A basic recursion concept inventory

Hamouda, Sally; Edwards, Stephen H.; Elmongui, Hicham G.; Ernst, Jeremy V.; Shaffer, Clifford A.

doi:10.1080/08993408.2017.1414728

Cited by 58 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 12 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…To reduce the problem, Parker et al [10] developed a replica validated against the previous one. There are other CIs on specific topics, for example recursion by Hamouda et al [11], data structures by Porter et al [12] and algorithm analysis by Farghally et al [13].…”

Section: Related Workmentioning

confidence: 99%

An Open List of Computer Programming Student’s Common Problems and its Leverage in Teaching Practice

Cortinovis

Bolton

Caceffo

2023

Anais Do III Simpósio Brasileiro De Educação Em Computação (EDUCOMP 2023)

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Educators are frequently baffled by the problems faced and misconceptions held by their novice programming students. Yet, understanding these problems clearly is fundamental for an educator, both to properly evaluate their students as well as to engage them with suitable pedagogical strategies. This paper describes the development of a comprehensive - although not final - open list of problems commonly experienced by novices, focused on procedural and object oriented programming, and language agnostic and as much conceptual/strategic oriented as possible. It shows how the list can be used to improve the evaluation of students in the teaching practice, with targeted tests and detailed evaluation rubrics. It also shows antipattern cards which not only provide examples on how to detect a specific problem, but also indications on its possible origin, and suggestions for pedagogical strategies to overcome it. The paper finally hints at a strategy to crowdsource a battery of standardised/calibrated tests, that can be used both for the formative and summative evaluation of students, as well as to objectively compare different educational strategies and educational systems.

show abstract

Section: Related Workmentioning

confidence: 99%

An Open List of Computer Programming Student’s Common Problems and its Leverage in Teaching Practice

Cortinovis

Bolton

Caceffo

2023

Anais Do III Simpósio Brasileiro De Educação Em Computação (EDUCOMP 2023)

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…For example, assessments have been developed for algorithms and data structures [31,60]. Assessments with explicit validity arguments have been developed for recursion [21]. The Basic Data Structures Inventory (BDSI) has the most extensive empirical work, which covers some basic data structures and algorithm runtime analysis concepts, and was developed as a concept inventory [66].…”

Section: Assessments In Computingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Differentiated Assessments for Advanced Courses that Reveal Issues with Prerequisite Skills

Nelson

Strömbäck

Korhonen

et al. 2020

Proceedings of the Working Group Reports on Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Computing learners may not master basic concepts, or forget them between courses or from infrequent use. Learners also often struggle with advanced computing courses, perhaps from weakness with prerequisite concepts. One underlying challenge for researchers and instructors is determining the reason why a learner gets an advanced question wrong. Was the wrong answer because the learner lacked prerequisite skills, has not mastered the advanced skill, or some combination of the two? We contribute a design investigation into how to create differentiated questions which diagnose prerequisite and advanced skills at the same time. We focused on tracing and related skills as prerequisites, and on advanced object-oriented programming, concurrency, algorithm and data structures as the advanced skills. We conducted an inductive qualitative analysis of existing assessment questions from instructors and from a concept inventory with a validity argument (the Basic Data Structures Inventory). We found dependencies on a variety of prerequisite knowledge and mixed potential for diagnosing difficulties with prerequisites. Inspired by this analysis, we developed examples

show abstract

“…Caceffo, Wolfman, Booth, and Azevedo (2016) notes that typically the goal for a concept inventory for a course such as this is to develop items that are diagnostic at the single concept level, though this goal is often challenging to achieve (Luxton-Reilly et al, 2018). Because of the concept-guided nature of such an inventory, many of these types of assessments focus on a few, or even just one core concept, such as recursion (Hamouda, Edwards, Elmongui, Ernst, & Shaffer, 2017). FCS1 was developed as a concept inventory for an introductory undergraduate programming course with the goal of assessing all of the core concepts covered in the course (Tew & Guzdial, 2017).…”

Section: Related Workmentioning

confidence: 99%

Development and Validation of the Middle Grades Computer Science Concept Inventory (MG-CSCI) Assessment

Rachmatullah

Akram

Boulden

et al. 2020

EURASIA J MATH SCI T

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The increasing interest in computer science (CS) and CS-integrated STEM teaching and learning has created a need for assessment instruments that can be used to evaluate the efficacy of innovative instructional approaches to K-12 CS education. However, there is a lack of validated assessment tools aligned to core CS concepts for younger students. This paper reports on the development and validation of a CS concept assessment for middle grades (ages 11-13) students. A total of 27 multiple-choice items were developed, guided by focal knowledge, skills and abilities associated with the concepts of variables, loops, conditionals, and algorithms. These items were administered to 457 middle grades students. The items were presented in form of block-based programming code and administered in a week-long computational modeling intervention. A combination of classical test theory and item response theory approaches were used to validate the assessment. Based on results, it was found that only 24 items are considered valid and reliable items to measure CS conceptual understanding. The results also suggested that the assessment can be used as a pre and post-test to investigate students' learning gains. This work fills an important gap by providing a key resource for researchers and practitioners interested in assessing middle grades student CS conceptual understanding.

show abstract

A basic recursion concept inventory

Cited by 58 publications

References 12 publications

An Open List of Computer Programming Student’s Common Problems and its Leverage in Teaching Practice

An Open List of Computer Programming Student’s Common Problems and its Leverage in Teaching Practice

Differentiated Assessments for Advanced Courses that Reveal Issues with Prerequisite Skills

Development and Validation of the Middle Grades Computer Science Concept Inventory (MG-CSCI) Assessment

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About