Dalit Levy

Electricity in the palms of her hands-the perception of electrical engineering by outstanding female high school pupils

This paper explores how outstanding female high school pupils perceived the profession of electrical engineering (EE) before and after a one-day conference aimed at exposing them to the profession of EE. The main finding indicates that, if planned properly and thoughtfully, even a single one-day conference can significantly change the perception of what EE is. In addition, the authors explore the pros and cons of studying EE, as expressed by the female high school pupils. They conclude with some recommendations related to the role of women in EE.

Insights and Conflicts in Discussing Recursion: A Case Study

Recursion is a significant concept, appearing in almost every introductory course in Computer Science (CS). CS educators and educational researchers often refer to difficulties in learning and teaching recursion. However, the research literature barely addresses the unique ways in which students relate to this interdisciplinary concept and the particular learners’ language concerning recursive phenomena. The gap is most apparent when seen through a constructivist lens, where the students’ prior knowledge and idiosyncratic conceptions should be referred to and reflected upon in order to serve as a basis for further knowledge construction. This paper reports on a study in which a collaborative classification of several recursive phenomena are used to facilitate the construction of recursion. The student discourse was recorded and analyzed, and a grounded categorical system was formed and examined. Preliminary results indicate some basic aspects of recursion in the student discourse, although the students apparently talk a very different language from that of the experts. Some ‘potentially rich’ discourse episodes were evident as well, representing conflicts among alternative conceptions. Such episodes can serve as a springboard for further learning.

Collaborative Conceptual Change: The Case of Recursion

The growing body of research within computer-science education has not yet focused on studying conceptual change, in comparison with the intensive account of conceptual change in other science domains. For example, although the difficulties in learning and teaching the significant concept of recursion are often referred to, the research literature barely addresses the unique ways in which students relate to this interdisciplinary concept, the particular learners’ language concerning recursive phenomena, and the processes of conceptual change. In order to fill the gap, the study here presented describes a naturalistic study in six Israeli computer-science classes and deals with a variety of conceptions emerged from analyzing the students’ discourse of recursive phenomena. The paper also suggests a model for organizing the conceptions in a way that might represent a collaborative process of conceptual change in regard to recursion in particular, and might also hint at the communal nature of conceptual change in general. In terms of this paper, that nature is referred to as ‘collaborative conceptual change’.

The principle of pattern-oriented curriculum and its implementation in a computer science module for high school students

An approach to the teaching and learning of high school computer science (CS) to and by educationally disadvantaged students (EDS) is described. We begin by outlining six pedagogical principles for designing learning environments appropriate for EDS. Then, the implementation of one of these principles is presented. Results from years of using the CS module developed based on these principles in Israeli schools show that at the end of the module, the students master basic programming tools and recognize basic algorithmic patterns. These findings indicate the potential contribution of the approach outlined here for EDS.

Introducing Computer Science to Educationally Disadvantaged High School Students

An approach to the teaching and learning of high school computer science (CS) to and by educationally disadvantaged students (EDS) is described, as well as the implementation of six pedagogical principles in two learning environments developed for Israeli schools. Following a brief description of the main characteristics of EDS classes and a review of the proposed guiding principles for the curricular development for such classes, implementation of two of these principles is discussed. First, the implementation of ‘decomposition’ is presented with regard to the TEVEL (Hebrew version of the Logo programming language) version of the CS module for EDS. Then, the implementation of ‘a pattern‐oriented curriculum’ is presented with regard to the Pascal version of the CS module for EDS. Our data show that in both versions, students taking the national final exam achieved above‐average grades. We also found that at the end of the module, the students master basic programming tools and recognize basic algorithmic patterns. These findings indicate the potential contribution of our approach for EDS in particular, but also for CS students in general.