Abstract

In the analogy-based learning method we map a concept that is being learned to a well-understood concept. An analogy is mainly useful when learners lack prior knowledge of the topic being learned. Computer Science (CS) is a subject whose concepts tend to be highly abstract and therefore difficult for undergraduate students to understand. Analogy-based instruction can greatly reduce a student’s burden of learning these abstract CS concepts. Role of analogy in teaching CS topics has not been adequately explored. In this paper we discuss analogy-based instruction in computer science and its advantages. Over the last decade we have developed analogies for a large number of difficult CS concepts and extensively used them in the classroom at our institution. We list these analogies and as an illustration discuss one of them (from the subfield of operating systems) in detail. We also present the evaluation of our analogy-based instruction method. Our results indicate that our techniques are quite effective in improving student learning outcomes.

Highlights

  • Teaching Computer Science (CS) concepts effectively to undergraduate students is a challenging task

  • Our observation and evaluation confirm that analogy based instruction produces excellent learning outcomes

  • We reported on our experience teaching advanced CS concepts using analogies

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Summary

Introduction

Teaching Computer Science (CS) concepts effectively to undergraduate students is a challenging task. In this paper we outline our efforts in communicating abstract CS concepts to undergraduate students in an effective manner based on use of analogies. We have employed analogy-based instruction in the classroom for more than a decade for teaching a large number of core CS concepts. Analogy based teaching maps abstract CS concepts (target concept) to concrete everyday concepts known to students (base concept), resulting in better understanding of the target concepts. Our analogies for CS concepts follow the tenets of structure mapping theory (Gentner 1983). The structure mapping theory describes psychological processes involved in learning from analogies. Analogical reasoning involves recognizing similar structure between the target and the base domains. Analogy based instruction leads to better learning outcomes as students learn by building upon their existing knowledge of everyday life. Our own extensive experience in the classroom bears this out

Analogy-based Instruction in CS
Related Work
Concept of Processes and Process Scheduling
Analogy for Process Scheduling
Evaluation
Conclusions and Future Work
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