Robert Hannah

Interacting factors that predict success and failure in a CS1 course

The factors that contribute to success and failure in introductory programming courses continue to be a topic of lively debate, with recent conference panels and papers devoted to the subject (e.g. Rountree et al. 2004, Ventura et al., 2004, Gal-Ezer et al., 2003). Most work in this area has concentrated on the ability of single factors (e.g. gender, math background, etc.) to predict success, with the exception of Wilson et al. (2001), which used a general linear model to gauge the effect of combined factors. In Rountree et al. (2002) we presented the results of a survey of our introductory programming class that considered factors (such as student expectations of success, among other things) in isolation. In this paper, we reassess the data from that survey by using a decision tree classifier to identify combinations of factors that interact to predict success or failure more strongly than single, isolated factors.

Aitia, Astronomy and the Timing of the Arrhēphoria

This paper deals with the cult and myths of the daughters of the mythical king of Athens, Erechtheus, who lived on the Acropolis. The myth, preserved in Euripides’ tragedy Erechtheus, establishes the deceased daughters as goddesses who are owed cult by the Athenians. It further equates them with the Hyades, a prominent star cluster in the constellation of Taurus, which they form after their deaths. We examine here the possibility that this myth not only narrates the placement of the girls after their death in the sky in the form of the Hyades, but also may have bound the constellation to certain festivals held on the Acropolis, which through their aetiological myths were connected to the daughters of Erechtheus and in which the participation of young girls (arrhēphoroi) was important. To explicate this cult, we explore its context on the Acropolis as fully as possible, through the visual arts, the literary myth, the festival calendar, and the natural landscape and night sky, so as to determine whether the movement of the Hyades was indeed visible from the Acropolis during the time when the young maiden cult rites were performed on the hill. This study investigates for the first time the role of the night sky and astronomical observations in the performance of the nocturnal festival of the Arrhēphoria. Αίτια, Αστρονομία και ο Χρόνος Εορτασμού των Αρρηφορίων To άρθρο εξετάζει την λατρεία και τους μύθους που σχετίζονται με τις κόρες του μυθικού βασιλιά της Αθήνας, Ερεχθέα που εθεωρείτω οτι έζησε στην Ακρόπολη. Ο μύθος, που έχει διατηρηθεί στην τραγωδία του Ευριππίδη Ερεχθεύς, καθιερώνει τις νεκρές κόρες του Ερεχθέα ως θεότητες στις οποίες οι Αθηναίοι οφείλουν λατρεία. Τις εξισώνει περαιτέρω με τις ϒάδες, ένα εμφανές ανοικτό αστρικό σμήνος στον αστερισμό του Ταύρου, το οποίο και σχηματίζουν μετά τον θάνατό τους. Εξετάζουμε εδώ την πιθανότητα οτι αυτός ο μύθος δεν αφηγείται απλά τον καταστερισμό των κοριτσιών μετά τον θάνατό τους στον έναστρο ουρανό υπό την μορφή των ϒάδων, αλλά οτι πιθανώς να συνέδεε το σμήνος με συγκεριμένες θρησκευτικές εορτές που λάμβαναν χώρα στην Ακρόπολη, οι οποίες μέσα από τους αιτολογικούς μυθους τους ήταν συνδεδεμένες με τις κόρες του Ερεχθέα και στις οποίες η συμμετοχή κοριτσιών (Αρρηφόρων) ήταν σημαντική. Για να εξηγηθεί αυτή η υπόθεση σε σχέση με την λατρεία, εξετάζουμε το πλαίσιο της Ακρόπολης όσο το δυνατόν πληρέστερα εντάσσοντας στην μελέτη εικαστικές τέχνες, τον μύθο όπως διασώζεται στην αρχαία λογοτεχνία, το θρησκευτικό ημερολόγιο, το φυσικό τοπίο και τον νυκτερινό ουρανό, έτσι ώστε να καθορίσουμε εαν η κίνηση του σμήνους των ϒάδων ήταν πράγματι ορατή από την Ακρόπολη κατά την χρονική περίοδο που η λατρεία των κοριτσιών λάμβανε χώρα στον Ιερό Βράχο. Αυτή η μελέτη εξετάζει για πρώτη φορά τον ρόλο του ενάστρου ουρανού και των αστρονομικών παρατηρήσεων στην τέλεση της νυκτερινής εορτής των Αρρηφορίων.

Ritual and the cosmos: astronomy and myth in the Athenian Acropolis

The paper deals with the cult of the daughters of the mythical king of Athens, Erechtheus, who lived on the Acropolis. This myth establishes the deceased daughters as god- desses who are owed cult by the Athenians. It further equates them with the Hyades, a prominent star cluster in the constellation of Taurus, which they form after their deaths. We examine here the possibility that this myth not only narrates the placement of the girls after their death in the sky in the form of the Hyades, but also may have bound the constellation to certain festivals held on the Acropolis, which through their aetiological myths were connected to the daughters of Erechtheus and in which the participation of young girls (Arrhephoroi) was important. To explicate this cult, we explore its context on the Acropolis as fully as possible, through the visual arts, the literary myth, the festival calendar, and the natural landscape and night-sky, so as to determine whether the movement of the constellation of the Hyades was indeed visible from the Acropolis during the time when the young maiden cult rites were performed on the hill. According to a Greek tragedy, Erechtheus, written by Euripides in the 5th century BC, the mythical king of Athens, Erechtheus, sent ambassadors to the Delphic oracle to ask what he needed to do to ensure victory in the war against nearby Eleusis. The oracle responded that he had to sacrifice one of his three daughters. The youngest daughter of the king was chosen for the sacrifice. Her two sisters, however, had sworn that they should all die together, and committed suicide by throwing themselves off the Acropolis, where the king and his family lived. Euripides goes on to say that upon the death of the maidens, Athena appears and proclaims that the souls of Erechtheus three daughters have not gone to Hades. Instead, she has caused their spirit to dwell in the upper reaches of the sky and (she) shall make a famous name throughout Hellas for men to call them the Hyakinthian goddesses (Erechtheus, fr. 370: 71-74). An ancient commentator identifies these with the star cluster of the Hyades (scholiast on Aratos, Phaenomena 172). This proclamation of the placing of the girls in the night-sky as the constellation of the Hyades is followed by another proclamation of Athena that the girls are from now on to be considered goddesses and that the Athenians should offer them annual sacrifices and choral dances performed by young girls. Apart from the myth narrating the death of the daughters of Erechtheus, another Acropolis myth also talks of young maidens killing themselves by jumping off the Acrop- olis hills (Apollodoros, Library 3.14.2; Philochoros, FGrH 328 F 105). These were the three daughters of another mythical Athenian king, Kekrops: Herse, Aglauros and Pan- drosos. The reason for the death of these maidens was their disobeying of Athenas orders not to open the box containing the newborn Erichthonios. The girls threw themselves

A fide mediation framework for virtual objects

This paper proposes a framework for thinking about the presentation of virtual objects. This framework provides a continuum for considering the effects of design strategies on media used in teaching Classical Art. With the premise that learning is supported through the judicious presentation of appropriate materials, we explore what type of presentation is effective and why. A study of the use of photo-realistic virtual reality for teaching Classical Sculpture demonstrates the application of ideas set out in this framework. Results from this study suggest that virtual artefacts can be employed as effective tools for teaching Classical Art.

Learning with digital artifacts: gaining a sense of the object

In this article some thoughts on the use of digitised artifacts for teaching visual analysis in Classical art are presented. In order to employ digital images as effective teaching tools it is important to be able to describe your expectations for the media in relation to the learners’ task; to consider how to use the type of presentation (e.g. still photographs or virtual reality) to best advantage; and to identify critical insights students may either obtain (or have diminished) as a result of the media presented to them.

Celestial Dynamics at the Crossroads: Proclus' Reassessment of Plato in the Light of Empirical Science

The imbuing of the visible world with Reason necessitated for Plato an intermediary realm in heaven where physical bodies are seen to move with uniform and circular motion. Such an expression of celestial order was in keeping with Greek physical thought, and was adopted in turn by the later astronomers as they sought to account for apparent irregularities displayed by those very bodies in the heavens. The sophistication of the Greek scientific endeavour and especially Hellenistic astronomy led, however, to an ever increasing body of evidence which ultimately refused reconciliation with the mathematical constructs proposed to maintain the presumed uniformity.