Ideas… Brainstorming… Future…

Email: [email protected]

Ljubomir Jerinid

Faculty of Science Department of Mathematics and Informatics

Chair of Computer Science

07-Jan-15 Ideas… Brainstorming… Future… 2

1. “eEucation = eLearning + eTeaching + …” 2. Formal specification of eLearning

Systems (LMS, ITS, ILE, WBL, etc.) 3. Pedagogical Agents 4. Pedagogical Patterns 5. Teaching Programming 6. ….

Ideas


Learning Programming

Programming is hard. It's the process of telling a bunch of transistors to do something, where that something may be very clear to us fuzzy humans, with all our built-in pattern matching, language processing, and existing knowledge, but really, horrifically, tediously difficult to communicate to a bunch of dumb transistors.

Dethe Elza


Starting point… Pedagogy, the art of teaching, under various names, has been adopted by the academic world as a respectable and an important field. The art of learning is an academic orphan. One should not be mislead by the fact that libraries of academic departments of psychology often have a section marked “learning theory.” The older books under this heading deal with the activity that is sometimes caricatured by the image of a white-coated scientist watching a rat run through a maze… newer volumes are more likely to be based upon the theories of performance of computer programs than on the behavior of animals… but… they are not about the art of learning… they do not offer advice to the rat (or to the computer) about how to learn.

Seymour Papert, The Children’s Machine

Seymour Papert (1993). The Children’s Machine: Rethinking School in the Age of the Computer, Basic Books: New York.

So… a lot of theories arise…

Learning Theories:

ACT-R (John Anderson)

Adult Learning Theory (P. Cross)

Algo-Heuristic Theory (L. Landa)

Andragogy (Malcolm Knowles)

Anchored Instruction (John Bransford)

Aptitude-Treatment Interaction (L. Cronbach & R. Snow)

Attribution Theory (B. Weiner)

Cognitive Dissonance Theory (L. Festinger)

Cognitive Flexibility Theory (R. Spiro)

Cognitive Load Theory (J. Sweller)

Component Display Theory (M. David Merrill)

Conditions of Learning (Robert Gagne)

Connectionism (Edward Thorndike)

Constructivist Theory (Jerome Bruner)

Contiguity Theory (Edwin Guthrie)

Conversation Theory (Gordon Pask)

Criterion Referenced Instruction (Robert Mager)

Double Loop Learning (C. Argyris)

Drive Reduction Theory (C. Hull)

Dual Coding Theory (A. Paivio)

Elaboration Theory (C. Reigeluth)

Experiential Learning (C. Rogers)

Functional Context Theory (Tom Sticht)

Genetic Epistemology (J. Piaget)

Gestalt Theory (M. Wertheimer)

GOMS (Card, Moran & Newell)

General Problem Solver (A. Newell & H. Simon)

Information Pickup Theory (J.J. Gibson)

Information Processing Theory (G.A. Miller)

Lateral Thinking (E. DeBono)

Levels of Processing (Craik & Lockhart)

Mathematical Learning Theory (R.C. Atkinson)

Mathematical Problem Solving (A. Schoenfeld)

Minimalism (J. M. Carroll)

Model Centered Instruction and Design Layering (Andrew Gibbons)

Modes of Learning (D. Rumelhart & D. Norman)

Multiple Intelligences (Howard Gardner)

Operant Conditioning (B.F. Skinner)

Originality (I. Maltzman)

Phenomenonography (F. Marton & N. Entwistle)

Repair Theory (K. VanLehn)

Script Theory (Roger Schank)

Sign Theory (E. Tolman)

Situated Learning (J. Lave)

Soar (A. Newell et al.)

Social Development (L. Vygotsky)

Social Learning Theory (A. Bandura)

Stimulus Sampling Theory (W. Estes)

Structural Learning Theory (J. Scandura)

Structure of Intellect (J. Guilford)

Subsumption Theory (D. Ausubel)

Symbol Systems (G. Salomon)

Triarchic Theory (R. Sternberg)

Transformational Theory (J. Mezirow)


… so “we”…


•Chose: Active learning with Constructivist Theory (Jerome Bruner) approach, with a goal to prepare student to solve so called “real world” problems… •Constructivism - A philosophy masquerading as a theory. A way of looking at the world that says that people construct their view of the world based on their previous experiences. People construct their own unique knowledge from raw materials. A teachers have to provide, that:

• Instruction must be concerned with the experiences and contexts that make the student willing and able to learn (readiness).

• Instruction must be structured so that it can be easily grasped by the student (spiral organization).

• Instruction should be designed to facilitate extrapolation and or fill in the gaps (going beyond the information given).

… and…


What about teachers? 1. Create real-world environments that employ the context in which

learning is relevant; 2. Focus on realistic approaches to solving real-world problems; 3. The instructor is a coach and analyzer of the strategies used to solve

these problems; 4. Stress conceptual interrelatedness, providing multiple representations

or perspectives on the content; 5. Instructional goals and objectives should be negotiated and not

imposed; 6. Evaluation should serve as a self-analysis tool; 7. Provide tools and environments that help learners interpret the

multiple perspectives of the world; 8. Learning should be internally controlled and mediated by the learner. 9. Teachers serve in the role of guides, monitors, coaches, tutors and

facilitators…

… the goal is…


Our goal is to transform how children learn, what they learn, who they learn from.

Mitchel Resnick, A Media Lab for Kids

Resnick, M. A Media Lab for Kids: $27 Million from Isao Okawa Creates Center for Future Children at MIT, MIT News, November 18, 1998.


Teaching Programming…

From my point of view, few textbooks treat methodological skills of teaching programming appropriately. They teach programs, not programming. They focus largely on knowledge, not skill. Indeed, I would claim that computer scientists in general do not think much about the programming process and have little idea about how to teach programming.

David Gries Computer Science Cornell University

D. Gries and P. Gries. Multimedia Introduction to Programming Using Java. Springer Verlag, NY. 2005.


…Teaching Programming My questions: 1. “What are the reasons for drop-out of CS / IT studies (courses)?” to

identify where are the problems for faculty (less students) and/or

freshmen (“bed” results)

2. “Is Information Technologies part of Computer Science, or vice verse?”,

i.e. to decide what the curriculum offer.

3. “OO first?”, i.e. to find “new” approach?

4. “What happened with „The Fifth Generation Computer Systems project

(FGCS)?‟?” i.e. to thing about the future of Computing (According to

ACM Computing Curricula 2005, defines five sub-disciplines of the

computing field: Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Information

Systems, Information Technology, and Software Engineering.)

5. At the end, “eEducation - forty years of promises?” to think about the

resources and to introduce e-Education.


eLearning: Experience at DMI Novi Sad…

•“Usage Computer in Education” (in CS) started in 1987 at Institute of Mathematics (now Department of Mathematics and Informatics) – OSOF: LEA, TEA & EXA (Paunic Dj., Ivanovic M., Budimac Z., Jerinic Lj., Putnik Z., etc. •Later, research went in different ways:

•Less… •CAI, CAL, CBE, CBL, CMI, ITS, ILE…

•EduSof, GetBits, Svetovid, Protus… •NEW “eEducation = eTeaching + eLearning + ….”

•Pedagogical Agents •Web Based Education – Ontology approach, etc. •Pedagogical Patterns…

together with “new” people (Devedzic V., Vesin S., Radovic D., Lomic M., Komlenov Z,, Pribela I. etc.


Problem Statement... • Learning (teaching) IT and CS is hard – how to learn (teach) IT

and / or CS? • Problem with small number of candidates for CS and IT, as well

as drop-out problem from CS and IT courses in USA, Finland, Australia, etc. at the University level – why?

• Where to put learning of elementary knowledge about CS and IT (organization level) for non specialist?

• Where to start in CS and IT learning (teaching), on secondary or primary level of Education?

• What is the bottom line (minimum knowledge) on knowledge that student have to bring to University?

• OO First?

In Serbia In Serbia Educational reform is on 2/3 of long, long way…

(?)

We have done reform at the University education and Primary (?)

IT and CS are put in Primary education, i.e. the students learn basic of IT from 6-th grade (obligatory course as a part of Technical education) and elementary programming (as the elective course in 6, 7 and 8 grade)

In Secondary level the reform is stopped for now so… we don’t know what will be.


The Goal… for teaching

To investigate Pedagogical Patterns approach (Pedagogical Patterns Project Home: www.pedagogicalpatterns.org, Bergin, J., Fourteen Pedagogical Patterns. http://csis.pace.edu/~bergin/PedPat1.3.html)

Try to find out new ones

And to modify and explore the existing Patterns in a sense of their Instances for teaching Elementary programming

We introduce: Stepwise Improvement with Fine-tuning and Stepwise Emphasis with Fine-tuning


http://www.pedagogicalpatterns.org/

http://csis.pace.edu/~bergin/PedPat1.3.html

Terminology… The American Educational Research Association (AERA) has classified the

field of educational research into 12 divisions that represent broad substantives or professional interests.

However, some fields were not given such an independent status. For example, the philosophy of education did not exist as its own field of a classification title level.

In addition, continental Europe (without Great Britain) researchers have understood didactics slightly differently than Anglo-American researchers. In Anglo-American countries didactics was found in under several division titles such as Curriculum Studies, Learning and Instruction, and School Evaluation & Program Development ("12 divisions within AERA", Retrieved January 24, 2011 from http://www.aera.net/divisions/Default.aspx?menu_id=62&id=179


http://www.aera.net/divisions/Default.aspx?menu_id=62&id=179

http://www.aera.net/divisions/Default.aspx?menu_id=62&id=179

Terminology… The difference in classification and emphasis of subfields in the

Continent and the America is a matter of different cultures that have their own philosophical and political roots. Uljens ("On General Education as a Discipline", Studies in Philosophy and Education, 20, 291-301. pp. 295, 2001), for example, stated that “From an American perspective it may seem odd to have several sub-disciplines in education. From a Nordic perspective again it is odd that education is not an autonomous discipline at every American university, but is instead conceived of as a ‘a field of research’.”

Methodic of CS (IT) ??? (I do not find yet!!! I find Didactics, Pedagogy, Subject-matter Didactics , Education of CS / Computing / IT / ICT ect.)


Pedagogical Agents… Harvester agents, collecting informations, “spy” what

students are doing, collecting the appropriate learning material from the web, etc.

Classifier module agents are in connction with student model (overlay, fuzzy…), i.e. change the way of lesson presentation, “path” through lesson, performs automatic classification of individual learning objects, etc.

Pedagogical agents, is used to interact with students and help them comprehend the underlying learning material (helpful, misleading, emotional…)


…Pedagogical Agents… The task tailored to the topic on “For Loops” in Java requires the student to complete a program for calculating the first 10 members of the Fibonacci sequence.


…Pedagogical Agents… The helpful agent uses the following set of hints

for (int i = ?; i < 10; i++){} “What should be the starting index? Remember that the first element of the Fibonacci sequence has the index 0, while the expression for calculating other elements is fi = fi-1 + fi-2”

for (int i = 0; i <= ?; i++){} “What should be the ending index? Although you need 10 numbers, remember that the index of the first element is 0.”

for (int i = 0; i < 10; ?){} “Should you use ++i or i++ to modify the value of i? Remember that this modification is always executed at the end of the for loop”


…Pedagogical Agents… The misleading pedagogical agent uses the following set of corresponding hints for (int i = ?; i < 10; i++){} “What should be the starting index? Hint: the first element of the Fibonacci sequence is often denoted as f0”

for (int i = 0; i <= ?; i++){} “What should be the ending index? Hint: look at the initialization of the array f - how many elements does it have?”

for (int i = 0; i < 10; ?){} “Should you use ++i or i++ to modify the value of i? Remember that the instruction ++i first increases the value of i, and then uses the new value in an expression.”


Examples… Learning by (on) mistakes is very fine teaching techniques or teaching method

generally speaking. In teaching Computer Science, Informatics, Information Technologies, and similar disciplines based on technique or technologies, and it is used very often. Joseph Bergin (Fourteen Pedagogical Patterns. http://csis.pace.edu/~bergin/PedPat1.3.html) proposed couple of general Pedagogical Patterns which are directly involved in learning by mistake method of learning, with special implications in usage of them in teaching CS1 and CS2 courses.

Mistake - Students are asked to create an artifact such as a program or design that contains a specific error. Use of this pattern explicitly teaches students how to recognize and fix errors. We ask the student to explicitly make certain errors and then examine the consequences.

Grade It Again Sam - To provide an environment in which students can safely make errors and learn from them, permit them to resubmit previous assignments for reassessment and an improved grade.


http://csis.pace.edu/~bergin/PedPat1.3.html

… and Examples of Pedaggogical Patterns

Or, Michael Clancy originated a very vivid parameter passing exercise that demonstrates the concept of a parameter and the difference between value and reference parameters. Astrachan has adapted this as well. Frisbees™ are passed between caller and called function. The Frisbee represents a variable and has a name and a value written on it with a grease pen (Post-It™ notes can be used as well). In a reference variable, any change in the variable is written directly on the Frisbee. In a value parameter, the original value is written on the Frisbee, but the Frisbee is bagged in a transparent bag before being passed. Any change by the called function is written on the bag. Therefore the original value is not affected.


Further Work…

How to Teach Elementary Programming Course (the whole approach)?

Spiral and / or Semiotic Ladder are dominant, but are they good enough?

Approach Stepwise Improvement, or the modification, known as Stepwise Refinement, have been modified (by us) with FINE TUNNING. And also new approach Stepwise Emphasis with Fine-tuning is suggested.


Something Interesting…

Transforming High School Computer Science: CS / 10,000 Project

(For further information, contact Jan Cuny, Program Officer for Broadening Participation in Computing, National Science Foundation ([email protected], 703-292-8489).)


The End…

Thank you for your attention 07-Jan-15 Ideas… Brainstorming… Future… 25

Teach your children well, Their father's hell did slowly go by, And feed them on your dreams The one they picked, the one you'll know by. Don't you ever ask them why, if they told you, you would cry, So just look at them and sigh and know they love you.

Teach your parents well, Their children's hell will slowly go by, And feed them on your dreams The one they picked, the one you'll know by. Don't you ever ask them why, if they told you, you would cry, So just look at them and sigh and know they love you.

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