Computer Science Textbooks Research Articles

Less Is More: Students Skim Lengthy Online Textbooks

Computer science textbooks with lengthy text explanations of concepts are often considered thorough and rigorous, so lengthy textbooks (and class notes) are commonplace. Some, however, suggest text should be concise because people tend to skim lengthy text. This article takes advantage of modern digital textbooks that measure reading time to examine reading rates for various text passage lengths. For a widely used CS textbook written in a nonconcise style, students read shorter passages (200 words or less) at about 200 words per minute, which is a typical rate. But for longer passages (600+ words), the rate increased to about 800 words per minute, suggesting skimming rather than reading. For another widely used CS textbook, from the same publisher but written in a concise style with text passage sizes kept below 250 words, students spent more time (around 200 words per minute) reading the text passages, and their time spent was well correlated with text length, suggesting students were carefully reading rather than skimming. Across three digital textbooks, the more interactive elements (e.g., integrated questions) that were included, the more time students spent reading the text between those activities. The conclusion is that to best educate students, authors of CS content should take the extra time needed to explain concepts more concisely—a case of “less is more”—and incorporate many active learning opportunities.

중학교 정보 교과서 프로그래밍 과제가 제공하는 학생의 학습기회 탐색

중학교 정보 교과서 프로그래밍 과제가 제공하는 학생의 학습기회 탐색

FEATURES OF TEACHING COMPUTER MODELING IN INFORMATICS LESSONS

Modern education is characterized by increased attention to the concept of model and methodology of modeling. She uses them in many fields of knowledge, but the study of computer science helps students to gather their knowledge of models into a common system and consciously apply them in their educational and practical activities. As the current task of learning is to update the content and obtain a new quality of result, the role of teaching computer modeling is becoming particularly important and has a priority ability to ensure the effectiveness of education in all its elements. The purpose of the article: is to identify the methodological features of teaching computer modeling in computer science lessons. Research methods: theoretical − analysis and generalization of scientific and methodological sources to substantiate the relevance, determining the place of the topic "Modeling" in the school course of computer science; generalizations to identify methodological features of teaching modeling in computer science lessons. An analysis of the high school computer science curriculum in the context of the topic revealed that the study of modeling in general and computer modeling, in particular, is included in the school computer science curriculum. An analysis of current computer science textbooks for high school students has shown that the topics of "Modeling" and "Computer Modeling" are presented quite concisely. There are three types of tasks in the teaching of computer modeling: to obtain the necessary information and formulate conclusions according to the given model of the object; develop a model of a real object based on data about it; perform the simulation process on a computer.

Objective Type Question Generation using Natural Language Processing

Automatic Question Generation (AQG) is a research trend that enables teachers to create assessments with greater efficiency in right set of questions from the study material. Today's educational institutions require a powerful tool to correctly assess learner’s mastery of concepts learned through study materials. Objective type questions are an excellent method of assessing a learner's topic understanding in learning process, based on Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and Intelligent Tutoring Systems (ITS).Creating a set of questions for assessment can take a significant amount of time for teachers, and obtaining questions from external sources such as assessment books or question banks may not be relevant to the content covered by students during their studies. This proposed system involves to generate the familiar objective type questions like True or False, ‘Wh’, Fill up with double blank space, match the following type question have generated using Natural Language Processing(NLP) techniquesfrom the given study material. Different rules are created to generate T/F and ‘Wh’ type questions. Dependence parser method has involved in ‘Wh’ questions. Proposed system is tested with Grade V Computer Science text book as an input. Experimental result shows that the proposed system is quite promising to generate the amount of objective type assessment questions.

HOW TO PRESENT AN ALGORITHM USING ICT?

This article substantiates the need for an in-depth study of the topic "Algorithms", as this requires from us the inexhaustible material and spiritual need of society. The etymological meaning of the term "algorithm" is explained. A number of scientists interpret this term in different ways. At the same time, the author of the article, unlike all researchers, divided his approach and substantiated it with specific examples. It was noted that human life consists entirely of automated algorithms. In this regard, reference was made to research scientists. The article provides information on presentation algorithms models. It was also noted that the approaches in this regard are ambiguous. The focus is on key models. Finally, practical examples were used to represent the algorithms. For this, reference was made to examples in a computer science textbook intended for Azerbaijani schools. At the end of the practical work, according to the presentation models of the algorithms, the students were divided into three groups and organized intergroup questions and answers. Finally, an assessment was made based on the results of the questions and answers.

Domain Model Discovery from Textbooks for Computer Programming Intelligent Tutors

We present a novel approach to intro-to-programming domain model discovery from textbooks using an over-generation and ranking strategy. We first extract candidate key phrases from each chapter in a Computer Science textbook focusing on intro-to-programming and then rank those concepts according to a number of metrics such as the standard tf-idf weight used in information retrieval and metrics produced by other text ranking algorithms. Specifically, we conduct our work in the context of developing an intelligent tutoring system for source code comprehension for which a specification of the key programming concepts is needed - the system monitors students' performance on those concepts and scaffolds their learning process until they show mastery of the concepts. Our experiments with programming concept instruction from Java textbooks indicate that the statistical methods such as KP Miner method are quite competitive compared to other more sophisticated methods. Automated discovery of domain models will lead to more scalable Intelligent Tutoring Systems (ITSs) across topics and domains, which is a major challenge that needs to be addressed if ITSs are to be widely used by millions of learners across many domains.

Метод оценки дидактической сложности школьных учебников по различным дисциплинам

The article discusses the problem of evaluating the differential didactic complexity (DDC) of educational texts, which characterizes the difficulty of their perception and assimilation by pupil. It is shown that DDC is determined by: 1) the density of semantic information, depending on the abstraction degree of the terms used and their presence in the pupil’s thesaurus; 2) the complexity level of mathematical, chemical and other formulas; 3) the structural complexity of the text, depending on the average length of its constituent words and sentences. Multiplying the DDC of the text by its volume, you can find the integral didactic complexity of the text. For the evaluation of the textbook DDC expert selects one page fragments of text randomly, identifies the key concepts, “measures” their average information content, determines the share of formulas and their average complexity. In this case, the classification of concepts according to the abstraction degree is used, which takes into account the occurrence of a particular word in the thesaurus of a preschool, fifth-grader, ninth-grader and school graduate. The structural complexity of the text is also taken into account, depending on the average length of words and sentences. The analysis of textbooks for school graduates has shown that the most difficult disciplines to understand are biology, physics, chemistry, mathematics. As a result of evaluating computer science textbooks for 3rd, 5th, 9th and 11th grades it was found that their semantic information density and differential semantic complexity monotonically increase from 5.3 to 8.1 and from 5.7 to 10.4 respectively.

Analysis of Learning Outcomes and Evaluation Questions in the Computer Science Book for the Twelfth Grade for Academic and Professional Branches in Jordan according to Bloom's cognitive levels: تحليل نتاجات التعلم والأسئلة التقويمية في كتاب علوم الحاسوب للصف الثاني عشر للفروع الأكاديمية والمهنية في الأردن وفق مستويات بلوم المعرفية

This study aimed to Analysis the learning Outcomes and evaluation questions in the computer science book for the twelfth grade for academic and professional branches in Jordan according to Bloom's cognitive levels. The community and the sample consisted of the (64) outcomes, and (99) major questions, includes (219) sub- questions, where the objective and the sub- question was considered as a unit of analysis. The researcher adopted the intentional method in selecting the sample, and used the descriptive analytical approach to conduct the study, where he used a card to analyze the levels of cognitive goals according to the Bloom’s taxonomy. The searcher used percentages and the arithmetic mean of the statistical treatment, the results showed that the computer science textbook questions do not reflect the educational outcomes in light of bloom taxonomy. On the other hand the outcomes and the questions focused on the lowest thinking levels, where the educational outcomes came with (94%) distributed on the remembering (59%), and applying (28%), and understanding (6%). While the questions focus on the lowest thinking levels with percent of (98%) distributed on the remembering (46%), and applying (35%), and understanding (16%). While it showed weakness in the focus on the higher thinking levels, the level of (analyze) got (6%) for the educational outcomes, and (2%) for the questions, and there were no levels of synthesis and evaluation. The study recommended that the learning outcomes and evaluation questions should be distributed over all of the knowledge dimensions, especially higher thinking levels, and trains the writer of the questions in preparing and formulating the questions in a manner consistent with cognitive levels of Bloom's classification.

EFFECTIVENESS OF FLIPPED CLASSROOM LEARNING IN THE ACHIEVEMENT OF COMPUTER SCIENCE AMONG HIGHER SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS

Modern Techniques are introduced in teaching and learning process frequently one such technique is Flipped Classroom learning. Where the pupils are asked to learn the contents given to them at their home from the available sources and they review the topics in their classroom. Since every student collect information from various sources like YouTube, Video lessons, different types of educational apps, Magazines and sources from elders etc. the collection will be excellent to review and collective ideas can help them to learn better than routine blackboard chalk and talk method by doing. So, they learn effectively and their doubts are cleared through discussion with peers in the presence of teacher. The teacher can conclude the teaching learning process by giving extra information left untouched by the students. The researcher is a computer science teacher so she took a lesson from Eleventh Standard Computer Science text book of State board in the 4th Chapter of Volume - I, "Theoretical Concepts of Operating System" and she prepared a video lesson, that video lesson is utilized by the students to learn the contents allotted to them. The Conclusion of her studying, she found that flipped classroom learning is effectively impact in the course content to the students.

EFFECTIVENESS OF BLENDED LEARNING CLASSROOM IN COMPUTER SCIENCE TEACHING AND LEARNING

In recent trends teaching and learning become very interesting due to the innovative methods of teaching using many technologies and practical tools. This study is dealing with new trends in education that can help one to become a modern teacher. Students like the teaching of modern teachers because they can actively participate in the learning process. E-content, Video Lessons and Online teaching and many other tools are used to present the subject innovatively and productively. Blended learning classroom is the latest educational technique that is being adapted in modern classrooms to enhance the learning experience of the students. The researcher is a Computer Science educator and she prepared a video lesson on "Working with Linux - Ubuntu" which is in Volume-I, Unit-I, Chapter 5 of XI Standard Computer Science text book in Tamil Nadu State Board Samacheer Kalvi new syllabus. The conclusion of her study reveals that blended learning classroom has positive impact on XI Std pupil's academic fulfilment of Computer Science.

English

This study aimed to identify readability level of computer science textbooks among the Jordanian eleventh grade students. A cross-sectional, descriptive study was conducted. The study population consisted of all eleventh graders of Al-Mafraq education directorate. The study sample comprised 122 male and female eleventh graders, chosen by intended sampling method from two public schools. However, to answer the research questions, the researchers prepared a close test as an instrument to measure the readability levels using three randomly selected texts, which have never been used, from eleventh grade computer science textbook. After validating the instrument, it was administered to the study participants. The following results were reported: Eleventh grade computer science textbook readability levels were classified based on the scores students attained during the test as follows: the independent level of readability (48.9%), followed by depressed level (35.1%) and finally the educational level with (16.1%); the existence of positive statistically significant relationship at (α≤ 0.05) level between student achievement in computer subject and its readability level; there were statistically significant differences at (α≤ 0.05) level; the eleventh computer sciences textbook readability levels attributable to student's gender, is in favor of females. Based on these results, some recommendations were suggested. Key words: Readability, computer sciences textbook, eleventh grade.

How large a vocabulary do Chinese computer science undergraduates need to read English-medium specialist textbooks?

This study specifically addresses the needs for English-medium textbook reading comprehension of Chinese computer science undergraduates who have already mastered about 3,300 general English word families prescribed by the Ministry of Education before entering university. Thirty textbooks on various subjects of computer science were chosen to build a Computer Science Textbook Corpus (CSTC) containing 7.51 million running words. Based on criteria of range, frequency, and dispersion, 356 word families outside the 3,300 items within students’ knowledge were extracted to form the Computer Science Vocabulary List (CSVL). The CSVL accounted for 4.79% of the tokens in the CSTC but only 0.39% in a fiction corpus. The CSVL, combined with students’ lexical repertoire acquired from secondary education, provided 95.16% coverage of the corpus, reaching the minimum requirement for reading comprehension suggested by Laufer (1989). By analyzing the overlapping proportion of related word lists pairwise, this study further established that the development of specialized word lists achieved the best efficiency if targeting at a homogenous audience.

Relational data paradigms: What do we learn by taking the materiality of databases seriously?

Although databases have been well-defined and thoroughly discussed in the computer science literature, the actual users of databases often have varying definitions and expectations of this essential computational infrastructure. Systems administrators and computer science textbooks may expect databases to be instantiated in a small number of technologies (e.g., relational or graph-based database management systems), but there are numerous examples of databases in non-conventional or unexpected technologies, such as spreadsheets or other assemblages of files linked through code. Consequently, we ask: How do the materialities of non-conventional databases differ from or align with the materialities of conventional relational systems? What properties of the database do the creators of these artifacts invoke in their rhetoric describing these systems—or in the data models underlying these digital objects? To answer these questions, we conducted a close analysis of four non-conventional scientific databases. By examining the materialities of information representation in each case, we show how scholarly communication regimes shape database materialities— and how information organization paradigms shape scholarly communication. These cases show abandonment of certain constraints of relational database construction alongside maintenance of some key relational data organization strategies. We discuss the implications that these relational data paradigms have for data use, preservation, and sharing, and discuss the need to support a plurality of data practices and paradigms.

FEATURES OF THE ORGANIZATION AND CONDUCT OF ТHE CONTEST OF TASKS ON CYBERSECURITY

Preparing children for safe behavior on the Internet is one of the most important tasks of secondary school, which is recognized at the state level. It is confirmed by the order of the Government of the Russian Federation of December 2, 2015 "Concept of Information Security of Children for 2018–2020" and the order of the Ministry of Digital Development, Communications and Mass Media of the Russian Federation of February 27, 2018 "On Approval of the Action Plan for the Implementation of the Concept of Information Security of Children for 2018–2020". The First Region Week of Cybersecurity was held as part of the implementation of this plan in October 2018 in the Arkhangelsk region. The article is devoted to the description of one of the events of this week — the contest of tasks on cybersecurity. The article presents the conceptual basis for the development of a system of competitive tasks, which were offered to schoolchildren of different classes of secondary school, and provides examples of problems with solutions. The authors of the article believe that the inclusion of such tasks in the content of school computer science textbooks will give teachers really effective tools to prepare schoolchildren for recognizing cyberthreats and the correct behavior when meeting with them.

Picturing Lovelace, Babbage, and the Analytical Engine: a cartoonist in mathematical biography

The story of how Charles Babbage, Lucasian Professor of Mathematics, polymath, and tinkerer, almost invented the computer in the 1830s has long been an opening parable in computer science textbooks. The murkier but irresistible subplot that he was assisted by so dramatic a figure as the estranged daughter of Lord Byron has taken this cul-de-sac of history into the realm of myth. Babbage, Lovelace, and the unrealised calculating engines fuel an industry of steampunk fantasies, one of which was my graphic novel, The Thrilling Adventures of Lovelace and Babbage, so kindly honoured by the BSHM with the Neumann Prize in 2015.

Pedagogical Content Knowledge in Teaching Material

The scope of this article is to understand to what extent Computer Science teachers can find support for their Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK) in teaching material. We report the results of a study in which PCK is used as framework to develop a research instrument to examine three high school computer science textbooks, with special focus on programming. PCK is analyzed in this study in its two components: pedagogical knowledge (PK) and content knowledge (CK). The results of the textbooks have been compared with the results of a previous study, in which experienced teachers from various countries were involved in semi-structured interviews to portray the PCK of programming for secondary school. Our expectations to find textbooks relatively strong on the CK, but weak on the PK aspect, is confirmed by the results.

The concept of nondeterminism

Nondeterminism is a fundamental concept in computer science that appears in various contexts such as automata theory, algorithms and concurrent computation. We present a taxonomy of the different ways that nondeterminism can be defined and used; the categories of the taxonomy are domain, nature, implementation, consistency, execution and semantics. An historical survey shows how the concept was developed from its inception by Rabin & Scott, Floyd and Dijkstra, as well the interplay between nondeterminism and concurrency. Computer science textbooks and pedagogical software are surveyed to determine how they present the concept; the results show that the treatment of nondeterminism is generally fragmentary and unsystematic. We conclude that the teaching of nondeterminism must be integrated through the computer science curriculum so that students learn to see nondeterminism both in terms of abstract mathematical entities and in terms of machines whose execution is unpredictable.

How Anomalous Is Belady's Anomaly?

An international association advancing the multidisciplinary study of informing systems. Founded in 1998, the Informing Science Institute (ISI) is a global community of academics shaping the future of informing science.

Reversing: a fundamental idea in computer science1

Reversing is the notion of thinking or working in reverse. Computer science textbooks and tutors recognize it primarily in the form of recursion. However, recursion is only one form of reversing. Reversing appears in the computer science curriculum in many other forms, at various intellectual levels, in a variety of fundamental courses. As such, it is too important a notion to be left unexplored. In this paper we discuss reversing in the context of two theoretical frameworks – as a fundamental idea in computer science, in the context of Schwill's model of fundamental ideas, and as a powerful problem solving means, in the context of Schoenfeld's cognitive model of problem solving. We recognize seven different forms of reversing, and demonstrate the essential role of each in algorithm or proof design. Our focus in the paper is conceptual, yet we briefly note our initial experimental experience, with student difficulties in both the invocation and utilization of reversing. We then discuss cognitive aspects of the teaching of reversing and offer ways to assimilate its awareness and elaborate its fundamental role in computer science.

The Concept of Nondeterminism: Its Development and Implications for Teaching

Nondeterminism is a fundamental concept in computer science that appears in various contexts such as automata theory, algorithms and concurrent computation. We present a taxonomy of the different ways that nondeterminism can be defined and used; the categories of the taxonomy are domain, nature, implementation, consistency, execution and semantics. An historical survey shows how the concept was developed from its inception by Rabin & Scott, Floyd and Dijkstra, as well as the interplay between nondeterminism and concurrency. Computer science textbooks and pedagogical software are surveyed to determine how they present the concept; the results show that the treatment of nondeterminism is generally fragmentary and unsystematic. We conclude that the teaching of nondeterminism must be integrated through the computer science curriculum so that students learn to see nondeterminism both in terms of abstract mathematical entities and in terms of machines whose execution is unpredictable.