Abstraction in Computer Science Education: An Overview

Abstract

When we "think like a computer scientist," we are able to systematically solve problems in different fields, create software applications that support various needs, and design artefacts that model complex systems. Abstraction is a soft skill embedded in all those endeavours, being a main cornerstone of computational thinking. Our overview of abstraction is intended to be not so much systematic as thought provoking, inviting the reader to (re)think abstraction from different -and perhaps unusual -perspectives. After presenting a range of its characterisations, we will explore abstraction from a cognitive point of view. Then we will discuss the role of abstraction in a range of computer science areas, including whether and how abstraction is taught. Although it is impossible to capture the essence of abstraction in one sentence, one section or a single paper, we hope our insights into abstraction may help computer science educators to better understand, model and even dare to teach abstraction skills.

The Effects of Instructional Environments and Cognitive Abilities on Abstraction Performance

“…The results showed that in literature review researchers mention about abstraction but it can not been seen that the studies which focuses on abstraction are missing. Mirolo (2022) had some suggestion on studying abstraction with different student groups.…”

“…Abstraction is considered as an element in the context of computer science, as well as a process in the cognitive context. During abstraction, many thinking processes work in cognition (Mirolo, 2022). In this manner one of the important ability for the process of abstraction is reasoning (Duncan, 2013;Kramer, 2007).…”

Empirical Evaluation of a Differentiated Assessment of Data Structures: The Role of Prerequisite Skills

“…While conducting research into differentiated assessments, especially when using the type of questions examined by Nelson et al (2020), it is important to take abstraction into account due to the complexity in the questions. The role of abstraction in CS education is broadly acknowledged (Mirolo et al, 2021;Aharoni, 2000). However, this is a complex "soft concept" that is hard to define formally, and which is difficult to characterize in this context, making it difficult to understand how to teach and assess it (Hazzan, 2008).…”

“…As discussed in Section 2.3, it is worth connecting these middle-ground skills to abstraction skills, which are notoriously difficult to teach and assess (Mirolo et al, 2021). In particular, they align well with the higher levels of the hierarchy proposed by Perrenet et al (2005) and the operational dimensions of Statter and Armoni (2020), since they require understanding the code at a higher level, as understanding what the program does for some particular input is not enough.…”

Untitled

“…So, experiments, good experiences and educative proposals in compiler education are very important. Moreover, literature reviews reveal the importance of studying multiple semiotic representations and different abstraction levels in computer science [7], and in algorithmic thinking [8, sec. 2.3].…”