Algorithmic Cognition and Pencil-Paper Tasks

Abstract

Pencil-paper algorithmics was displayed by several IOI studies, which examined various structural and scientific characteristics of offered tasks, including "what makes a good task". We offer an additional facet, of cognitive considerations. We underline the aspects of abstraction, heuristics, creativity, and declarative conceptions, which are relevant already with pencil-paper algoithmics. We describe the settings of our country's Stage-A, pencil-paper exam, and display cognitive considerations of the exam tasks. We illustrate these considerations with several single-input tasks, in which hidden patterns should be recognized for effective "computation by hand".