Transcript
Page 1: Computer Science Teachers as Amateurs, Students and Researchers Raymond Lister

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Computer Science Teachers as Amateurs, Students and ResearchersRaymond ListerUniversity of Technology, Sydney, Australia

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Teacher-centred knowledge6

912

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24

57

810

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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 ?????

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Doomed?

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

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Folk Medicine

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

And …

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

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Folk Medicine

Bruner, 1996

“… intuitive theories about how other minds work …

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

×Pedagogy

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… and there is no progress.

Differing folk pedagogies cannot be resolved …

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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

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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

&&

×

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Boyer (1990)

But what exactlydid he mean by “scholar”

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Practise Theory

The Three Types of Academic Teacher

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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.

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Practise Theory

The Three Types of Academic Teacher

Student EducationSpecialist

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.

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Practise Theory

The Three Types of Academic Teacher

Student EducationSpecialist

Amateur

Teacher as Researcher

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

Implements education theory uncritically

Note:NOT researcheras teacher

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Two dimensions(and short term vs. long term)

Quality of engagement with students

Quality ofengagementwith colleagues

amateur

low

lowhigh

high researcher

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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

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

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McCracken, et al. (2001)

10 authors, 8 universities, 5 countries

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

05

10152025303540

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

Scores

Num

ber o

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dent

sMcCracken, et al. (2001)

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But Why?

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“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.

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

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Twelve Multiple Choice Questions

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Quartile Scores

Top 25% 10-12Second 8-9Third 5-7Bottom 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!05

10152025303540

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

Scores

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McCracken et al., 2001

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A logical break point in the talk6

912

31

24

57

810

11

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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

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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

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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.

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BRACElet

A collaboration between four New Zealand institutions and one Australian (me). Jacqueline Whalley, Tony Clear, Phil Robbins Errol Thompson Ajith Kumar Christine Prasad

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BRACElet

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

One “explain in plain English” question …

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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; }}

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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”

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BRACElet

010203040506070

Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4

% o

f stu

dent

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Relational MultistructuralUnistructural Prestructural

Quartile 1 Quartile 2 Quartile 3 Quartile 4

The multiple choice questions determine quartile

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BRACElet

010203040506070

Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4

% o

f stu

dent

s

Relational MultistructuralUnistructural Prestructural

Quartile 1 Quartile 2 Quartile 3 Quartile 4

Relational “see the forest”

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BRACElet

010203040506070

Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4

% o

f stu

dent

s

Relational MultistructuralUnistructural Prestructural

Quartile 1 Quartile 2 Quartile 3 Quartile 4

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010203040506070

Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4

% o

f stu

dent

s

Relational MultistructuralUnistructural Prestructural

BRACElet Multistructural “failing to see the forest for the trees”

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How? e.g. Roles of Variables

file:///2005KoliRolesOfVariablesHomePage.htm

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

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

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912

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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

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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


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