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Flexible Low-cost Activities to Develop Novice Code Comprehension Skills in Schools

Donaldson, P. and Cutts, Q. (2018) Flexible Low-cost Activities to Develop Novice Code Comprehension Skills in Schools. In: 13th Workshop in Primary and Secondary Computing Education (WiPSCE '18), Potsdam, Germany, 04-06 Oct 2018, p. 19. ISBN 9781450365888 (doi: 10.1145/3265757.3265776)

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Abstract

The lack of code comprehension skills in novice programming students is recognised as a major factor underpinning poor learning outcomes. We use Schulte’s Block Model to support teachers’ understanding of how to break the skill down into component parts that are more manageable for a learner. This analysis is operationalised in three code annotation-based learning/assessment exercise formats, two helping students to identify and describe programming concepts and the third enabling them to parse code correctly and carry out desk executions. A great benefit of the activities is that they are low cost and can be applied to any imperative style code and so can be easily adopted by schools anywhere; furthermore, they are active, not passive, an issue with some animation-based visualisation approaches. The exercise formats were included as part of a national schools computing science professional learning programme (PLAN C).

Item Type:	Conference Proceedings
Keywords:	Notional machine, block model, program comprehension, formative assessment.
Status:	Published
Refereed:	Yes
Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID:	Cutts, Professor Quintin and Donaldson, Mr Peter
Authors:	Donaldson, P., and Cutts, Q.
Subjects:	L Education > LB Theory and practice of education L Education > LB Theory and practice of education > LB1603 Secondary Education. High schools
College/School:	College of Social Sciences > School of Education College of Science and Engineering > School of Computing Science College of Social Sciences > School of Education > Pedagogy, Praxis & Faith
Research Group:	Pedagogy, Praxis and Faith
ISBN:	9781450365888
Copyright Holders:	Copyright © 2018 The Authors
First Published:	First published in Proceedings of the 13th Workshop in Primary and Secondary Computing Education (WiPSCE '18): 19
Publisher Policy:	Reproduced in accordance with the publisher copyright policy

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References

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Deposit and Record Details

ID Code:	198139
Depositing User:	Mr Peter Donaldson
Datestamp:	01 Oct 2019 09:24
Last Modified:	07 Apr 2022 14:19
Date of acceptance:	7 August 2018
Date of first online publication:	4 October 2018
Date Deposited:	1 October 2019
Data Availability Statement:	No