Capítulo tercero: pago por consignación

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III. Capítulo tercero: pago por consignación

Test 1

7.2 (n = 15)

7(n = 9)

Test 2

7.933 (n = 15)

6.333 (n = 9)

The control group dropped from Test 1 to Test 2, again not to a significant level (T- Score = 0.676, P-Value = 0.509). Of note is that the study class did significantly better in test 2 than their control group peers (T-Score = 1.789, P-Value = 0.087).

6.4

d i s c u s s i o n

6.4.1

i s s u e s w i t h s c h o o l s t e a c h i n g t h e c o u r s e

One of the main downfalls of this study, which we have stated previously, is that classes were, for the most part, not done in any order or with any structure. The hope of CS2Go is that it will supplement the teachers’ other resources and work to achieve the outcomes described in the curriculum they are using. The flexibility and adaptability of the lessons are a major positive and as discussed in the teacher feed- back, many teachers cut short lessons or combined lessons if they felt that was needed. Other teachers also supplemented the classes with other material. One future hope is for the newly developed website to become a place where educators can share other resources and ideas for the lessons and topics covered by CS2Go. For a study of the courses effectiveness on CT skills and students views of CS though, a more robust and controlled sample is needed. As discussed in Section6.5.1the hope is to do this in the

future.

6.4.2

c l a s s r e a c t i o n

It can be seen in the results discussed in Section6.2that, in general, the classes were

well received by students and a large percentage felt they learned something from the lessons. This in itself is an encouraging finding and with slight adaptations and adding further content, we believe CS2Go can be a really beneficial tool for schools and educators in Ireland and further afield. Most lessons received a rating above 3 out of 5, which when considering most students general apathy towards school, along

6.4 discussion

with the variety of contexts covered by the schools, is very encouraging. With further training we believe teachers will be able to use these lessons to introduce students to CS in a fun and engaging way. With the introduction of CS to the Leaving Certificate course and the expansion of the Junior Cycle Coding Short course, the opportunity to equip teachers who are passionate and excited about CS is one we hope to continue to do.

6.4.3

a p p e a r s t o i m pa c t s t u d e n t s v i e w s o f c s

From the one structured group of students’ (see Section 6.3.1.1), it can be seen that

student’s views of what CS is and what is central to CS are impacted. This is a positive outcome as correcting and informing students of the misconceptions surrounding CS is one of the hopes of this course. Introducing students to CS earlier can only benefit them as the skills acquired will be helpful in many walks of life, but it also allows students to know whether CS is a subject they wish to pursue further. Computer Science third-level courses have a very high failure and drop-out rate in Ireland [77].

We believe this is due to students not understanding the core concepts of what CS is, and so when introduced to them in third level they are surprised and disengage. Showing these concepts earlier, in a less pressurised environment which Transition Year allows, could help students make informed decisions.

6.4.4

a p p e a r s t o i m pa c t s t u d e n t’s ct skills

As discussed in Section 6.3.2.3, promising results were shown in the small sample

group in the Computational Thinking Assessment. Students’ scores increased by the end of the course. This was only a small sample and the larger groups give a mixed view of whether this could be true of wider groups. One of the hopes of a more structured study (see Chapter8) is to see whether or not CS2Go does improve students

CT skills. It should be noted that in a separate study, described in Chapter7run with

first year undergraduate students, we found that their scores did increase over the course of a year studying CS as part of their degree. This alongside the group of the small sample described here encourage us that CS in general, and by extension CS2Go, could have a positive impact on students’ CT skills.

6.5 future work

6.5

f u t u r e w o r k

6.5.1

s t r u c t u r e d s t u d y

One of the major issues with this study is that students weren’t consistently taught classes from this course. Teachers are encouraged to pick and choose what suits them and their contexts, and this flexibility is offered by the structure of CS2Go. However, to gauge both its impact on student’s learning, CT skills, views of CS and teachers view of the course, a more structured and rounded study is required. The hope is that in the next academic year we will run a more controlled study with a smaller number of schools. Several teachers will be contacted, and these will form a group which we will be able to keep track of and equip to teach the course over a set time. The teachers will be given a guided timetable to follow, which will allow some flexibility but will allow all students to be introduced to the basics of CS, programming. The plan is that we can then see how the lessons impact the various metrics we are assessing.

6.5.2

e x pa n d o n c o u r s e

As with any course there are always opportunities to expand. We will continue to do this throughout the next year, improving the existing lesson plans as well as de- veloping new content. One area we hope to focus is on the web development and app development sections of CS2Go. This could include using App Inventor as well as lessons on digital citizenship and online safety. There is also a lot of potential to expand both the Python and Scratch modules.

6.5.3

t e s t t h e c o u r s e w i t h o t h e r y e a r g r o u p s

CS2Go is aimed at Transition Year students. However, there is no reason the lessons can’t be used by younger and older students. We have already been contacted by several teachers who wish to use the content for the new Leaving Certificate course. This is great to hear that teachers see it as useful for the new course and an area we hope to expand on in the future. The Junior Certificate Short Course in Coding is also an area we hope to promote the use of CS2Go.

6.5 future work

6.5.4

v i d e o t u t o r i a l s a n d d e m o n s t r at i o n s

One major improvement suggested by both students and teachers is video tutorials of the Scratch exercises specifically. This is an area we would hope to engage with and develop resources to help both students and teachers. We also feel there could be an opportunity for practical examples of different activities to be videoed to allow teachers to see how they work in a classroom context.

7

F I R S T Y E A R U N D E R G R A D U AT E S T U D Y

7.1

i n t r o d u c t i o n

One of the main goals of most introductory Computer Science courses in third level education is to allow students to develop critical thinking and problem-solving abilities that will be useful not just in future years of study, but throughout their life. Indeed, this is one of the hopes of almost all university courses, with problem solving, critical thinking and analytical skills being highly sought after skills in almost all sectors of work. Universities and colleges hope to produce graduates with not just subject-area knowledge but also these important cross-domain skills.

The first-year teaching group in the Department of Computer Science at Maynooth University have tried many different strategies to pass on both subject-specific knowledge as well as develop students who can solve difficult problems through both programming and computational thinking. As well as being involved in the education of third-level students, the Department of Computer Science at Maynooth University has, for many years, strived to pass their knowledge and experience to secondary school students and teachers. This has been done through many ways including sum- mer camps, workshops, open days and college fairs. One way in particular is the PACT group, who have developed resources and materials for secondary school and primary school teachers. One of the main focusses of the group is on using Computa- tional Thinking to teach cross curricular skills.

Alongside testing the CT Assessment, described in detail in Chapter4, in schools

during the 2017-18 school year it was decided that this test would also be suitable at third-level. The decision was made to run the CT Assessment and "Views of CS" survey on the first-year CS students at Maynooth University. The plan was to show students that problem-solving is a key part of CS and to see whether the course improved their CT skills, whether their opinions of CS changed over the course of the year and also whether the CT Assessment could be a predictor of success in the course. The large and consistent group also allowed for a better evaluation of the CT Assess- ment than has so far been possible in secondary schools, so the data could be used to better adapt and adjust the test to suit all groups.

7.2 first year course in maynooth

7.2

f i r s t y e a r c o u r s e i n m ay n o o t h

In Maynooth University the first year Computer Science course consists of two separate streams. These streams are described in the following sections.

7.2.1

s t r e a m 1

The first stream consists of the modules CS161 (Introduction to Computer Science 1) and CS162 (Introduction to Computer Science 2). These modules are taught in semester one and two respectively of first year. For anyone wanting to study Com- puter Science in Maynooth these are mandatory modules which all students must take, and they are pre-requisites for all second-year modules. The modules are 7.5 ECTs each and consist of 36 Lecture hours (3 hours per week), 36 laboratory hours (3 hours per week) and 48 independent study hours.

The overview and learning outcomes of these two modules, adapted from the university course guide, are: Students will be taught programming fundamentals (all through Java) including variables, types, expressions, simple I/O, conditional and it- erative control structures, String and use of class API’s for creating objects and calling methods. Students will learn about object-oriented programming, arrays, static methods, variable scope and sorting and searching algorithms. They will also learn about languages, regular expressions, finite automata, recursion, basic computer architec- ture, components of modern operating systems and number systems.

During these modules student will be given an understanding of algorithms and problem solving and be able to create and write their own algorithms as well as un- derstand and evaluate others. They should then be able to take these algorithms and implement them using Java. These two modules are taught primarily using the Java programming language. Java is a popular first language and has many advan- tages when used as the first language taught. The theory parts of the course are usu- ally taught using practical exercises such as making up Finite State Machines using JFlap, converting numbers from binary to decimal and writing out regular expressions. These are often followed by programming exercises which show how Java can be used to do these tasks. A key focus in the first semester module is engaging and testing student’s problem-solving skills using a few different exercises. These are often done in pairs or small groups and are sometimes, but not always, linked to the topic of the programming lab that week. These include Bebras problems as previously described and other puzzles and logic problems.

7.3 undergraduate study - 2017-18

7.2.2

s t r e a m 2

The second stream consists of the modules CS171 (Computer Systems 1) and CS172 (Computer Systems 2). These modules are taught in semesters one and two respectively. For anyone taking the denominated degrees in Computer Science and Software Engineering or Multimedia and Mobile Web Development these are compulsory modules. For omnibus Science and Arts students or those studying other subjects these modules are optional. The modules are 7.5 ECTs each, but the make-up is different for each, and they cover very different topics unlike CS161 and CS162 which are intrin- sically linked. CS171 consists of 36 Lecture hours (3 hours per week), 36 laboratory hours (3 hours per week) and 48 independent study hours. The overview and learning outcomes, adapted from the university course guide, are below: Students will learn about a wide range of CS topics, examples include Artificial Intelligence, Signal Processing, Computer visions and Machine learning. Concepts are taught practically through use of the graphical programming language, Processing.

CS172 consists of 36 Lecture hours (3 hours per week), 24 laboratory hours (2 hours per week), 12 tutorial hours (1 hour per week) and 48 independent study hours. The overview and learning outcomes of these two modules, adapted from the university course guide, are: Students will be introduced to first order logic and proof strategies. Basic set operations and properties as well as defining and understanding inverse, im- age, bijections, total & partial functions etc. will be covered. Students will learn to reason and evaluate propositional and predicate logic statements as well as syllogism and natural theory proofs. These will be done using truth tables, syntax trees, contra- diction and natural deductions. Students will also learn programming in a declarative language (Prolog) and learn about lists, recursion and search strategy.

7.3

u n d e r g r a d uat e s t u d y - 2017-18

The academic year runs from late September through to May and consists of two semesters. Both semesters run for 12 weeks, the first from late September to Decem- ber, with examinations taking place in January. The second semester runs from early February through to early May, with examinations taking place in May. Repeat examinations are offered in August for any student failing one of more modules.

During the third week of semester one, the first-year students were told about the study and asked to participate. This was optional and took place during their mandatory lab time; however students were not graded on the CT Assessment nor did their

7.3 undergraduate study - 2017-18

participation/non-participation have any impact on their module grade. Students were then asked to fill out two surveys. The first survey was a personal survey to pro- vide demographic data, and the second survey allowed us to gather perceptions on their views of CS, described in Sections4.1.1and4.2. They then took part in the first

CT Assessment. As with the secondary school students they were allowed 35 minutes to complete the problems and could use pen & paper. Students could leave early if they completed the test. The results as well as the answers to the questions were then released the following week to all students.

In week 10 of the second semester the students were again asked during their lab time to take part in another CT Assessment. It was explained that this test had been uniquely developed for them and that the reason for running the test was to allow them to see if their CT skills had improved over the course of a semester. In week 10 of semester two the students took the final CT Assessment as well as completing the second View of Computer Science survey.

The first-year cohort consisted of more than 300 students at the beginning of the academic year. A total of 271 of these were present to fill out a survey collecting personal and demographic data. This pool comes from a wide-range of courses and backgrounds and below are some demographic data points of interest. As is the case with most CS undergraduate courses, the majority of those taking the course were males, with 75% of the class who we surveyed being male.

As this is an introductory module taken by first year students, most students taking the course had just finished secondary school after taking the state-wide exams, the Leaving Certificate. This can be observed in Figure 7.1 where 224 of the 271 re-

spondents (82%) were aged 17-19 years old; this would be the normal age bracket of students taking the state exams. There was a total of 26 mature students, that is students aged 23 and older.

In Maynooth University there are several different ways for students to graduate with a qualification in Computer Science. Many courses also allow or require the first year CS modules (CS161 & CS162) to be taken. Below is a list of all of the courses represented from the data we collected, the course codes are assigned by Maynooth University. The number of each can be seen in Table7.2.

• Theology and Arts - MH001

• Robotics and Intelligent Devices - MH30632 • Psychology through Science - MH209 • Physics with Astrophysics - MH204