Pedagogical Effectiveness of Engagement Levels - A Survey of Successful Experiences

In this paper we survey experiments with program and algorithm visualizations (PAVs) where learning improvements have been detected. We analyze these experiments based on the student's level of engagement with the visualizations. There are some features present in most of these, successful, experiments. Therefore they should be taken into account as important factors affecting pedagogical effectiveness of PAVs, these features are: narrative and textual contents, feedback to students' answers and a student centered approach when designing PAV construction kits.

[1]  Mordechai Ben-Ari,et al.  The Jeliot 2000 program animation system , 2003, Comput. Educ..

[2]  Daniel T. Joyce,et al.  Proceedings of the 35th SIGCSE Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education, SIGCSE 2004, Norfolk, Virginia, USA, March 3-7, 2004 , 2004, SIGCSE.

[3]  Barbara M. Moskal,et al.  Evaluating the effectiveness of a new instructional approach , 2004 .

[4]  Christopher D. Hundhausen,et al.  Integrating algorithm visualization technology into an undergraduate algorithms course: ethnographic studies of a social constructivist approach , 2002, Comput. Educ..

[5]  Essi Lahtinen,et al.  Visualizations in Preparing for Programming Exercise Sessions , 2007, Electron. Notes Theor. Comput. Sci..

[6]  Jaime Urquiza Fuentes.  Generación Semiautomática de Animaciones de Programas Funcionales con Fines Educativos , 2007 .

[7]  John T. Stasko,et al.  Using student-built algorithm animations as learning aids , 1997, SIGCSE '97.

[8]  Martha E. Crosby,et al.  From multimedia instruction to multimedia evaluation , 1995 .

[9]  John T. Stasko,et al.  Rethinking the evaluation of algorithm animations as learning aids: an observational study , 2001, Int. J. Hum. Comput. Stud..

[10]  Thomas L. Naps,et al.  Exploring the role of visualization and engagement in computer science education , 2003, ITiCSE-WGR '02.

[11]  Christopher D. Hundhausen,et al.  Designing, visualizing, and discussing algorithms within a CS 1 studio experience: An empirical study , 2008, Comput. Educ..

[12]  Ben-AriMordechai,et al.  The Jeliot 2000 program animation system , 2003 .

[13]  Scott Grissom,et al.  Algorithm visualization in CS education: comparing levels of student engagement , 2003, SoftVis '03.

[14]  Amruth N. Kumar.  Results from the evaluation of the effectiveness of an online tutor on expression evaluation , 2005, SIGCSE '05.

[15]  Doug Baldwin,et al.  Proceedings of the 36th SIGCSE Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education, SIGCSE 2005, St. Louis, Missouri, USA, February 23-27, 2005 , 2005, SIGCSE.

[16]  T. Dean Hendrix,et al.  Experimental evaluation of animated-verifying object viewers for Java , 2006, SoftVis '06.

[17]  John T. Stasko,et al.  Evaluating animations as student aids in learning computer algorithms , 1999, Comput. Educ..

[18]  Bruce J. Klein,et al.  Proceedings of the twenty-eighth SIGCSE technical symposium on Computer science education , 1997 .

[19]  T. Dean Hendrix,et al.  Dynamic object viewers for data structures , 2007, SIGCSE '07.

[20]  Rachelle S. Heller,et al.  Integrating algorithm animation into a learning environment , 1997, Comput. Educ..

[21]  J. Stasko,et al.  A Meta-Study of Algorithm Visualization Effectiveness , 2002, J. Vis. Lang. Comput..

[22]  A. W. Lawrence,et al.  Empirical studies of the value of algorithm animation in algorithm understanding , 1993 .

[23]  N. Hari Narayanan,et al.  Dancing hamsters and marble statues: characterizing student visualizations of algorithms , 2003, SoftVis '03.

[24]  Jaime Urquiza-Fuentes,et al.  An Evaluation of the Effortless Approach to Build Algorithm Animations with WinHIPE , 2007, Electron. Notes Theor. Comput. Sci..

[25]  Tapio Salakoski,et al.  Multi-Perspective Study of Novice Learners Adopting the Visual Algorithm Simulation Exercise System TRAKLA2 , 2005, Informatics Educ..

[26]  John T. Stasko,et al.  Empirically evaluating the use of animations to teach algorithms , 1994, Proceedings of 1994 IEEE Symposium on Visual Languages.