts that LP is a viable paradigm choice for high school novices.

scholarly journals A STUDY ON THE EFFECTIVENESS OF MULTIMEDIA IN TEACHING COMPUTER SCIENCE AMONG XI STANDARD STUDENTS IN KARUR DISTRICT

2016 ◽  
Vol 4 (5SE) ◽  
pp. 35-39
Author(s):  
V.K. Subashini
Keyword(s):  
Experimental Design ◽  
Secondary School ◽  
Computer Science ◽  
Secondary School Students ◽  
School Students ◽  
Score Difference ◽  
Novice Students

This study attempted to find out the effect of using multimedia in teaching Computer Science among XI students. Sample of 62 students was selected for the study in Karur District. Two groups pretest and posttest experimental design was used. Data were analyzed. It is found that there is a significant means score difference between pretest and posttest among the selected higher secondary school novice students. It is proved that Multimedia supported teaching is one of the appropriate and effective methods for teaching Computer Science to higher secondary school students.

scholarly journals Decoding the underlying cognitive processes and related support strategies utilised by expert instructors during source code comprehension

2020 ◽  
Vol 32 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Pakiso Joseph Khomokhoana ◽  
Liezel Nel
Keyword(s):  
Data Analysis ◽  
Computer Science ◽  
Cognitive Processes ◽  
Source Code ◽  
Clear Understanding ◽  
Support Strategies ◽  
Select Group ◽  
Modelling Problem ◽  
Mental Operations ◽  
Novice Students

Many novice programmers fail to comprehend source code and its related concepts in the same way that their instructors do. As emphasised in the Decoding the Disciplines (DtDs) framework, each discipline (including Computer Science) has its own unique set of mental operations. However, instructors often take certain important mental operations for granted and do not explain these 'hidden' steps explicitly when modelling problem solutions. A clear understanding of the underlying cognitive processes and related support strategies employed by experts during source code comprehension (SCC) could ultimately be utilised to help novice programmers to better execute the cognitive processes necessary to efficiently comprehend source code. Positioned within Step 2 of the DtDs framework, this study employed decoding interviews and observations, followed by narrative data analysis, to identify the underlying cognitive processes and related support (though often 'hidden') strategies utilised by a select group of experienced programming instructors during an SCC task. The insights gained were then used to formulate a set of important cognitive-related support strategies for efficient SCC. Programming instructors are encouraged to continuously emphasise strategies like these when modelling their expert ways of thinking regarding efficient SCC more explicitly to their novice students.

Acquisition and Use of Mental Operators: Effects of Type of Practice

2002 ◽  
Vol 49 (2) ◽  
pp. 141-152 ◽  
Author(s):  
Burkhard Müller ◽  
Jürgen Gehrke
Keyword(s):  
Mental Models ◽  
Test Performance ◽  
Physical World ◽  
Test Phase ◽  
Acquisition Phase ◽  
Practice Test ◽  
Subsequent Test ◽  
Use Of Knowledge

Abstract. Planning interactions with the physical world requires knowledge about operations; in short, mental operators. Abstractness of content and directionality of access are two important properties to characterize the representational units of this kind of knowledge. Combining these properties allows four classes of knowledge units to be distinguished that can be found in the literature: (a) rules, (b) mental models or schemata, (c) instances, and (d) episodes or chunks. The influence of practicing alphabet-arithmetic operators in a prognostic, diagnostic, or retrognostic way (A + 2 = ?, A? = C, or ? + 2 = C, respectively) on the use of that knowledge in a subsequent test was used to assess the importance of these dimensions. At the beginning, the retrognostic use of knowledge was worse than the prognostic use, although identical operations were involved (A + 2 = ? vs. ? - 2 = A). This disadvantage was reduced with increased practice. Test performance was best if the task and the letter pairs were the same as in the acquisition phase. Overall, the findings support theories proposing multiple representational units of mental operators. The disadvantage for the retrognosis task was recovered in the test phase, and may be evidence for the importance of the order of events independent of the order of experience.

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