Matti Lattu

Creativity and intrinsic motivation in computer science education: experimenting with robots

This paper describes our teaching experiment at the University of Helsinki, where the aim was to investigate a possibility to provide a learning environment supporting a combination of creativity, intrinsic motivation and the use of robots to bring constructionism into computer science (CS) education. To put the ideas into practice we developed a pilot course targeted at intermediate-level CS students. The learning objectives were not strict, but instead the attendees could participate in setting them and also take part in designing future uses of robots in CS1 and CS2 courses. There was no teaching in the traditional sense, but instead we arranged workshops based on creativity-enhancing working methods.

A visualisation tool as a demonstration aid

As algorithms have been seen to be hard to teach and learn, teachers have tried to look for help in algorithm animation. While the effect of algorithm animation on learning has been studied, but not reliably evidenced, this study tries to approach the problem from a different perspective. Sixty hours of assignment sessions in an introductory programming course were observed to determine the kind of demonstration and explaining strategies teachers and students tend to use. The results show that although the variation of different visualisation types is large, there are certain common properties describing the explanation of the programs. Guidelines for demonstration tools are presented based on the results.

Collaborative Problem Solving in a Control Technology Learning Environment, a Pilot Study

We have investigated collaborative problem solving in a teaching experiment, which was organised for 34 eighth-grade pupils in a control technology learning environment. The participating teacher was trained by us and pupils had available kits, interfaces and computers equipped with a novel icon oriented programming tool, Empirica Control. Pupil activities were video recorded and the analysis proceeded through writing video protocols, edited into episodes and then classified into categories. Categories were mainly derived empirically. In the analysis, we used concepts such as collaboration and problem solving, in accordance with social constructivism. The data showed that typical learning processes were collaborative (62% of all episodes) as well as dynamic problem-solving processes, in several stages. Pupils worked quite independently of the teacher, as they learned to use the programming tool autonomously in their technology projects. It appears, however, that more teacher support, such as introducing handbooks, planning tools and advanced programming skills, would have been an advantage. Some ideas about further development of study processes in modern learning environments are discussed.

Concretising the programming task: a case study in a secondary school

Empirica Control (EC) is a visual programming platform designed primarily for technology education. Students can use ECs visual tools to construct programs for controlling technological processes or systems, as well as to show graphical representation of program functions on a control flow diagram (flowchart). This means that EC is also a useful tool in learning programming. EC unifies flow diagrams with concrete semantics: each program structure corresponds to a factual event in the learners physical environment, not just as a visual representation on the screen. A teaching experiment for 34 eighth grade (14 years old) students using EC in a learning environment was intended to promote active, co-operative, and problem-centred learning. The data were gathered by teacher interview, observations during a teaching experiment, a questionnaire with a Likert scale instrument, and a test with open tasks. The results indicate that control technology, as implemented in EC, serves as a useful tool for learning principal elements of programming, like control structures, with minimal teaching effort. However, for more complex structures, teacher intervention is clearly required to achieve advanced outcomes. Thus, EC has suggested an important subject for further research: approaching the balance between student-centred exploration and teacher-guided instruction in learning environments.

Creativity-Supporting Learning Environment---CSLE

Despite much public discussion about the importance of creativity and innovation-friendly teaching in Finnish higher education, the impact of the general opinion on actual teaching practices has been limited. In the Finnish computer science education the teaching mostly follows a pattern of lectures, fixed exercise sets, and exams. With this article we want to open a discussion about possibilities of enhancing the learning environment by focusing on creative problem solving. We will present results from two research experiments in which we aimed to provide computer science students with a practically oriented learning environment with an explicit intention of supporting the creative work of students. There exists a vast amount of scientific theory about creativity, yet it is unclear on how to turn that theory into practice. Thus, our main interest was to find ways of applying creativity theory in practice in the context of computer science education. Our research experiments consist of a practically oriented computer science course, where LEGO®Mindstorms robots were used as the platform for the student work. Methodological tools used in this study included content analysis of student products, observations from our learning sessions and semi-structured interviews with the students. The course was organised two times: the first time was in spring 2009 and the second in spring 2010. The total number of attending students was 72. In this article we argue that our approach of providing a creativity-supporting practical computer science course was a success. We gained a lot of ideas on how to support creativity, the students were clearly motivated, and they began to learn a new kind of experimental working style. The robotics kit seemed to work well both as a trigger for motivation and as a platform to support experimental learning, enhancing students’ creativity and working style. In our opinion these findings are of great importance, and give promising practical ideas for the support of creativity in higher computer science education.

Using Vector-Space Model in Adaptive Hypermedia for Learning

Although many of the existing adaptive learning environments use other approaches, the vector-space model for information retrieval can be used in providing individualized learning with hypermedia. A system employing a modified version of the vector-space model is described. The approach taken is tested in a real-life setting to evaluate and train basic arithmetics skills of learners in elementary education. Although the impact on learning was not measured, the approach provides a useful evaluational help for the teacher to make observations about the learning processes of the learners.

Using computers in science and technology education

This working group wishes to promote interaction of computer scientists and educational researchers. Such an interaction would benefit not only educational sciences and computer science education but also contribute to computer science e.g. through behaviour metaphors in robotics. We have initiated an analysis of computer uses in education starting from applications especially in science and technology education. Having analysed various roles of computers in educational processes in the above area we have also identified technological requirements of modern learning environments and defined the concept of a rich learning environment. We use the Open Market metaphor to concretise this concept in two different cases. Finally, we present as an outcome of our cooperative analysis basic goals for technological literacy and a description of a technology literate student.

Towards a framework for designing and analyzing CS learning environments

This paper focuses on understanding and developing learning environments for computer science education. We present two models that we have successfully used in European and African contexts. The first model, Computer Science Learning Environments (CSLE), presents seven dimensions of computer science courses, which should be considered in learning environment design for computer science. The second model, Investigative Learning Environment (ILE), presents an action plan model, inspired by action research, for combining educational research and computer science teaching. In the empirical section we outline two case studies where these models were used to design and implement computer science learning environments in two different learning contexts. In the first case in University of Helsinki, Finland, we developed and studied a method of learning-by-inventing in a robotics programming course. That course was designed around problem discovery and inventing, and it employed LEGO® Mindstorms robots. In the second case in Tumaini University, Tanzania, we designed an environment for studying and improving introductory programming courses. Both models showed to be useful for designing, implementing, developing, and analyzing the courses in both learning contexts.