Landman, M., & Kohn, T. (2024). “Something that Happens Each Day” - Students’ Explanations of What Algorithms Are. In ITiCSE 2024: Proceedings of the 2024 on Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education V. 1 (pp. 199–205). Association for Computing Machinery (ACM). https://doi.org/10.1145/3649217.3653531
Algorithm is a highly abstract concept that is difficult to define precisely, but has entered the public discourse. In addition to a procedural knowledge about algorithms, we also need to ensure pupils have a viable conceptual knowledge. We have collected short explanations of what an algorithm is from 58 pupils in 6th grade and analysed their answers. While there is some understanding of algorithms as step-by-step procedures, we also found misconceptions such as a strong emphasis on repetition.
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Research Areas:
Logic and Computation: 30% Mathematical and Algorithmic Foundations: 50% Beyond TUW-research foci: 20%
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