>Date: Mon, 30 Nov 1998 12:34:47 -0500
>To: Richard Bornat <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>From: "Dr. Susan Gasson" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>Subject: Re: PPIG discuss: Bimodality, cohort progression rates, aptitude
tests
>In-Reply-To: <v0311070bb284a05d4367@[138.37.88.197]>
>
>At 06:32 PM 11/27/98 +0000, you wrote:
>...>There are slightly more in the upper hump, and they can be said to be
doing
>>well. Those in the lower hump are not. It's now week 9 of the course, and
>>most of them are still finding difficulty in writing a simple class
>>definition. They are working hard, and some are making slow progress, but
>>they have great difficulty in understanding (for example) the notion of a
>>variable, of assignment, of choice, of evaluation, .....
>>
>...>In my youth, which I'm sure I have now left, I used to imagine that there
>>was something that could be done about this. Either there was some magic
>>curriculum which would make programming obvious to all (hence one book, now
>>sunk without trace) or/and there was some teaching technique which would
>>get stuff across and produce a normal normal curve (hence a lot of grey
>>hairs, a lot of late nights, and some exhausted exasperated colleagues).
>>I'm now too old to fool myself any longer: there really is a problem, and
>>I'm getting desperate.
I have been thinking about this type of learning problem (generally, rather
than wrt programming aptitude) quite a lot just recently, mainly because my
research (about how people design - not just programs but org'l systems)
stimulated a thread about situated learning.
I believe that there are two types of learners (a sweeping generalisation,
but useful as extremes of a spectrum): those who learn by rote (e.g. who
abstract from acts of faith about the examples they are given) and those
who need to visualise the problem and its solution (i.e. they cannot
abstract unless they understand in detail how-the-world-works and how this
problem-solution pair fits into that schema). This would seem a dead-end
teaching problem except that it is not as clear-cut as it seems: my
hypothesis is that the rote-learners EITHER have previous experience of
this type of problem-structure OR have enough experience in common with the
teacher that they can abstract from the analogies they are given. In other
words, both groups are learning by relating the new examples/concepts to
their experience, but the successful group have appropriate experience (not
necessarily discipline-related, but just they think like you do because of
family background, or other influences).
>There have been studies of situated cognition in Brazil, where there is a
numeracy program aimed at child street traders. These children are unable
to apply abstract mathematical skills in a classroom context, but are able
to apply the same mathematical constructs when trading in the street
(margins, discounts etc.). This would imply that there is a situatedness to
knowledge that needs triggering in order for us to learn.
When I was at school, I regularly came 30th out of a class of 31 in maths
until my school adopted the "modern maths" program: following this I
regularly came 1st out of 31 for the rest of my career. As a result of the
transition, other kids would have come 30th out of 31 when they were used
to being first. There is no good way to teach; the skill is in finding out
what situations trigger recognition of pattern abstraction (learning)
behaviour in students and trying as many of those situations as possible.
If I were running your class, I'd try running some remedial (euphemism:
"revision") classes for your poorer students and trying simulations of java
structures using physical concepts (water flowing downhill, then being
diverted into two streams depending upon a condition, etc. - I'm sure you
can visualise these better than I can!), to see if this works. Then I'd try
to introduce simulations into the class - I use an analogy of building
paper towers to simulate the "structured" system development life-cycle -
this is the one thing the students actually *remember* best when it comes
to the exam.
Hope this helps!
Cheers,
Susan Gasson
Dr. Susan Gasson
Visiting Assistant Professor, Management Information Systems
State University of New York
School of Management
Binghamton NY 13902-6015
Telephone: (607) 777-2337
Fax: (607) 777-4422
