ERIC Number: EJ1042410
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2013-Aug
Pages: 21
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: EISSN-1946-6226
EISSN: N/A
Cooperative Learning Instructional Methods for CS1: Design, Implementation, and Evaluation
Beck, Leland; Chizhik, Alexander
ACM Transactions on Computing Education, v13 n3 Article 10 Aug 2013
Cooperative learning is a well-known instructional technique that has been applied with a wide variety of subject matter and a broad spectrum of populations. This article briefly reviews the principles of cooperative learning, and describes how these principles were incorporated into a comprehensive set of cooperative learning activities for a CS1 course. In each activity, specific roles are assigned to group members in order to highlight important concepts and to enhance the overall functioning of the group. The group processing is followed by a whole-class debriefing led by the instructor, which works in tandem with the group activity to help students improve their understanding of the material. The effectiveness of these cooperative learning activities was assessed in a series of educational research studies which spanned three academic years and included two different instructors. The results of these studies show statistically significant benefits from the cooperative learning approach, both overall and for a broad range of subgroups of students. The article concludes with suggestions for faculty members who may want to use these cooperative learning activities in the classroom, or to develop their own activities along similar lines.
Descriptors: Cooperative Learning, Teaching Methods, Computer Science Education, Programming Languages, Introductory Courses, Educational Research, Class Activities, Learning Activities, Evaluation Methods, Multivariate Analysis, Statistical Significance, Student Improvement, Educational Benefits, Problem Solving
Association for Computing Machinery. 2 Penn Plaza Suite 701, New York, NY 10121. Tel: 800-342-6626; Tel: 212-626-0500; Fax: 212-944-1318; e-mail: acmhelp@acm.org; Web site: http://toce.acm.org/
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: National Science Foundation
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: California
Grant or Contract Numbers: DUE-0442121