https://par.nsf.gov/servlets/purl/10054119

Demystifying computational thinking

It represents a universally applicable attitude and skill set everyone, not just computer scientists, would be eager to learn and use.

/pdf/computational-thinking-ji-suan-lun-de-si-kao-3qvv34ha3s.pdf

Computational Thinking 計算論的思考

Advancing students' computational thinking skills through educational robotics

https://gala.gre.ac.uk/9243/1/(item_9243)_kazimoglu_2012_cms.pdf

A Serious Game for Developing Computational Thinking and Learning Introductory Computer Programming

This paper outlines an innovative game model for learning computational thinking (CT) skills through digital game-play. We have designed a game framework where students can practice and develop their skills in CT with little or no programming knowledge. We analyze how this game supports various CT concepts and how these concepts can be mapped to programming constructs to facilitate learning introductory computer programming. Moreover, we discuss the potential benefits of our approach as a support tool to foster student motivation and abilities in problem solving. As initial evaluation, we provide some analysis of feedback from a survey response group of 25 students who have played our game as a voluntary exercise. Structured empirical evaluation will follow, and the plan for that is briefly described.

Learning Programming at the Computational Thinking Level via Digital Game-Play

Owing to their easy engagement and motivational nature, games predominantly in young age groups, have been omnipresent in education since ancient times. More recently, computer video games have become widely used, particularly in secondary and tertiary education, as a method of enhancing the understanding of some subject areas (especially in English language education, geography, history and health) and also used as an aid to attracting and retaining students.

Many academics have proposed a number of approaches using video game-based learning (GBL), to impart theoretical and applied knowledge, especially in the Computer Science discipline. Despite several years of considerable effort, the empirical evidence in the GBL literature is still missing, specifically that which identifies what students learn from a serious game regarding programming constructs, and whether or not they acquire additional skills after they have been introduced to a GBL approach. Much of the existing work in this area explores the motivational aspect of video games and does not necessarily focus on what people can learn or which cognitive skills they can acquire that would be beneficial to support their learning in introductory computer programming.

Hence, this research is concerned with the design, and determining the educational effectiveness, of a game model focused on the development of computational thinking (CT) skills through the medium of learning introductory programming constructs. The research is aimed at designing, developing and evaluating a serious game through a series of empirical studies in order to identify whether or not this serious game can be an educationally effective tool for learning computer programming at the CT level.

The game model and its implementation are created to achieve two main purposes. Firstly, to develop a model that would allow students to practise a series of cognitive abilities that characterise CT, regardless of their programming background. Secondly, to support the learning of applied knowledge in introductory programming by demonstrating how a limited number of key introductory computer programming constructs which introductory programming students often find challenging and/or difficult to understand.

In order to measure the impact of the serious game and its underlying game model, a pilot-study and a series of rigorous empirical studies have been designed. The pilot study was conducted as a freeform evaluation to obtain initial feedback on the game’s usability. A group of students following Computer Science and related degree programmes with diverse backgrounds and experience participated in the pilot-study and confirmed that they found the game enjoyable. The feedback obtained also showed that the majority of students believed the game would be beneficial in helping introductory programming students learn computational thinking skills.

Having incorporated the feedback into a revised version of the game, a further series of rigorous studies were conducted, analysed and evaluated. In order to accurately measure the effect of the game, the findings of the studies were statistically analysed using parametric or non-parametric measures depending on the distribution of data gathered. Moreover, the correlations between how well students did in the game, the knowledge gain students felt, and the skills they felt they acquired after their game-play are thoroughly investigated.

It was found that intrinsic motivation, attitude towards learning through game-play, students’ perception of their programming knowledge, how well students visualise programming constructs and their problem solving abilities were significantly enhanced after playing the game. The correlations of the studies provided evidence that there is no strong and significant relationship between the progress of students in the game and the computational thinking skills they felt they gained from it. It was concluded that students developed their computational thinking skills regardless of whether or not they reached the higher levels in the game. In addition to this, it was found that there are no strong and significant correlations between the key computer programming constructs and the computational thinking skills, which provides strong evidence that learning how introductory computer programming constructs work and developing computational thinking skills, are not directly connected to each other in the game environment. It was also found that students felt that their conditional logic, algorithmic thinking and simulation abilities had significantly developed after playing the game.

As a result, this research concludes that the designed serious game is an educationally effective tool for a) learning how key introductory computer programming constructs work and b) developing cognitive skills in computational thinking.

Empirical evidence that proves a serious game is an educationally effective tool for learning computer programming constructs at the computational thinking level

This paper outlines how an educational game can be used to support the learning of programming within the Computer Science (CS) discipline and reports on the qualitative results of a series of rigorous studies of the use of this game by first-year introductory programming students. Although this paper applies to the CS discipline, computational thinking (CT) as an intrinsic part of the games process is applicable to any discipline. This is because CT combines logical thinking with CS concepts to produce a recipe for solving problems, regardless of where a problem lies.

Many studies indicate that learning through educational games appeals widely to students, regardless of their backgrounds (Liu et al, 2011; Papastergiou, 2009). However, though many of these studies demonstrate enthusiasm for educational games and indicate that games can enhance motivation for learning, they offer very few conclusions about what students learn from playing them or whether or not they acquire cognitive abilities thereby (Denner et al, 2012; Connolly et al, 2011).

/pdf/developing-an-educational-game-to-support-cognitive-learning-kqkmfms5lu.pdf

Developing an Educational Game to Support Cognitive Learning

One of the driving forces behind developing digital games is the idea that digital games have the potential to provide engagement in learning by delivering timely and well structured feedback. This paper discusses how the interactive-feedback loop found in digital games can be used to effectively support the engagement and also the progress of learners. We investigate key motivational factors in providing feedback and then explore current approaches in the use of feedback. This study introduces the concept that learning in games should be an integral part of the game play rather than layering games on top of traditional learning. By way of illustration, we introduce the game based approach we are currently developing to support first year undergraduate computer science students learning introductory programming.

Enchanting e-learning through the use of interactive-feedbak loop in digital games

Due to the rapid advancement of technology, the science of cryptography increasingly gained importance. Basically, the encryption algorithms used to encrypt the message or data. This work is motivated from OSYM (National University Entrance Exam of Turkey in 2011). The main aim of this study is to analyse the impact of encrypted multiple choice exam on students’ success in Computer I course which is offered to Faculty of Law at Cyprus International University. Therefore, the study uses the results of an encrypted and non-encrypted multiple choice exam used in Computer I course. Encrypted multiple choice exam involves individual question sheets for each student having their own answer keys. For this reason, the original exam questions were arranged differently for each student. Thus, a separate answer key is created for each one of the students. While there were 150 students who took the course in fall 2011-2012, there was no assigned priority to any of the questions. In the implementation, the generated one-time pads (keys) are permutations of n numbers where n was the number of questions. This paper aims to compare effect of encrypted exam with non-encrypted exam results on different groups of students’ success, using descriptive and inferential statistics. It is aimed to measure whether or not there is a correlation between the encrypted and non-encrypted exam results.

/pdf/impact-of-encrypted-multiple-choice-exam-on-student-success-487dkil7bi.pdf

Impact of encrypted multiple choice exam on student success

Learning computer programming is often perceived to be a difficult task by novice programming students and there have been several studies into the failure rate of students learning to program. This study explores the correlations between introductory programming students’ ability to program and their theoretical knowledge in computer programming in order to analyze whether or not their performance in written exams are genuine and accurate. A rigorous statistical analysis was conducted with 400 introductory programming students who were randomly selected without considering whether or not they had a good programming background. The findings of the study used inferential statistics in order to define the correlations between students’ practical and theoretical exam results. Additionally, the correlations between students’ department and their exam results were investigated in order to define whether or not students’ departments have an impact on their success in exams.

Cagin Kazimoglu

Papers

Empirical evidence that proves a serious game is an educationally effective tool for learning computer programming constructs at the computational thinking level

Developing an Educational Game to Support Cognitive Learning

Enchanting e-learning through the use of interactive-feedbak loop in digital games

Impact of encrypted multiple choice exam on student success

Correlations among assessment techniques used in an introductory programming course