abstract

Using Spatio-Algorithmic Problem Solving Strategies to Increase Access to Data Structures

Author:

Seth PoulsenAuthors Info & Claims

ITiCSE '20: Proceedings of the 2020 ACM Conference on Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education

Pages 577 - 578

https://doi.org/10.1145/3341525.3394004

Published: 15 June 2020 Publication History

Abstract

The substantive gender and racial gaps in spatial ability create unnecessary barriers to entry to STEM and computing fields [14,15]. Data structures courses in particular are difficult for those in underrepresented groups [8,12,13]. In Chemistry, this gender gap has been closed by teaching students both spatio-imagistic and spatio-analytic strategies to solving problems with diagrams. I seek to similarly close this gap in Data Structures by developing and evaluating further techniques for teaching data structures using diagrams.

References

[1]

J. Bowden. 2005.Reflections on the phenomenographic research process. RMIT University Press, Melbourne, Victoria.

[2]

Stephen Cooper, Karen Wang, Maya Israni, and Sheryl Sorby. 2015. Spatial Skills Training in Introductory Computing. In Proceedings of the Eleventh Annual International Conference on International Computing Education Research(ICER 15). Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, 1320. https://doi.org/10.1145/2787622.2787728

Digital Library

[3]

K. A. Ericsson and H. A. Simon. 1993. Protocol Analysis: Verbal Reports as Data. MIT Press, Cambridge, MA.

[4]

M. Hegarty. 2010.Components of spatial intelligence. Vol. 52. Academic Press, San Diego, CA, 265--297.https://doi.org/10.1016/S0079--7421(10)52007--3

[5]

Mary Hegarty, Mike Stieff, and Bonnie L. Dixon. 2013. Cognitive change in mental models with experience in the domain of organic chemistry. Journal of Cognitive Psychology 25, 2 (2013), 220--228. https://doi.org/10.1080/20445911.2012.725044arXiv:https://doi.org/10.1080/20445911.2012.725044

[6]

S. Katz, D. Allbritton, J. Aronis, C.Wilson, and M.L. Soffa. 2006. Gender, achievement, and persistence in an undergraduate computer science program. ACM SIGMIS Database 37, 4 (2006), 42--57.https://doi.org/10.1145/1185335.1185344arXiv:https://doi.org/10.1145/1185335.1185344

Digital Library

[7]

F. Marton. 1986. Phenomenography - A research approach investigating different understandings of reality. Journal of Thought21, 2 (1986), 28--49.

[8]

R. L. Matz, B. P. Koester, S. Fiorini, G. Grom, L. Shepard, C. G. Stangor, B. Weiner, and T. A. McKay. 2017. Patterns of Gendered Performance Differences in Large Introductory Courses at Five Research Universities. AERA Open 3, 4 (2017).https://doi.org/10.1177/2332858417743754

[9]

Nora S Newcombe. 2016. Thinking spatially in the science classroom. Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences10 (2016), 1 -- 6. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cobeha.2016.04.010 Neuroscience of education.

[10]

M. Stieff, B. L. Dixon, M. Ryu, B. C. Kumi, and M. Hegarty. 2014. Strategy training eliminates sex differences in spatial problem solving in a stem domain. Journal of Educational Psychology 106, 2 (2014), 390--402.

[11]

Mike Stieff and Sonali Raje. 2010. Expert Algorithmic and Imagistic Problem Solving Strategies in Advanced Chemistry. Spatial Cognition & Computation 10, 1 (2010), 53--81.https://doi.org/10.1080/13875860903453332arXiv:https://doi.org/10.1080/13875860903453332

[12]

Jonathan Tomkin, Matthew West, and Geoffrey L. Herman. 2016. A methodological refinement for studying the STEM grade-point penalty. In FIE 2016 -Frontiers in Education 2016 (Proceedings - Frontiers in Education Conference, FIE). Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc., United States.https://doi.org/10.1109/FIE.2016.7757646

[13]

Jonathan H. Tomkin, Matthew West, and Geoffrey L. Herman. 2018. An Improved Grade Point Average, With Applications to CS Undergraduate Education Analytics. ACM Transactions on Computing Education 18, 4 (Sep. 2018), 1--16. https://doi.org/10.1145/3157086

Digital Library

[14]

David H. Uttal and Cheryl A. Cohen. 2012. Spatial Thinking and STEM Education: When, Why, and How? Psychology of Learning and Motivation 57 (2012), 147--181. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0--12--394293--7.00004--2arXiv:https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0--12--394293--7.00004--2

[15]

Jonathan Wai, David Lubinski, and Camilla P. Benbow. 2009.Spatial Ability for STEM Domains: Aligning Over 50 Years of Cumulative Psychological Knowledge Solidifies Its Importance. Journal of Educational Psychology 101, 4 (2009), 817--835. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0016127arXiv:https://doi.org/10.1037/a0016127

Cited By

Rao AChimalakonda SAgrahari V(2022)BlockList: A Game to Teach Basic Linked Lists Operations To Novice ProgrammersProceedings of the 15th Annual ACM India Compute Conference10.1145/3561833.3561844(35-40)Online publication date: 9-Nov-2022
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3561833.3561844

Index Terms

Using Spatio-Algorithmic Problem Solving Strategies to Increase Access to Data Structures
1. Social and professional topics
  1. Professional topics
    1. Computing education
2. Theory of computation
  1. Design and analysis of algorithms
    1. Data structures design and analysis

Recommendations

Hybrid and custom data structures: evolution of the data structures course
ITiCSE '09: Proceedings of the 14th annual ACM SIGCSE conference on Innovation and technology in computer science education

The topic of data structures has historically been taught with two major focuses: first, the basic definition and implementation of a small set of basic data structures (e.g. list, stack, queue, tree, graph), and second, the usage of these basic data ...
Hybrid and custom data structures: evolution of the data structures course
ITiCSE '09

The topic of data structures has historically been taught with two major focuses: first, the basic definition and implementation of a small set of basic data structures (e.g. list, stack, queue, tree, graph), and second, the usage of these basic data ...
The dimensions of variation in the teaching of data structures

The current debate about the teaching of data structures is hampered because, as a community, we usually debate specifics about data structure implementations and libraries, when the real level of disagreement remains implicit -- the intent behind our ...

Comments

Please enable JavaScript to view thecomments powered by Disqus.

Information & Contributors

Information

Published In

cover image ACM Conferences

ITiCSE '20: Proceedings of the 2020 ACM Conference on Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education

June 2020

615 pages

ISBN:9781450368742

DOI:10.1145/3341525

General Chairs:
Michail Giannakos
NTNU, Norway
,
Guttorm Sindre
Excited/NTNU, Norway
,
Program Chairs:
Andrew Luxton-Reilly
University of Auckland, NZ
,
Monica Divitini
NTNU, Norway

Copyright © 2020 Owner/Author.

Permission to make digital or hard copies of part or all of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. Copyrights for third-party components of this work must be honored. For all other uses, contact the Owner/Author.

Sponsors

SIGCSE: ACM Special Interest Group on Computer Science Education

Publisher

Association for Computing Machinery

New York, NY, United States

Publication History

Published: 15 June 2020

Check for updates

Author Tags

Qualifiers

Abstract

Conference

ITiCSE '20

Sponsor:

SIGCSE

ITiCSE '20: Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education

June 15 - 19, 2020

Trondheim, Norway

Acceptance Rates

Overall Acceptance Rate 552 of 1,613 submissions, 34%

Contributors

Other Metrics

View Article Metrics

Bibliometrics & Citations

Bibliometrics

Article Metrics

1
Total Citations
View Citations
72
Total Downloads

Downloads (Last 12 months)5
Downloads (Last 6 weeks)1

Reflects downloads up to 29 Nov 2024

Other Metrics

View Author Metrics

Citations

Cited By

Rao AChimalakonda SAgrahari V(2022)BlockList: A Game to Teach Basic Linked Lists Operations To Novice ProgrammersProceedings of the 15th Annual ACM India Compute Conference10.1145/3561833.3561844(35-40)Online publication date: 9-Nov-2022
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3561833.3561844

View Options

Login options

Check if you have access through your login credentials or your institution to get full access on this article.

Full Access

Get this Publication

View options

PDF

View or Download as a PDF file.

eReader

View online with eReader.

Media

Figures

Other

Tables

View Table of Contents