Novice Programmers and the Problem Description Effect

Bouvier, Dennis; Lovellette, Ellie; Matta, John; Alshaigy, Bedour; Becker, Brett A.; Craig, Michelle; Jacková, Jana; McCartney, Robert; Sanders, Kate; Zarb, Mark

doi:10.1145/3024906.3024912

Cited by 36 publications

(23 citation statements)

References 53 publications

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“…Validation studies can identify if a test is too easy or too difficult for the target population [1], as well as whether surface features of questions [6] (e.g. wording of problem, style of code) confound the score [5,16].…”

Section: Introduction: Improving Measurement Of Cs Knowledgementioning

confidence: 99%

An Item Response Theory Evaluation of a Language-Independent CS1 Knowledge Assessment

Xie

Davidson

et al. 2019

Proceedings of the 50th ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education

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Tests serve an important role in computing education, measuring achievement and differentiating between learners with varying knowledge. But tests may have flaws that confuse learners or may be too difficult or easy, making test scores less valid and reliable. We analyzed the Second Computer Science 1 (SCS1) concept inventory, a widely used assessment of introductory computer science (CS1) knowledge, for such flaws. The prior validation study of the SCS1 used Classical Test Theory and was unable to determine whether differences in scores were a result of question properties or learner knowledge. We extended this validation by modeling question difficulty and learner knowledge separately with Item Response Theory (IRT) and performing expert review on problematic questions. We found that three questions measured knowledge that was unrelated to the rest of the SCS1, and four questions were too difficult for our sample of 489 undergrads from two universities.

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Section: Introduction: Improving Measurement Of Cs Knowledgementioning

confidence: 99%

An Item Response Theory Evaluation of a Language-Independent CS1 Knowledge Assessment

Xie

Davidson

et al. 2019

Proceedings of the 50th ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education

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“…In closer relation to our work, some studies have looked at ways of increasing retention with changes to in-classroom activities and extracurricular activities [2,10,29,30,32,35]. Some researchers and educators have looked specifically into improving retention through computing assignments: Layman et al [24] looked at ways of making assignments more meaningful (aiding or producing value to society) to students, Bouvier et al [8] discussed the effect of context in assignment descriptions, and Zeitz and Anewalt [39] looked at designing assignments to increase students' awareness of diversity, inclusion, and accessibility.…”

Section: Related Workmentioning

confidence: 92%

Computing Educational Activities Involving People Rather Than Things Appeal More to Women (CS1 Appeal Perspective)

Marcher

Christensen

Grabarczyk

et al. 2021

Proceedings of the 17th ACM Conference on International Computing Education Research

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Prior research on recruitment of women to computing has established that computing tasks involving People rather than Things have been perceived as much more appealing by female high-school students (potentially recruitable as university computing students). This paper changes the focus from prospective to current university students and presents the results of a new experiment that advances and moves beyond earlier research in two crucial respects. First of all, the participants of the experiment are N=152 university students, who already study computing, rather than general highschool students. Second of all, the choice between a People-themed versus an isomorphic Things-themed version of an educational task now pertains to real (in fact, mandatory) assignments that the students had to perform, rather than hypothetical tasks. The change of experimental context, design, and methodology allows us to complement previous findings related to recruitment with suggestions significant for computing educational activities. The overall findings of the new experiment are consistent with that of the previous one. We find that, also at university, there is a visible preference for choosing People themed over Things themed computing tasks amongst women. The results also expose considerable variation between tasks in the effect of gender observed. At the same time, male students, in general, seem to be either indifferent to the themes or to slightly prefer People versions. This suggests that educators should consider favoring People themed assignments over ones involving Things.

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“…Ao sintetizar a inter-relação entre o contexto evidenciado, pode-se observar que a presença dele favorece o aprendizado e que a sua ausência o compromete. Passa, ainda, a diminuir o grau de abstração presente no aprendizado de programação e alavancar a transferência dos conhecimentos (BOUVIER et al, 2016).…”

Section: "Bom Aí é Com Você!"unclassified

Construindo “novos” caminhos para o ensino de programação por meio do uso de metodologias ativas de aprendizagem e teoria da carga cognitiva

Berssanette¹

2020

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Também conhecido por João Henrique Berssanette, é professor de Ensino Básico, Técnico e Tecnológico, do Instituto Federal do Paraná -IFPR, no Campus Telêmaco Borba, onde leciona os componentes curriculares relacionados à Programação de Computadores. Pesquisa sobre o processo de Ensino/Aprendizagem de Programação de Computadores desde 2013, com diversos artigos publicados referentes a essa temática. É Graduado em Processamento de Dados (2003).

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Novice Programmers and the Problem Description Effect

Cited by 36 publications

References 53 publications

An Item Response Theory Evaluation of a Language-Independent CS1 Knowledge Assessment

An Item Response Theory Evaluation of a Language-Independent CS1 Knowledge Assessment

Computing Educational Activities Involving People Rather Than Things Appeal More to Women (CS1 Appeal Perspective)

Construindo “novos” caminhos para o ensino de programação por meio do uso de metodologias ativas de aprendizagem e teoria da carga cognitiva

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