A Necessity-driven Learning Design for Computer Science

Sbaraglia, Marco

doi:10.1145/3456565.3460017

Cited by 2 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 7 publications

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“…limitations. Hence, we are considering building a stack of notional machines at different abstraction levels so that students can progressively see more details by looking inside the blocks without being overwhelmed by all the complexity at once [31].…”

Section: Observations and Findings 51 On Pedagogy And Intervention Re...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Cryptography in Grade 10

Lodi

Sbaraglia

Martini

2022

Proceedings of the 27th ACM Conference on on Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education Vol. 1

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We report our experience of an extracurricular online intervention on cryptography in Grade 10. Our first goal is to describe how we taught some fundamental cryptography ideas by making students encounter a progression of representative cryptosystems, from classical to modern, and discover their characteristics and limitations. We used Snap! (a visual programming language) to realize hands-on activities: block-programming playgrounds (a form of task-specific programming languages) to experiment with cryptosystems, and an interactive app to support an unplugged (albeit remote) Diffie-Hellman key agreement. After experimenting with each system, the students were involved in a Socratic discussion on how to overcome the discovered limitations, motivating the introduction of the following system in our path. Our second goal is to evaluate the students' perceptions and learning of cryptography core ideas. They appreciated the course and felt that, despite being remote, it was fun and engaging. According to the students, the course helped them understand the role of cryptography, CS, and Math in society and sparked their interest in cryptography and CS. The final assessment showed that the students well understood the cryptography ideas addressed. Our third goal is to discuss what worked and areas of improvement. The "remote-unplugged" Diffie-Hellman, where the meeting chat was a metaphor for the public channel, engaged the students in understanding this groundbreaking protocol. Overall, they praised the activities as engaging, even when challenging. However, a strong "instructor blindness" induced by remote teaching often prevented us from giving the students the right amount of guidance during the exploration activities. CCS CONCEPTS• Security and privacy → Cryptography; Social aspects of security and privacy; • Social and professional topics → K-12 education; • Applied computing → Distance learning.

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Section: Observations and Findings 51 On Pedagogy And Intervention Re...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Cryptography in Grade 10

Lodi

Sbaraglia

Martini

2022

Proceedings of the 27th ACM Conference on on Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education Vol. 1

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…and some uninteresting workarounds put in place to overcome its limitations. Therefore, we plan to build a stack of notional machines at different levels of abstractions so that students can progressively see more details by looking inside the blocks without being overwhelmed by all the complexity at once [30].…”

Section: Suggestions For Adoption and Adaptionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Online Unplugged and Block-Based Cryptography in Grade 10

Lodi¹,

Sbaraglia²,

Martini³

2021

Preprint

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We report our experience of an extracurricular online intervention on cryptography principles in 10th grade. This paper's first goal is to present the learning path we designed, influenced by cryptography core ideas rather than technical knowledge. We will detail how we used Snap! (a visual programming language) to realize hands-on activities: programming playgrounds to experiment with cryptosystems and their limits, and interactive support for an unplugged activity on the Diffie-Hellman key exchange. The second goal is to evaluate our intervention in terms of both student perceptions and learning of core cryptography ideas. The students appreciated the course and felt that, despite being remote, it was fun, interesting, and engaging. They said the course helped them understand the role of cryptography, CS, and Math in society and sparked their interest, especially in cryptography and CS. The third goal is to discuss what worked well and areas of improvement. Pedagogically, remote teaching caused high "instructor blindness" and prevented us from giving the optimal amount of guidance during the exploration activities with Snap! playgrounds, making them sometimes too challenging for total programming novices. On the other hand, the "remote-unplugged" Diffie-Hellman worked well: it embodies a coherent metaphor that engaged the students and made them grasp this groundbreaking protocol. The students praised the activities as engaging, even when challenging. The final assessment showed that the core cryptography ideas were well understood.

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A Necessity-driven Learning Design for Computer Science

Cited by 2 publications

References 7 publications

Cryptography in Grade 10

Cryptography in Grade 10

Online Unplugged and Block-Based Cryptography in Grade 10

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