ABSTRACT
CPSC 120, Principles of Computer Science I, is a first semester freshmen level course for computer science majors. Over a three semester comparison period, this course had an average WDF rate of 56% (i.e. percentage of students receiving a grade of “D” or “F”, or withdrawing from the course). In two sections of this course, two strategies, peer instruction and cooperative learning, were combined to lower the WDF rate for both sections to an average of 32.5%. The improvement was even more dramatic for the female students in the classes, who improved from a 53% WDF rate to a WDF rate of only 15%.
- 1.Chase, J. D. and Okie, E. G., Combining Cooperative Learning and Peer Instruction in Introductory Computer Science: A Case Study, in Proceedings of The 18 th Annual Lilly Conference on Teaching and Learning, International Alliance of Teachers and Scholars, Oxford, Ohio, November, 1998.Google Scholar
- 2.Johnson, D. W., Johnson, R. T., and Smith, K. A. (1991), Active Learning: Cooperation in the College Classroom, Interaction Book Company, Edina, Minnesota.Google Scholar
- 3.Keirsey, D., and Bates, M. (1984), Please Understand Me: Character and Temperament Types, Promotheus Nemesis Book Company, Del Mar, California.Google Scholar
- 4.Seymour, E., and Hewitt, N. M. (1997), Talking About Leaving: Why Undergraduates Leave the Sciences, Westview Press, Boulder, Colorado.Google Scholar
- 5.Tenenberg, J. (1995), Using Cooperative Learning in the Undergraduate Computer Scienco Classroom, in Proceedings of Midwest Small College Computing Conference, September, 1995, Fort Wayne, Indiana.Google Scholar
- 6.Walker, H. M., Collaborative learning: a case study for CS1 at Grinnell College and UT-Austin, in Proceedings of ACM SIGCSE 1997, ACM Press, pp. 209-213, New York, New York. Google ScholarDigital Library
Index Terms
- Combining cooperative learning and peer instruction in introductory computer science
Recommendations
Combining cooperative learning and peer instruction in introductory computer science
CPSC 120, Principles of Computer Science I, is a first semester freshmen level course for computer science majors. Over a three semester comparison period, this course had an average WDF rate of 56% (i.e. percentage of students receiving a grade of “D” ...
Peer instruction in computer science at small liberal arts colleges
ITiCSE '13: Proceedings of the 18th ACM conference on Innovation and technology in computer science educationPeer Instruction (PI) has been shown to be successful at improving pass-rates and improving retention of majors in large classes at large research-intensive institutions. At these institutions, students have been shown to learn from peer discussion in ...
Exploring factors that influence computer science introductory course students to persist in the major
SIGCSE '09: Proceedings of the 40th ACM technical symposium on Computer science educationThis paper describes an exploratory study to identify which environmental and student factors best predict intention to persist in the computer science major. The findings can be used to make decisions about initiatives for increasing retention. Eight ...
Comments