Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

When the Student Becomes the Teacher

  • Conference paper
  • First Online:
Formal Methods – Fun for Everybody (FMFun 2019)

Part of the book series: Communications in Computer and Information Science ((CCIS,volume 1301))

Included in the following conference series:

Abstract

Making formal methods accessible and appealing to future software engineers is vital to promote their uptake in industry and to increase participation in formal methods research. In this paper, we report on our initial experience of both studying and, subsequently, teaching the same software verification module at Maynooth University, Ireland. By analysing on our own teaching and learning experiences along with the students’ grades from the 2018–2019 academic year, we present our four initial observations and two hypotheses that we intend to investigate during the 2019–2020 academic year.

This work is partially supported through EPSRC Hubs for Robotics and AI in Hazardous Environments: EP/R026092 (FAIR-SPACE).

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 39.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Notes

  1. 1.

    Full module description is available at: http://apps.maynoothuniversity.ie/courses/?TARGET=MODULE&MODE=VIEW&MODULE_CODE=CS357&YEAR=2020.

  2. 2.

    At the end of the semester, the university distributes feedback forms for the students to fill in for each module that they have taken. It is not compulsory for the students to complete them and they ask broad, non module specific questions. We received a small number of responses and have used these to inform our discussion but we rely more heavily on the exam results and our interactions with the students.

  3. 3.

    https://rise4fun.com/SpecSharp.

  4. 4.

    https://rise4fun.com/Z3.

  5. 5.

    https://github.com/classicwuhao/maxuse.

References

  1. Barnett, M., Leino, K.R.M., Schulte, W.: The spec# programming system: an overview. In: Barthe, G., Burdy, L., Huisman, M., Lanet, J.-L., Muntean, T. (eds.) CASSIS 2004. LNCS, vol. 3362, pp. 49–69. Springer, Heidelberg (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-30569-9_3

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  2. Barwise, J., Etchemendy, J.: Tarski’s World: Version 4.0 for Macintosh (Center for the Study of Language and Information - Lecture Notes). Center for the Study of Language and Information/SRI (1993)

    Google Scholar 

  3. Bertot, Y., Castran, P.: Interactive Theorem Proving and Program Development: Coq’Art The Calculus of Inductive Constructions, 1st edn. Springer (2010)

    Google Scholar 

  4. Cataño, N.: Teaching formal methods: lessons learnt from using event-B. In: Dongol, B., Petre, L., Smith, G. (eds.) FMTea 2019. LNCS, vol. 11758, pp. 212–227. Springer, Cham (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-32441-4_14

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  5. Creuse, L., Dross, C., Garion, C., Hugues, J., Huguet, J.: Teaching deductive verification through Frama-C and SPARK for non computer scientists. In: Dongol, B., Petre, L., Smith, G. (eds.) FMTea 2019. LNCS, vol. 11758, pp. 23–36. Springer, Cham (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-32441-4_2

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  6. Davis, M., Logemann, G., Loveland, D.: A machine program for theorem-proving. Commun. ACM 5(7), 394–397 (1962)

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  7. de Moura, L., Bjørner, N.: Z3: an efficient SMT solver. In: Ramakrishnan, C.R., Rehof, J. (eds.) TACAS 2008. LNCS, vol. 4963, pp. 337–340. Springer, Heidelberg (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-78800-3_24

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  8. Dean, C.N., Hinchey, M.G.: Teaching and Learning Formal Methods. Morgan Kaufmann, San Francisco (1996)

    Google Scholar 

  9. Gallardo, M.M., Panizo, L.: Teaching formal methods: from software in the small to software in the large. In: Dongol, B., Petre, L., Smith, G. (eds.) FMTea 2019. LNCS, vol. 11758, pp. 97–110. Springer, Cham (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-32441-4_7

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  10. Gibson, J.P., Méry, D.: Teaching formal methods: lessons to learn. In: IWFM. Citeseer (1998)

    Google Scholar 

  11. Hoare, C.A.R.: An axiomatic basis for computer programming. Commun. ACM 12(10), 576–580 (1969)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Huth, M., Ryan, M.: Logic in Computer Science: Modelling and Reasoning About Systems. Cambridge University Press (2004)

    Google Scholar 

  13. Jaume, M., Laurent, T.: Teaching formal methods and discrete mathematics. In: 1st Workshop on Formal Integrated Development Environment, vol. 149, pp. 30–43. EPTCS (2014)

    Google Scholar 

  14. Jazequel, J., Meyer, B.: Design by contract: the lessons of Ariane. Computer 30(1), 129–130 (1997)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Meyer, B.: Object-Oriented Software Construction, 1st edn. Prentice-Hall (1988)

    Google Scholar 

  16. Moller, F., O’Reilly, L.: Teaching discrete mathematics to computer science students. In: Dongol, B., Petre, L., Smith, G. (eds.) FMTea 2019. LNCS, vol. 11758, pp. 150–164. Springer, Cham (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-32441-4_10

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  17. Oliveira, J.N.: A survey of formal methods courses in European higher education. In: Dean, C.N., Boute, R.T. (eds.) TFM 2004. LNCS, vol. 3294, pp. 235–248. Springer, Heidelberg (2004). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-30472-2_16

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  18. Rozier, K.Y.: On teaching applied formal methods in aerospace engineering. In: Dongol, B., Petre, L., Smith, G. (eds.) FMTea 2019. LNCS, vol. 11758, pp. 111–131. Springer, Cham (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-32441-4_8

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  19. Tseitin, G.S.: On the complexity of derivation in propositional calculus. Stud. Math. Math. Logic 2, 115–125 (1968)

    MATH  Google Scholar 

  20. Woodcock, J., Larsen, P.G., Bicarregui, J., Fitzgerald, J.: Formal methods: practice and experience. ACM Comput. Surveys (CSUR) 41(4), 19 (2009)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  21. Wu, H.: Finding achievable features and constraint conflicts for inconsistent metamodels. In: Anjorin, A., Espinoza, H. (eds.) ECMFA 2017. LNCS, vol. 10376, pp. 179–196. Springer, Cham (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-61482-3_11

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  22. Wu, H.: MaxUSE: a tool for finding achievable constraints and conflicts for inconsistent UML class diagrams. In: Polikarpova, N., Schneider, S. (eds.) IFM 2017. LNCS, vol. 10510, pp. 348–356. Springer, Cham (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-66845-1_23

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Computer Science, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, UK

    Marie Farrell

  2. Department of Computer Science, Maynooth University, Maynooth, Ireland

    Hao Wu

Authors
  1. Marie Farrell
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Hao Wu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Marie Farrell .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Nazarbayev University, Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan

    Antonio Cerone

  2. Swansea University, Swansea, UK

    Markus Roggenbach

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2021 Springer Nature Switzerland AG

About this paper

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this paper

Farrell, M., Wu, H. (2021). When the Student Becomes the Teacher. In: Cerone, A., Roggenbach, M. (eds) Formal Methods – Fun for Everybody. FMFun 2019. Communications in Computer and Information Science, vol 1301. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-71374-4_11

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-71374-4_11

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-71373-7

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-71374-4

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation