How to Effectively Infuse Active Learning into Introductory Programming Courses

1
How to Effectively Infuse Active Learning into
Introductory Programming Courses

• Keith J. Whittington
• Rochester Institute of Technology
• kjw_at_it.rit.edu
• This material is partially based upon work
  supported by the National Science Foundation
  under Award No. DUE-0442987

2
Career Summary

• 23 years at Sikorsky Aircraft
• 10 years adjunct professor in CS dept at
  community college
• 7th year at RIT

3
Ice Breaker - Minute Interview

• Split into groups of 2
• Find someone you don't know well
• First person interview the other person
• Get as much information as you can
• Focus on any active learning experience or
  questions
• Switch roles
• Together, find another group and form a quad
• Take turns introducing your new friend to the
  group

4
Opportunity

• Chosen to develop a two-course sequence
• Targeted for at-risk students

5
Alternative Prog. Sequence
Traditional Sequence
CS 2
CS 3
CS 1
CS 2B
CS 2A
Alternative Sequence
6
Thoughts

• Perhaps the students arent slow
• Maybe its the teaching methods
• What problems do other instructors have?
• Determined to help the at-risk students

7
My Path of Discovery

• Constructivism
• Cooperative learning
• Learner-centered teaching
• Active learning

8
Problem

• Lots of active learning articles
• Few target intro programming courses
• Many focus on humanities, sciences, and advanced
  courses

9
Dont Do This at Home

• Threw away old materials
• Redesigned course around active learning
• Developed my own activities

10
Goal-Based Course Design

• Conceptual knowledge
• Specific details used to develop concepts
• Move students away from memorization
• Help them learn how to learn

11
New Focus

• Traditional Focus
• Cover as many constructs as possible
• Lecture - primary mode of instruction
• My Focus
• Use constructs to develop conceptual knowledge
• Use active learning to supplement lectures

12
Consistent Course Results

• Increased retention by 9
• Increased A,B,C grades by 14
• Reduced feelings of intimidation by 40

13
CS 3 Results

• No difference in the performance between CS 2B
  and CS 3 students
• CS 2B performed insignificantly better

14
Comparison of Teaching Styles

• Traditional
• 28 D, F, W rate
• 59 A/B rate
• Active Learning
• 8 D, F, W rate
• 75 A/B rate

15
NSF Grant Main Goals

• Show evidence of increased learning
• Develop educational materials
• Disseminate via workshops

16
Quasi-Experiment

• Students not randomly assigned
• Data gathered over 2 quarters
• Parallel courses
• One active section (experimental section)
• One traditional section (control section)
• Same materials/tests
• Same rubrics and grade percentages
• Same amount of instructional time
• Different instructors
• Students statistically similar in pre-knowledge
• Multiple assessments

17
Winter Quarter Pre/Post Tests

• Active (A) section N 22
• Traditional (T) section N 10
• Unit Pre-Test Averages
• A section 2.45
• T section 3.1
• No significant difference (p.26)
• Unit Post-Test Averages
• A section 6.9
• T section 6.25
• Significant at p .037

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Winter Quarter - Grades

• Traditional (N 14)
• 36 D, F, W rate
• 14 A/B rate
• Active Learning (N24)
• 8 D, F, W rate
• 88 A/B rate

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Preliminary Conclusion

• Both sections learned as evidenced by changes in
  scores
• Active group
• slightly weaker (not significantly) to start
• scored significantly higher in the post test
• Active learning worked better for this unit

20
Spring Quarter Pre/Post Tests

• A section N 28
• T section N 7 (some transferred sections)
• Pre-Test Unit Scores
• A section 4.13
• T section 4.16
• No significant difference (p .96)
• Pre-Test Unit Scores
• A section 9.035
• T section 9.428
• No significant difference ( p .33)

21
Spring Quarter Grades

• Traditional (N7)
• 29 D, F, W rate
• 71 A/B rate
• Active Learning (N27)
• 7 D, F, W rate
• 78 A/B rate

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Preliminary Conclusion

• An active learning class of 28 can perform
  equally to a traditional class of 7
• Generally speaking, smaller class size correlates
  with improved scores
• AL can achieve small class results with larger
  classes

23
Student Comments

• I felt very confident about the material even a
  week after I had learned it. I did not feel so
  rushed in this class as I did in the other class.
  In my view the method is most important, not
  teachers knowledge
• My partner helped to clear up my confusion
  regarding usage of syntax. He had trouble with an
  error causing his program to not compile and was
  able to clear up confusion regarding the homework
  through e-mail with Keith. I would not have
  understood the topic without help from a partner.
• Im) A hundred times more confident now than
  thenHes doing a phenomenal job hell annoy
  you until you learn it.

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Group Activity One Answer

• One person write a sentence
• Next person write a sentence
• Add/improve previous statements
• Rules
• All members need to write a statement
• Vocalize your answer to the group
• Discuss the teams answers when finished
• One person will explain answer to the class

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• What is Active Learning?

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Active Learning Theory

• If you get students
• Talking, listening, and writing
• Sharing answers
• Reflecting on prior knowledge
• Teaching each other
• Solving problems collectively
• It helps them think critically, and
• Deepens their knowledge

27
Group Activity Round Robin

• Take turns doing the following
• Write an answer to the question
• Tell group your answer
• Pass paper to next person
• Rules
• Continue until you run out of ideas
• You can pass
• One person will explain to the class

28

• What are the benefits of active learning?

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Benefits of Active Learning

• Empowers students that might lose their voice in
  traditional settings
• Learning shared between teacher and student
• Builds confidence
• Limits intimidation
• Deepens understanding
• Enjoy class more
• Make contacts with multiple members of class
• Creates genuine communities within classrooms

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• What are the problems with active learning?

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Problems with Active Learning

• Cannot cover as much content in class
• Requires too much time to prepare for class
• Materials and resources and examples are lacking
• Time and preparation required to prepare
  materials
• Instructors must be better prepared since class
  may be more varied
• Disparity between active learning and the
  educational experience of most academics
• Ceding some control in the classroom
• Perception that AL is slower than traditional
  lectures
• Difficult to ensure that students come to class
  prepared
• Involves greater student engagement
• Takes more time
• Impossible to use AL in large classes

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Personal Risks

• Will colleagues perceive approach legitimate
• How will student evaluations be influenced
• How will promotion and tenure will be affected
• Some faculty respond with disdain

33
Cooperative Learning

• Well structured, sequenced assignments
• Subset of collaborative learning
• Students process material cooperatively in class
• Ask questions that require thought
• No student buy-in if too easy
• Dont ask questions that are too hard
• Students give up and get discouraged

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Learner-Centered Teaching

• Focus is on learning
• What the student is learning
• How the student is learning
• Help students retain and apply learning
• Position students for future learning
• Focus on what students are doing (not the
  teacher)
• Students ultimately responsible for learning
• - Weimer (2002)

35

• What is the BIGGEST problem you have with
  freshman students that keeps them from maximizing
  their learning opportunities?

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Intro Programming Problems

• Many students hate programming or claim they
  cant do it
• Many fail, give up, or continue with degrees but
  vow that their future careers will not include
  programming
• Active, sensing, and visual learners may be
  particularly disadvantaged by current methods of
  teaching
• -Thomas et al. (2002)

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Student Problems

• Failure of introductory courses to motivate
  students
• Passivity and competitiveness that is forced upon
  them
• Focus on algorithmic problem solving rather than
  conceptual understanding
• Tobias (1990)

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Traditional Students

• Dont come to class prepared
• Seem content to passively listen
• Want teacher to be the sage
• Want to be a receptacle that you pour knowledge
  into

39
Traditional Classroom

• Students compete to answer questions
• Majority of students never speak
• Dominated by lecture

40
Obstacles to Good Teaching

• Faculty consistently state
• Students are silent, sullen, withdrawn
• Little capacity for conversation
• Short attention spans
• Do not engage well with ideas
• Cling to narrow views of relevance and usefulness
• Dismiss the world of ideas
• - Palmer (1998)

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National TL Conference

• ITS A FACT
• Many students have no direction and lack
  motivation.
• These students have little knowledge of the
  social skills necessary for teamwork and
  negotiation.
• They are bored and passive in situations that
  calling for action, and belligerent and
  destructive in contexts that require reflection
• - Unreferenced citing by Palmer (1998)

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Classroom Assessment

• Takes One Minute
• Use words like Most and Least
• Have to focus on MOST significant part of their
  learning
• Does not evaluate student performance and subject
  mastery
• Not graded
• Anonymous
• Formative
• - Angelo Cross (1993)

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Purpose

• Students focus on the most significant parts of
  their learning
• Must self-assess to form an answer
• Transforms competitive environment
• Gives a voice to ALL students
• Ensures student questions are raised

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Pros and Cons

• Shows respect and interest in student feedback
• Encourages active engagement
• Can be seen as busy work if overused or poorly
  written
• Difficult to ask good questions

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Two Activities to Try

• Minute paper
• Muddiest Point

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Minute Paper

• Ask variations of the following
• What was the most important thing you learned
  today?
• What questions still remain unanswered?
• Usually takes longer than a minute

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Muddiest Point

• Students identify what was the least clear point
  of a lesson or topic
• Potential Problems
• Avoid always focusing on what students dont
  understand
• Disconcerting when your brilliant lecture is
  misunderstood

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Anonymous Formative Surveys

• How am I doing?
• Did the activity promote learning?
• Informs your practice
• Revise based on opinions
• Makes students feel like their opinions matter
• Can be deceived by the vocal minority

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Think - Pair - Share

• Instructor asks a question
• Students
• Think about the question
• Share their answer with another person
• Come to consensus
• One person in the class is chosen to answer

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Purpose

• Gives students time
• Slows the teacher down
• Students have to
• Process the question
• Think about an answer
• Formulate an answer

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Student Reactions (87 positive)

• That way you can make sure you know the material
• When you discuss before hand you have a better
  understanding
• If you don't understand you can ask questions the
  teacher may ask
• It makes sense to start talking when the question
  is first posed
• So you know the answer if you are called on
• I have to discuss because I usually don't know
  the answer
• Make sure we all agreed on something before one
  of us were called
• to be prepared
• If I didn't know the answer I'd look like an
  idiot
• So that it appeared neither of us were clueless
• Get it over with
• Because you wanted us to
• It may at least keep us more alert which is
  probably worthwhile

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Six Hypotheses of Teaching

• What is important is learning, not teaching
• Teachers can be wrong
• Classes are unpredictable
• Goal is to increase student motivation and
  ability to continue to learn after college
• Most student learning happens outside the
  classroom
• One key to learning is reflection
• - McKeachie (2002)

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Astin Study (1993)

• 159 baccalaureate-granting institutions
• Investigated 22 outcomes and 88 environmental
  factors
• Conclusion
• How students approach education and how teachers
  deliver the curriculum is far more important than
  the formal curricular content and structure

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Required Talents for AL

• Lecturing
• Leading discussions
• Provoking issues and questions
• Motivating and encouraging students
• Creating activities and assignments that lead to
  discovery
• Designing, choreographing, and managing the
  learning environment
• Natural collaborative skills
• Enjoy involving students in classroom discussion
  and debate
• Feel better teaching in a less formal environment
• Feel uncomfortable teaching behind a podium
• Meyers Jones (1993)

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Intangibles

• Patience
• Compassion
• No anger
• Repeat important concepts repeatedly
• Encourage
• Praise
• Perseverance
• Smile

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Personal Rewards

• Students love the courses
• Exceptional student evaluations
• Noisy classroom
• Students talk about what they learned
• You saved me

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• Teaching without learning is just talking
• - Angelo Cross (1993)