Algorithms: The Base of Programming Skills

Education and Information …, 2004

Applied Computing and Informatics, 2015

This paper is based on many years' experience with multimedia applications supporting the area of computer science education and it could serve as an inspirational material directed to all educators developing students' algorithmic thinking. Education of subjects related with computer science is from the perspective of other for centuries taught subjects, still in its infancy. Even nowadays a teaching method aimed at developing algorithmic thinking of students is still the subject of extensive discussions and teachers are looking for different ways on how to access it to students. Next to the educational approach to this base of computer science it is also important to find a suitable support for students' self-learning. Multimedia applications give teachers an excellent chance to demonstrate and visualize the subject matter more clearly and comprehensibly, as well as also enabling them to prepare study material for students which optimizes their study habits. Along with large software products developed by a team of professionals there are also various smaller programs dealing with objects appropriate to course subject matter created on a script given by the teacher with regard to students' needs. In the paper such application prepared *

Faculties of Informatics are facing the problem in Hungary that stu-dents starting their tertiary education in Computer Sciences do not have a satis-factory level of algorithmic skills, their knowledge seems superficial, and the dropout rate is extremely high in these courses. We have launched a project to test how students’ algorithmic skills have been developed in their primary and secondary education, how students evaluate their knowledge. The test proved that an extremely high percentage of the students arrive at the Faculty of Infor-matics with underdeveloped algorithmic skills, with unreliable knowledge, and they do not consider the recently emerged, non-traditional environments as pro-gramming tools and facilities for developing algorithmic skills.

2009

Undergraduate students often start their academic course of studies with inadequate learning and thinking skills. Our college has a policy of setting high standards and demands, while supporting students' learning in a variety of ways. In this paper we present a distinctive course designed to aid students develop algorithmic problem-solving skills. The course is taught in parallel to a CS1 course and elaborates on activities such as analogical reasoning, prototyping problems, comparison between alternative solutions and reflection on problem-solving processes. It is one of the courses offered at our institution aimed at strengthening general learning and thinking skills, in addition to the regular disciplinary curriculum. Feedback from participants in the course demonstrates a developed awareness and appreciation of abstract ideas beyond programming knowledge. Students report on acquiring problem-solving skills that enable them to cope with compound problems. Additionally, stud...

In this article the current trends in teaching algorithm development and programming in elementary schools in Slovakia are presented. The first part is devoted to the subject Informatics and describes learning environments suitable for primary school students. The second part deals with the methodological aspects of teaching algorithmization and the appropriate programming environment. We describe an educative application containing the appropriate tasks for teaching of algorithmization suitable for pupils in a primary school.

Journal of Engineering Education Transformations, 2020

Most of the soft branch courses are imaginary, that takes a lot of time to understand the concepts and visualize them. In Computer Science, Design and Analysis of algorithm course is one of them where we design the algorithmic solution to a real-time problem and analyze the complexity of the algorithm. In this paper we have shown the different learning tools to understand nature, working and systematic implementation of the problem by visualizing it, also we have discussed suitable strategies to design and implement same and compared the complexity of algorithms. Further, we have compared the impact of an activity on students by comparing assessment strategies ISE-I and ISE-II, also by taking feedback from students before and after conduction of activity.

Proceedings ED …, 2004

The Algorithm is a fundamental concept for teaching Computer Science in Secondary Education. There are verbal (pseudocode) and graphic (flowchart) representations of algorithms that can be used in the process. A collaborative approach in teaching algorithms is a new perspective that needs investigation. The main objective of this paper is to present a case study of computer-assisted collaborative learning in an authentic secondary school environment. In the context of this study, activities concerning ...

This paper presents a new approach to teaching algorithms, in which an algorithm is explained using a hierarchy of abstractions. Each abstraction is designed to focus on a single operation , which is used directly or indirectly in the representation of the algorithm. An abstraction consists of three elements: an Abstract Data Type, an associated visualization, and a representation of using the Abstract Data Type. All abstractions form a tree, rooted at the abstraction representing the algorithm. Primitive operations that do not have the representations in any abstraction are associated with an abstract implementation. The latter implementation can be used to represent primitive operations in various programming languages. This approach makes it possible to teach students not only how and why algorithms work, but also to provide them with generic implementations to teach them how to implement algorithms. The application of this approach is demonstrated on the selection sort.

Education Research International, 2015

This paper presents the initial stage of developing an algorithm learning tool for the students of the Information Systems course at Tokyo Tech High School of Science and Technology in Japan. The tool applies the concept of Algorithm Visualization (AV) technology and was used as an aid for learning basic algorithms such as searching and sorting. Two AV types were included in the tool, one with more input options and control and the other with less. Previously proposed AV evaluation properties and the Categories of Algorithm Learning Objectives (CALO) were considered in designing the tool’s evaluation questionnaire. Written tests based on CALO were also designed. Posttest results indicate moderate improvement in the performance of the students. Test results also show that student abilities match some of the algorithm learning objectives. The students who used the AV with more options have a slightly higher gain score average in the posttest compared with those who used the AV with li...

ACM Sigcse Bulletin, 2007

This paper describes why the study of algorithms should be a fundamental component of the standard introductory computer science (CS) curriculum. By shifting the focus of basic CS classes from implementation to concept, educators can greatly enhance student understanding and course relevance despite rapidly-changing paradigms, technologies, and programming languages. Teaching algorithms also encourages the development of other more generalized skills, including the scientific method, problem-solving, modeling, and technical communication.