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Transcript of 1 Computer Science Teachers as Amateurs, Students and Researchers Raymond Lister University of...
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Computer Science Teachers as Amateurs, Students and Researchers
Raymond ListerUniversity of Technology, Sydney, Australia
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Teacher-centred knowledge6
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123
12
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57
810
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The Rise and Fall of an Academic Discipline
Pre-Discipline Part of larger discipline(s) E.g. Computer Science pre-1970s
Boom-Discipline Critical mass of undergraduates Teacher-centred knowledge Computing in the late 20th Century
Post-Discipline Loss of undergraduates E.g. English literature, physics 1980s, … Computing in the 21st Century ?????
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Doomed?
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The formal study of how novices come toknow a discipline iscentral to thesustained healthof a discipline.
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Folk Medicine
See file:///c:/talks/2005KoliCallingBBCNEWSMothersWereRightOverColdsKoliAttempt.htm
And …
Benjamin, H. (1936) “Everybody’s Guide to Nature Cure”
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Folk Medicine
Bruner, 1996
“… intuitive theories about how other minds work …
… badly want some deconstructing if their implications are to be appreciated".
×Pedagogy
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… and there is no progress.
Differing folk pedagogies cannot be resolved …
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Research vs. Teaching
Guided by direct experience and introspection
Guided by “folk pedagogies”
Outcomes remain private
Read literature, attend seminars/conferences
Work within well defined theoretical or empirical framework
Publish
We lead a double life
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Research vs. Teaching
Koli, ACE; ACM’s ICER, SIGCSE, & ITiCSE
E.g. constructivism, Bloom’s taxonomy,
Kolb learning cycle
Publish! (see above)
Read literature, attend seminars/conferences
Work within well defined theoretical or empirical framework
Publish
&&
×
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Boyer (1990)
But what exactlydid he mean by “scholar”
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Practise Theory
The Three Types of Academic Teacher
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Practise Theory
The Three Types of Academic Teacher
Amateur
• Guided by folk pedagogies
• Possibly an amateur in the finest sense of the word.
• … but has little influence on colleagues.
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Practise Theory
The Three Types of Academic Teacher
StudentEducationSpecialist
Amateur
Implements education theory uncritically
Victim of theory wars?
• Guided by folk pedagogies
• May be a gifted teacher, or clumsy.
• Possibly an amateur in the finest sense of the word.
• Has little influence on colleagues.
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Practise Theory
The Three Types of Academic Teacher
StudentEducationSpecialist
Amateur
Teacher as Researcher
Sees theory as either discipline-specific or requiring discipline-specific validation.
Implements education theory uncritically
Note:NOT researcheras teacher
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Two dimensions(and short term vs. long term)
Quality of engagement with students
Quality ofengagementwith colleagues
amateur
low
low
high
high researcher
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Overview of this talk
Amateur, Student, Researcher Just finished that
One example from my own work Leeds Working Group …
A logical break point … followed by BRACElet
See my Koli paper for other examples from my work
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One Example from my Work: Teaching the Novice (“CS1”)
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McCracken, et al. (2001)
10 authors, 8 universities, 5 countries
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Remember, 8 universities, 5 countries … ... it says something about our discipline. Amateurs! … don’t blame yourself!
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
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1 8 16 24 32 40 48 56 64 72 80 88 96
Scores
Nu
mb
er o
f S
tud
ents
McCracken, et al. (2001)
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But Why?
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“You cannot teach problem-solving. It’s innate.”
The Problem-Solving Gene Conjecture
The amateur feels no need to testthat conjecture (fact?).
The teacher-as-researcher asks “What experiment will test that conjecture?”
Answer: Eliminate problem-solving.
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The Leeds Group (2004) 12 universities, 7 countries, >500 students
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Twelve Multiple Choice Questions
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Quartile Scores
Top 25% 10-12
Second 8-9
Third 5-7
Bottom 25% 0-4
Evidence against the problem-solving gene
The Leeds Group, 2004.12 universities,7 countries,over 500 students
Bottom 25% of students performing at a level
consistent with chance!0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
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1 8 16 24 32 40 48 56 64 72 80 88 96
Scores
Nu
mb
er o
f S
tud
ents
McCracken et al., 2001
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A logical break point in the talk6
9
123
12
4
57
810
11
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Overview of this talk, again (break point)
Amateur, Student, Researcher
One example from my own work Leeds Working Group …
Just finished that … followed by BRACElet
See my Koli paper for other examples from my work
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Leeds Group as Research
McCracken et al., 2001 … and a host of other papers
Empirical, yes. Theoretical, no.
SIGCSE Bulletin, December 2004.
Read literature, attend seminars/conferences
Work within well defined theoretical or empirical framework
Publish
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McCracken et al., 2001 … and a host of other papers
Empirical, yes. Theoretical, no.
SIGCSE Bulletin, December 2004.
Leeds Group as Research
Read literature, attend seminars/conferences
Work within well defined theoretical or empirical framework
Publish
Bracelet
×
SOLO taxonomy×
Whalley, Lister, et al., to appear,ACE2006
Leeds GroupSIGCSE Bulletin, 2004.
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BRACElet
A collaboration between four New Zealand institutions and one Australian (me).
Jacqueline Whalley, Tony Clear, Phil Robbins Errol Thompson Ajith Kumar Christine Prasad
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BRACElet
Several multiple choice questions, superficially like the Leeds Group questions, plus …
One “explain in plain English” question …
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BRACElet
In plain English, explain what the following code does:
int iNumbers[iMAX]; // iMAX is a constant
… array initialization omitted in question to students…
bool bValid = true;
for (int i = 0; i < iMAX-1; i++) {
if (iNumbers[i] > iNumbers[i+1]) { bValid = false; }}
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SOLO Taxonomy (Biggs & Collis ’82 – general theory, not programming)
• “Prestructural” or “Unistructural”• An incorrect understanding of the semantics
of the programming language. • “Multistructural”
• Line-by-line understanding, but no grasp of what the code does as whole
• “failing to see the forest for the trees”• “Relational”
• A summary of the purpose of the code, for example “it checks if the elements in the array are sorted”
• The student “sees the forest”
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BRACElet
010203040506070
Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4
% o
f s
tud
en
ts
Relational Multistructural
Unistructural Prestructural
Quartile 1 Quartile 2 Quartile 3 Quartile 4
The multiple choice questions determine quartile
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BRACElet
010203040506070
Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4
% o
f s
tud
en
ts
Relational Multistructural
Unistructural Prestructural
Quartile 1 Quartile 2 Quartile 3 Quartile 4
Relational “see the forest”
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BRACElet
010203040506070
Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4
% o
f s
tud
en
ts
Relational Multistructural
Unistructural Prestructural
Quartile 1 Quartile 2 Quartile 3 Quartile 4
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010203040506070
Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4
% o
f s
tud
en
ts
Relational Multistructural
Unistructural Prestructural
BRACElet
Multistructural “failing to see the forest for the trees”
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How? e.g. Roles of Variables
file:///2005KoliRolesOfVariablesHomePage.htm
file:///c:/talks/2005KoliLiteratureOnRolesOfVariables.htm
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We are near the end of our time: Teacher-centred knowledge
6
9
123
12
4
57
810
11
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Overview of this talk (again)
Amateur, Student, Researcher
One example from my own work Leeds Working Group … … followed by BRACElet
See my Koli paper for other examples from my work
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Summary and Conclusion: Research vs. Teaching
Read literature, attend seminars/conferences
Work within well defined theoretical or empirical framework
Publish
The formal study of how novices come to know a discipline is central to the sustained health of a discipline.
&&×
The End