Noa Ragonis

A long-term investigation of the comprehension of OOP concepts by novices

This article describes research on the learning of object-oriented programming (OOP) by novices. During two academic years, we taught OOP to high school students, using Java and BlueJ. Our approach to teaching featured: objects-first, teaching composed classes relatively early, deferring the teaching of main methods, and focusing on class structure before algorithms. The research used a constructivist qualitative research methodology using observations and field notes, audio and video recordings, and an analysis of artifacts such as homework assignments. The findings were divided into four primary categories: class vs. object, instantiation and constructors, simple vs. composed classes, and program flow. In total, 58 conceptions and difficulties were identified. Nevertheless, at the end of the courses, the students understood the basic principles of OOP. The two main contributions of this research are: (i) the breadth and depth of its investigation into the concepts held by novices studying OOP, and (ii) the nature of the constructivist qualitative research methodology.

On understanding the statics and dynamics of object-oriented programs

This paper describes research into the influence of using static (class and object) visualization on understanding program flow in object-oriented programming. We found that the advantages of using the static visualization in the first stages of learning could become disadvantages in the advanced stages. The teacher must be aware of these pitfalls and plan the learning sequence accordingly. We think that the BlueJ learning environment that we used should be augmented with dynamic visualization so that students can coordinate the static and dynamic aspects of object-oriented programs.

A survey of computer science teacher preparation programs in Israel tells us: computer science deserves a designated high school teacher preparation!

This paper focuses on the development and implementation of computer science (CS) teacher preparation programs, which are among the educational and pedagogical challenges faced by those involved in the current development of CS. It presents a survey that reflects the accumulative knowledge gained in Israel over the past twenty years with respect to CS teacher preparation. We explored nine institutes (six universities and three teacher education colleges) that offer CS teacher preparation programs. The survey indicates that while the programs vary in their implementation details, they are all motivated by the unique characteristics of CS, which play a central role in their design. We suggest that this observation further emphasizes the obvious: CS deserves designated CS teacher preparation programs. We therefore hope that this survey will contribute to the community of CS educators in general and to practitioners involved in developing CS teacher preparation programs in particular.

Disciplinary-Pedagogical Teacher Preparation for Pre-service Computer Science Teachers: Rational and Implementation

This paper presents a case study of an academic course for pre-service computer science teachers that focus on teaching the discipline. The paper specifies and explains the rationale behind the development of the course and its explicit objectives. Achievement of the objectives is explained by describing the subject and content of the lessons, the types of activities integrated into the lessons and the tasks required of the students. All those engaged in teaching computer science: developers of curricula, lecturers in teacher training programs, and lecturers involved in the professional development of computer science teachers, can intend the course model for use.

How to establish a computer science teacher preparation program at your university?: the ECSTPP workshop

This paper presents a workshop on the establishment of computer science teacher preparation programs. The workshop is designed for the potential initiators of such programs---computer scientists and computer science curriculum developers-who do have computer science teaching experience, either in academia or in the high school, but lack knowledge about the actual construction of such programs. We suggest that such a workshop may stimulate the establishment of additional computer science teacher preparation programs, meeting the need identified in 2007 by the CSTA.

Computing Pre‐University: Secondary Level Computing Curricula

This article reviews the teaching of computing in high schools throughout the world. Many approaches exist to teaching computing topics to high-school students, which range from the use of basic computer applications, such as word processors and presentation software, and through the use of advanced applications, such as spread sheets, databases and the construction of basic websites, to some highly advanced computing programs that approach academic curricula. Various agencies and countries have invested great efforts over the years in the updating of curricula following rapid developments in the domain. Deliberations are many and they are manifested in the different names given to the curricula, in the diversity of their targets and contents, and in the wide range of guidelines offered vis-a-vis teaching approaches. The common denominator of all such curricula emphasizes the need to prepare students for the world of tomorrow, in all that pertains to computerization. Such training must refer to principles rather than be based on mastering of one tool or programming language rather than another. The article first presents the different approaches that emerge with respect to computing curricula, and then it offers a detailed review of curricula from 19 countries worldwide. Finally, a summarizing comparison between the various curricula is presented in conclusion. It to be viewed that even in countries that have curricula in place, there is still lack in terms of the implementing it. Implementation vis-a-vis the general population is more extensive in the prevalent areas of information technology (IT) or information and communication technology (ICT), but it is significantly less extensive in the area of computer science. It seems that most countries are still a long way from achieving their education vision with respect to the domain of computing, and plenty of work still must be done. Keywords: computing education; computer science education; IT; ICT; CS; K-12; computing curriculum

A study on attitudes and emphases in computer science teacher preparation

This paper focuses on the development and implementation of computer science (CS) teacher preparation programs, which are two of the main educational and pedagogical challenges faced by those involved in CS education. Specifically, the paper presents the second stage of a study, the first stage of which focused on the accumulative knowledge gained in Israel over the past twenty years on CS teacher preparation. The first stage of the study, presented in SIGCSE 2010, emphasized the obvious: CS deserves designated CS teacher preparation programs. The second stage of the study, presented in this paper, is based on a deeper analysis of the data gathered in the first stage. Specifically, we approached a wider community of CS teacher educators (from Israel, Europe, and the USA) and explored its perspective on one element of teacher preparation programs - the Methods of Teaching CS (MTCS) course. The conclusions from this stage can be viewed as a comprehensive framework for the design of an MTCS course, both in terms of topics to be included in the course as well as the relative weight (in time) that is to be dedicated to each topic.

Students’ Innovative Thinking and Their Perceptions About the Ideal Learning Environment

The goal of this study was twofold: to examine how undergraduate students’ perceive themselves as innovative thinkers and to examine the way they express innovative ideas when asked to illustrate the ideal learning environment. The research was conducted among undergraduate students in two higher education institutes (N = 202). The ‘mixed methods research’ model was employed in the analysis and interpretation of data that was collected by two research tools: the Innovative Thinking survey and the Reflective Drawings analysis. Findings indicated that most students perceived their innovative thinking as average. Two groups of students expressed the highest inclination to be innovative: young students and experts in ICTs, suggesting that innovative thinkers are most likely to become experts in the use of advanced technologies. The analysis of students’ drawings of the ‘ideal learning environment’, indicated that only few illustrated innovative scenarios. Findings showed that although most of the students made a shift from desktops to mobile computers, their drawings did not reflect the added value of ubiquity learning. This finding indicates that most of the students still adhere to traditional learning environments, and are not able to imagine learning in any other way.

Preparation of high school computer science teachers: the Israeli perspective

This special session examines frameworks for the preparation of high school computer science (CS) teachers from the Israeli perspective. Specifically, several Israeli CS teacher preparation programs and their components are presented. The presentation includes both a general overview and a detailed description of the actual implementation of such programs. This bipolar presentation, we suggest, provides practical guidelines with respect to CS teacher preparation, both for policy makers and for faculty members who wish to establish a CS teacher preparation program at their universities.

A multi-level distance learning-based course for high-school computer science leading-teachers

In this poster we present a flexible model for a multi-level distance learning-based teacher training. The model was implemented to introduce curricular and pedagogical aspects of teaching logic programming (LP) to high-school computer science in-service leading-teachers.