Comparing outcomes in inverted and traditional CS1

D Horton, M Craig, J Campbell, P Gries… - Proceedings of the 2014 …, 2014 - dl.acm.org
Proceedings of the 2014 conference on Innovation & technology in computer …, 2014dl.acm.org
We compare a traditional CS1 offering with an inverted offering delivered the following year
to a comparable student population. We measure student attitudes, grades, and final course
outcomes and find that, while students in the inverted offering do not report increased
enjoyment and are no more likely to pass, learning as measured by final exam performance
increases significantly. This increase is not simply a function of a more onerous inverted
offering, as students report spending similar time per week in the traditional and inverted …
We compare a traditional CS1 offering with an inverted offering delivered the following year to a comparable student population. We measure student attitudes, grades, and final course outcomes and find that, while students in the inverted offering do not report increased enjoyment and are no more likely to pass, learning as measured by final exam performance increases significantly. This increase is not simply a function of a more onerous inverted offering, as students report spending similar time per week in the traditional and inverted offerings. Contrary to our hypotheses, however, we find no evidence that the the inverted offering disproportionally helps beginners or those not fully fluent in English.
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