Teaching abstraction in computer science to young students
Leading team
Project members
- David Statter
Summary
Abstraction is one of the most fundamental ideas of computer science (CS). Research shows that students demonstrate extensive difficulties in achieving meaningful learning of abstraction. The study examined the implementation of a framework for teaching abstraction in CS for novices in the context of an introductory CS course for 7th grade students. The findings demonstrate how the framework can be implemented in this specific context and indicate the high effectiveness of the resulting teaching strategy. As part of this study, we developed an innovative operational definition of CS abstraction that served as the basis for a deep assessment of the students’ abilities of CS abstraction.
This is the doctoral research of David Statter.
Scratch is developed by the Lifelong Kindergarten Group at the MIT Media Lab.
Links for further reading
- Armoni, M. (2013). On teaching abstraction in computer science to novices. Journal of Computers in Mathematics and Science Teaching, 32(3), 265-284.
- Statter, D., & Armoni. M. (2016). Teaching abstract thinking in introduction to computer science for 7th graders. In J. Vahrenhold, & E. Barendsen (Eds.) Proceedings of the 11th Workshop in Primary and Secondary Computing Education (WiPSCE2016, Münster, Germany). (pp. 80-83). New-York, NY: ACM.
- Statter, D., & Armoni. M. (2017). Learning abstraction in computer science: a gender perspective. In E. Barendsen, & P. Hubwieser (Eds.) Proceedings of the 12th Workshop in Primary and Secondary Computing Education (WiPSCE2017, Nijmegen, the Netherlands). (pp. 5-14). New-York, NY: ACM.
- Statter, D, and Armoni, M. (2020). Teaching Abstraction in Computer Science to 7th Grade Students. ACM Transactions on Computing Education, 20(1), 8:1-37.