Questions to Enhance Active Learning in Computer Science Instruction

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Questions to Enhance Active Learning in Computer
Science Instruction
J. Philip East Mark Fienup Computer Science
Department University of Northern Iowa
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Introduction

• Im a colleaguelets talk
• Initial plan was to focus on examples, but ...
• The plan is
• discuss rationale, educational goals, etc.
• generalize ideas about questioning for various
  goals (examples included but well spend little
  time on them)
• discuss process suggestions
• Referring to programming fluency courses

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Motivation Rationale

• Reduce the amount of lecturing (demonstration
  isnt much better)
• Attempt to determine student understanding of the
  material being considered
• Questioning can, but does not always, result in
  students actively engaged in the content it is
  not a panacea

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Some Instructional Goals

• Provide practice or demonstration of skill
• Connect to student experience
• Motivate/justify content
• Determine student understanding
• Create cognitive dissonance (!)
• Knowledge recall (?)
• (and others ?)

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Skill Practice or Demonstration What, How, etc.

• Goal is to provide students with practice or to
  have them demonstrate competence
• Can do so via
• board work
• oral how to questions
• quizzes (grade in class)
• in-lab tasks

• Programming
• trace the given code
• revise given code to ...
• produce code to ...
• develop test data for ...
• design a module to
• Fluency
• use multiple OSs
• use new applications
• identify relevant technical social features of
  ... (scenario)

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Skill Practice or Demonstration Question
Examples Programming

• Use the IDE (or OS editor) to copy, compile,
  execute a program
• Debug (syntax errors in) a program
• What does the given code do? three levels
  trace description of process in words rather
  than code or pseudo-code general statement
• Debug (logic errors in) a given code segment
• Document a given module, i.e., purpose (dont
  repeat code), preconditions, post conditions,
  caveats, etc.
• Develop a test data suite for a given problem or
  code
• Provide code for a given algorithm
• Determine the data representation for a given
  problem i.e., ADT or class usage and/or
  definitions
• Develop an algorithm for a given task i.e., a
  small module
• What tasks are needed to solve ? Does order
  matter? Any repetition?

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Skill Practice or Demonstration Question
Examples Fluency

• Create a directory and copy a file to it from
  across a network
• Set network, mail, etc. preferences
• Plan an e-mail organization. Implement it.
  Report on the implementation.
• Independently (to extent possible) extend skill
  to
• unknown OS
• different brand of known application (e.g.,
  Lotus suite vs MS Office vs StarOffice)
• unknown feature(s) of a known application (e.g.,
  in word processing tables, mail merge, drawing,
  )
• unknown application
• Customize window content/appearance, preferences,
  etc. of an application
• Identify stakeholders in a given societal issue
  (and their potential conflicts of interest and
  biases)
• Suggest a solution to a given societal issue
  (arguing pros cons)

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Connect to Student Experience

• Goal relate current content to expected prior
  student understanding
• Can do so via
• selection of conceptually familiar tasks
  reminder questions
• planned progression of topics reminder
  questions
• discussion of experiences
• advance organizers (course-level and topic level)

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Connect to Student Experience

• Programming Examples
• How would you ask a question to see if both of
  two situations were true? If either of the two
  were true? If neither were true?
• What does the 2 in 1,298 mean? The 1 in
  0001000?
• How you sort a set of numbers listed on
  individual slips of paper?
• What happens when values are not explicitly
  initialized?
• Fluency Examples
• What are computers used to do?
• What is an icon?
• Why might someone care if the grocery store
  recorded your purchases?
• Have you ever been someplace you didnt want you
  mother, boy/girlfriend to know?

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Motivate or Justify Content

• Goal enhance student involvement with current
  content
• Can do so via
• determining and following student preferences
• organizing content order
• examples selection
• discussion of experiences
• requests to justify a choice

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Motivate or Justify Content

• Programming Examples
• What would you do if a program needed to do the
  same thing twice? Three times? 100 times?
• How is 10 cents represented in our programming
  language?
• How does an optimist plan to build the Great Wall
  of China?
• How do you know (or do) ?
• Fluency Examples
• When did Web usage become widespread? What will
  be the next such ubiquitous application? How
  will you learn it?
• Have you ever been told that the computer makes
  us do it this way?

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Determine Student UnderstandingWhat, How, etc.

• Goal is to get inside students heads (see
  what/how they understand)
• More general than skill practice
• Can do so via
• oral questions
• small group tasks
• 5-minute papers

• Programming
• statement semantics
• run-time environment
• data representation
• design considerations
• testing test data
• ...
• Fluency
• operation of CPU, Internet, viruses, search
  engines,
• issue plusses and minuses
• risk analyses
• ...

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Determine Student UnderstandingQuestion Examples
Programming

• Describe the run-time environment at a given
  point in a program.
• Where would you look to correct the error
  message, stack overflows heap?
• What machine code does the same thing as a for
  loop?
• Diagram the form and content of data stored as a
  result of the following code being executed
  e.g., linked list search insertion
• What test data should be used for the given task?
• Produce code to e.g., dangling else situation,
  complex condition, if-else with some common code,
  dual condition while loop
• Refactor given code e.g., to make it more
  readable, to enhance cohesion
• Provide data representation for
• Critique the following e.g., code, design,
  data representation, test data
• Describe a particular ADT or class discussing its
  operations and use

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Determine Student UnderstandingQuestion Examples
Fluency

• Diagram a computer and describe the machine cycle
• How does a Web page get from across the country
  to you?
• How is the Web like a database? How is it
  different?
• How/when is an e-mail message at risk for
  unintended access?
• Describe data representation of e.g.,
  integers, fractional values, sound, pictures
• Who are the stakeholders with respect to routine
  monitoring of electronic communication by the
  government? What are their concerns?
• What are the basic (machine-level) capabilities
  of computers?
• What are the general capabilities of computers?
  any problem for which we can prepare a digital
  representation and appropriate manipulations
• What can computers not do? Why?

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Create Cognitive Dissonance

• Goal surprise students
• Programming Examples
• What is 0.1 (base 10) in binary?
• Write a program that repeatedly adds 1,000 to a
  total and displays the result. What happens?
• Sort 1,000 items with bubble sort. Sort same
  items in a direct access file. What happens?
• Fluency Examples
• What can a computer not do?
• I have a hypothesis long division using pencil
  and paper does not teach the concept of division.
  explanation. What is wrong with my
  hypothesis?

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An AsideReceiving Questions

• I like to address questions that students have
• gives insight about their understanding (if I pay
  attention)
• other students may have the same question
• at least one student will be paying attention
• But,
• can deflect attention from planned content
• sometimes I rely too heavily on it

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Teaching Process Suggestions

• Read think about questions questioning
• Plan
• Course big ideas, content goals, use of groups,
  
• Unit initial questions follow up responses
  questions
• In Class dont hurry, wait think
• Reflect daily, after unit, after course

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Final Thoughts

• Learning is not a spectator sport? Work to get
  students actively involved.
• If you decide to move in this direction
• Dont go whole hog (take baby steps)
• Be patient with yourself
• Dont expect immediate success
• Thank you