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A Diagnostic Tool for Assessing Students’ Perceptions and Misconceptions Regards the Current Object “this”

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Informatics in Schools. Fundamentals of Computer Science and Software Engineering (ISSEP 2018)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNTCS,volume 11169))

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Abstract

Understanding of the object concept in Object Oriented Programming (OOP) is obviously the center of the paradigm. Many educators and researchers explored students’ difficulties and developed teaching materials targeted at this central concept. The paper presents a diagnostic tool we developed that aims to reveal students’ perception and understanding about the current object, referring to it by the this annotation. Proper conceptualization of this indicates an understanding of objects in general, and involves aspects of memory allocation and programming approaches. The tool contains five questions, each devoted to covering different aspects in various frameworks, such as: using this in constructors, using this as a visible parameter, using this in inheritance, or making necessary changes in transition from a non-static context that uses this to a static context. The questionnaire combines closed questions with a request to explain the answers and open questions. In the paper we present the purpose of each question, and address what it comes to examine. The diagnostic tool is based on known educational approaches: Bloom’s taxonomy, assessment for, as, and of learning and learning from errors. The tool can be used by educators at high school or academic levels as a teaching tool, as a base for discussions, or as an evaluation tool. A short report on the use of the tool with different populations, including high school teachers, is presented. The paper uses Java as the programming language, but it easily can be translated to other OOP languages.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Beit Berl College, Beit Berl, Kfar Saba, Israel

    Ragonis Noa

  2. Technion Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel

    Ragonis Noa

  3. Shamoon College of Engineering, Ashdod, Israel

    Shmallo Ronit

Authors
  1. Ragonis Noa
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  2. Shmallo Ronit
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Ragonis Noa .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Saint Petersburg Electrotechnical University, St. Petersburg, Russia

    Sergei N. Pozdniakov

  2. Vilnius University, Vilnius, Lithuania

    Valentina Dagienė

Appendix A: The Questionnaire

Appendix A: The Questionnaire

Question 1: Where this is needed

The following is a project that includes a simple class Date, a composed class Flight and a main class Program.

figure a
figure b
  1. (a)

    In relation to the rows marked with numbers 1–4 (//line #n) determine where this is required to be used and where it is superfluous. Explain the reason for each of your choices.

  2. (b)

    When executing instruction #5 in the main method, to what does the this in the equals method in class Flight refer?

  3. (c)

    Develop a static method replacing the instance method equals in class Date.

  4. (d)

    Can this be used in the code of the main method?

Question 2: Personal preferences on using this in code

Each of the following methods relate to class Point described by two coordinates (x,y). Some of the methods use this and some do not. The methods of each clause execute the same task, and they are all syntactically correct. Please rank in each line marked by (a)–(d) your personal preference codes by assigning numbers between 1 and 3, where 1 is your first priority. Explain your choices.

figure c

Question 3: Using this as a parameter

The following is a project that includes a simple class Circle and a main class Test. Some of the methods of class Circle include only the method signature without the method full body. The method drawX(…) accepts a circle as a parameter and draws it, the method drawFlower(…) accepts a circle as a parameter and draws a flower consisting of circles, and the method chooseWhatToDraw(…) accepts a circle and a character and determines what to draw.

figure d

In relation to the main method, and the execution of the instruction:

$$ circle1.chooseWhatToDraw\left( {^{{\prime }} F^{{\prime }} , \, circle2} \right); $$

to what does the this appearing in the method chooseWhatToDraw(…) in the instruction drawFlower(this); refer?

Question 4: Using this in inheritance

The following is a project that includes classes AA, BB, and Program. Review the classes and answer the questions that follow.

figure e

Follow the execution of the main method, and:

  1. (a)

    Use a trace table to present all variables’ values and all objects, including the objects’ attributes values.

  2. (b)

    Display the program output.

  3. (c)

    In relation to the rows marked with numbers 1–4 (//line #n) determine to what does the this refer, when executing the next instruction:

    $$ BB \, b \, = \, new \, BB(); $$

Question 5: Using this – an open comprehension question

Please answer the following questions briefly:

  1. (a)

    When must this be used?

  2. (b)

    When should this be used?

  3. (c)

    When shouldn’t this be used?

  4. (d)

    What is this?

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Noa, R., Ronit, S. (2018). A Diagnostic Tool for Assessing Students’ Perceptions and Misconceptions Regards the Current Object “this”. In: Pozdniakov, S., Dagienė, V. (eds) Informatics in Schools. Fundamentals of Computer Science and Software Engineering. ISSEP 2018. Lecture Notes in Computer Science(), vol 11169. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-02750-6_7

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