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Constructivist approaches for teaching computer programming

Published: 20 October 2005 Publication History

Abstract

This paper discusses the application of constructivist pedagogical approaches to teaching computer programming in high school and undergraduate courses. It provides an overview of constructivist pedagogy and contrasts it with traditional objectivist pedagogy. The paper then describes how a variety of sources on constructivist educational practice from computer science educational literature can be combined to transform under-graduate courses in computer programming and information technology. The resulting courses are accessible to a wider range of students and incorporate active learning, collaborative group-based instruction, and cognitive apprenticeships. This pedagogical style focuses on the higher cognitive levels of Bloom's taxonomy and addresses multiple student learning styles and intelligences. Course design, classroom activities, and assessment methods using this pedagogical approach for computer programming instruction will be covered in detail. The presentation relies heavily on the experiences of the presenter in adopting this style of instruction within undergraduate computer programming courses and will include a discussion of the some of the attitudinal issues they encountered in this process. The presentation will include coverage of resources for constructivist teaching of computer science and technology and some recommendations for instructors who may wish to adopt this style of instruction.

References

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Astrachan, Owen (1998) "Concrete Teaching: Hooks and Props as Instructional Technology" ACM SIGCSE Bulletin, Proceedings of the 6th annual conference on the teaching of computing and the 3rd annual conference on Integrating technology into computer science education: Volume 30 Issue 3
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Astrachan, O., Reed, David, (1995) "AAA and CS 1: The Applied Apprenticeship Approach to CS 1" ACM SIGCSE Bulletin, Proceedings of the twenty-sixth SIGCSE technical symposium on Computer science education, Volume 27 Issue 1
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Astrachan, O., Smith, R., Wilkes, J. "Application-based Modules: Using Apprentice Learning for CS 2"
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Ben-Ari, M. (1998). "Constructivism in computer science education". The Proceedings of the Twenty-ninth SIGCSE Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education (pp. 257--261).
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Bloom, B. S., Mesia, B. B., and Krathwohl, D. R. "Taxonomy of Educational Objectives" (two vols: The Affective Domain & The Cognitive Domain). New York. David McKay, 1964.
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Bonwell, C.C. (1996). Enhancing the lecture: Revitalizing a traditional format. In T.E. Sutherland & C.C. Bonwell (Eds.), Using active learning in college class: A range of options for faculty. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
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Bonwell, C.C., & Eison, J.A. (1991). Active learning: Creating excitement in the classroom. ASHE-ERIC Higher Education Report No. 1. Washington, DC: The George Washington University, 1991.
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Cassell, Lillian private discussion SIGITE 2004 Conference
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Felder, Richard M., Brent, Rebecca "Learning by Doing" Chemical Engineering Education, 37(4), 282--283 (2003).
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Gardner, H. (1983). Frames of Mind: The theory of multiple intelligences. New York: Basic Books. 1985.
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http://www.learning-styles-online.com/overview. Accessed March 15, 2005.
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Lohr, L., (2003) "Creating Graphics for Learning and Performance: Lessons in Visual Literacy", Merrill Prentice Hall.
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McDougall, Anne, Boyle, Martin "Student Strategies for Learning Computer Programming: Implications for Pedagogy in Informatics" Education and Information Technologies 9:2, 109--116, 2004
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Van Gorp, Mark, Grisson, Scott, An Empirical Evaluation of Using Constructive Classroom Activities to Teach Introductory Programming" Computer Science Education 2001, Vol. 11, No. 3, pp. 247--260.

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cover image ACM Conferences
SIGITE '05: Proceedings of the 6th conference on Information technology education
October 2005
402 pages
ISBN:1595932526
DOI:10.1145/1095714
  • General Chair:
  • Rob Friedman
Permission to make digital or hard copies of all or part of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. Copyrights for components of this work owned by others than ACM must be honored. Abstracting with credit is permitted. To copy otherwise, or republish, to post on servers or to redistribute to lists, requires prior specific permission and/or a fee. Request permissions from [email protected]

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Publication History

Published: 20 October 2005

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  1. active learning
  2. cognitive apprenticeships
  3. constructivist pedagogy
  4. programming instruction

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  • (2024)A constructivist and pragmatic training framework for blockchain education for IT practitionersEducation and Information Technologies10.1007/s10639-024-12505-529:12(15813-15854)Online publication date: 1-Aug-2024
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  • (2019) Experiences from placing Stack Overflow at the core of an intermediate programming course Computer Applications in Engineering Education10.1002/cae.2210927:3(698-707)Online publication date: 10-Mar-2019
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