1 computer science teachers as amateurs, students and researchers raymond lister university of...

1

Computer Science Teachers as Amateurs, Students and Researchers

Raymond ListerUniversity of Technology, Sydney, Australia

2

Teacher-centred knowledge6

9

123

12

4

57

810

11

3

The Rise and Fall of an Academic Discipline

Pre-Discipline Part of larger discipline(s) E.g. Computer Science pre-1970s

Boom-Discipline Critical mass of undergraduates Teacher-centred knowledge Computing in the late 20th Century

Post-Discipline Loss of undergraduates E.g. English literature, physics 1980s, … Computing in the 21st Century ?????

4

Doomed?

5

The formal study of how novices come toknow a discipline iscentral to thesustained healthof a discipline.

6

Folk Medicine

See file:///c:/talks/2005KoliCallingBBCNEWSMothersWereRightOverColdsKoliAttempt.htm

And …

Benjamin, H. (1936) “Everybody’s Guide to Nature Cure”

7

Folk Medicine

Bruner, 1996

“… intuitive theories about how other minds work …

… badly want some deconstructing if their implications are to be appreciated".

×Pedagogy

8

… and there is no progress.

Differing folk pedagogies cannot be resolved …

9

Research vs. Teaching

Guided by direct experience and introspection

Guided by “folk pedagogies”

Outcomes remain private

Read literature, attend seminars/conferences

Work within well defined theoretical or empirical framework

Publish

We lead a double life

10

Research vs. Teaching

Koli, ACE; ACM’s ICER, SIGCSE, & ITiCSE

E.g. constructivism, Bloom’s taxonomy,

Kolb learning cycle

Publish! (see above)

Read literature, attend seminars/conferences

Work within well defined theoretical or empirical framework

Publish

&&

×

11

Boyer (1990)

But what exactlydid he mean by “scholar”

12

Practise Theory

The Three Types of Academic Teacher

13

Practise Theory

The Three Types of Academic Teacher

Amateur

• Guided by folk pedagogies

• Possibly an amateur in the finest sense of the word.

• … but has little influence on colleagues.

14

Practise Theory

The Three Types of Academic Teacher

StudentEducationSpecialist

Amateur

Implements education theory uncritically

Victim of theory wars?

• Guided by folk pedagogies

• May be a gifted teacher, or clumsy.

• Possibly an amateur in the finest sense of the word.

• Has little influence on colleagues.

15

Practise Theory

The Three Types of Academic Teacher

StudentEducationSpecialist

Amateur

Teacher as Researcher

Sees theory as either discipline-specific or requiring discipline-specific validation.

Implements education theory uncritically

Note:NOT researcheras teacher

16

Two dimensions(and short term vs. long term)

Quality of engagement with students

Quality ofengagementwith colleagues

amateur

low

low

high

high researcher

17

Overview of this talk

Amateur, Student, Researcher Just finished that

One example from my own work Leeds Working Group …

A logical break point … followed by BRACElet

See my Koli paper for other examples from my work

18

One Example from my Work: Teaching the Novice (“CS1”)

19

McCracken, et al. (2001)

10 authors, 8 universities, 5 countries

20

Remember, 8 universities, 5 countries … ... it says something about our discipline. Amateurs! … don’t blame yourself!

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

1 8 16 24 32 40 48 56 64 72 80 88 96

Scores

Nu

mb

er o

f S

tud

ents

McCracken, et al. (2001)

21

But Why?

22

“You cannot teach problem-solving. It’s innate.”

The Problem-Solving Gene Conjecture

The amateur feels no need to testthat conjecture (fact?).

The teacher-as-researcher asks “What experiment will test that conjecture?”

Answer: Eliminate problem-solving.

23

The Leeds Group (2004) 12 universities, 7 countries, >500 students

24

Twelve Multiple Choice Questions

25

Quartile Scores

Top 25% 10-12

Second 8-9

Third 5-7

Bottom 25% 0-4

Evidence against the problem-solving gene

The Leeds Group, 2004.12 universities,7 countries,over 500 students

Bottom 25% of students performing at a level

consistent with chance!0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

1 8 16 24 32 40 48 56 64 72 80 88 96

Scores

Nu

mb

er o

f S

tud

ents

McCracken et al., 2001

26

A logical break point in the talk6

9

123

12

4

57

810

11

27

Overview of this talk, again (break point)

Amateur, Student, Researcher

One example from my own work Leeds Working Group …

Just finished that … followed by BRACElet

See my Koli paper for other examples from my work

28

Leeds Group as Research

McCracken et al., 2001 … and a host of other papers

Empirical, yes. Theoretical, no.

SIGCSE Bulletin, December 2004.

Read literature, attend seminars/conferences

Work within well defined theoretical or empirical framework

Publish

29

McCracken et al., 2001 … and a host of other papers

Empirical, yes. Theoretical, no.

SIGCSE Bulletin, December 2004.

Leeds Group as Research

Read literature, attend seminars/conferences

Work within well defined theoretical or empirical framework

Publish

Bracelet

×

SOLO taxonomy×

Whalley, Lister, et al., to appear,ACE2006

Leeds GroupSIGCSE Bulletin, 2004.

30

BRACElet

A collaboration between four New Zealand institutions and one Australian (me).

Jacqueline Whalley, Tony Clear, Phil Robbins Errol Thompson Ajith Kumar Christine Prasad

31

BRACElet

Several multiple choice questions, superficially like the Leeds Group questions, plus …

One “explain in plain English” question …

32

BRACElet

In plain English, explain what the following code does:

int iNumbers[iMAX]; // iMAX is a constant

… array initialization omitted in question to students…

bool bValid = true;

for (int i = 0; i < iMAX-1; i++) {

if (iNumbers[i] > iNumbers[i+1]) { bValid = false; }}

33

SOLO Taxonomy (Biggs & Collis ’82 – general theory, not programming)

• “Prestructural” or “Unistructural”• An incorrect understanding of the semantics

of the programming language. • “Multistructural”

• Line-by-line understanding, but no grasp of what the code does as whole

• “failing to see the forest for the trees”• “Relational”

• A summary of the purpose of the code, for example “it checks if the elements in the array are sorted”

• The student “sees the forest”

34

BRACElet

010203040506070

Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4

% o

f s

tud

en

ts

Relational Multistructural

Unistructural Prestructural

Quartile 1 Quartile 2 Quartile 3 Quartile 4

The multiple choice questions determine quartile

35

BRACElet

010203040506070

Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4

% o

f s

tud

en

ts

Relational Multistructural

Unistructural Prestructural

Quartile 1 Quartile 2 Quartile 3 Quartile 4

Relational “see the forest”

36

BRACElet

010203040506070

Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4

% o

f s

tud

en

ts

Relational Multistructural

Unistructural Prestructural

Quartile 1 Quartile 2 Quartile 3 Quartile 4

37

010203040506070

Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4

% o

f s

tud

en

ts

Relational Multistructural

Unistructural Prestructural

BRACElet

Multistructural “failing to see the forest for the trees”

38

How? e.g. Roles of Variables

file:///2005KoliRolesOfVariablesHomePage.htm

file:///c:/talks/2005KoliLiteratureOnRolesOfVariables.htm

39

We are near the end of our time: Teacher-centred knowledge

6

9

123

12

4

57

810

11

40

Overview of this talk (again)

Amateur, Student, Researcher

One example from my own work Leeds Working Group … … followed by BRACElet

See my Koli paper for other examples from my work

41

Summary and Conclusion: Research vs. Teaching

Read literature, attend seminars/conferences

Work within well defined theoretical or empirical framework

Publish

The formal study of how novices come to know a discipline is central to the sustained health of a discipline.

&&×

The End