Collaborative Research: Development of Concept Inventories for Computer Science

该项目通过为计算机科学入门科目编制三个概念清单，改进对学生学习计算机科学的评估。以成功的力概念清单为模型，该清单是为评估学生对牛顿物理学的学习而开发的，概念清单正在测试对关键计算机科学概念的理解，其方式可以在不同大学的课程之间进行可靠的比较。伊利诺伊大学厄巴纳-香槟分校，罗斯-休尔曼研究所和华盛顿大学之间的这种多机构合作关系有助于通过提供不同的学生群体和不同的计划目标来确保拟议文书的有效性。通过标准化的评估工具，计算机科学教育界可以对不同教学方法的有效性进行有意义的比较，极大地促进了计算机科学教育研究。概念清单旨在通过迫使学生在正确答案和由常见学生误解构建的干扰因素之间做出选择来测试学生对困难概念的理解。作为关于哪些主题是困难的以及最常见的误解是什么的信息的主要来源，学生们通过内省、讨论、访谈和“大声思考”直接参与，指导概念清单问题的发展。然后，通过同行评审、定性分析和心理测量分析，对这些问题进行提炼和验证。一个由经验丰富的概念库存开发人员组成的咨询小组正在提供咨询意见，并每年评估项目进展情况。

This project is improving the assessment of student learning in computer science by developing three concept inventories for introductory computer science subjects. Modeled after the successful Force Concept Inventory that was developed to assess student learning of Newtonian physics, the concept inventories are testing understanding of key computer science concepts in a manner that enables reliable comparisons between courses at different universities. This multi-institution partnership among the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Rose-Hulman Institute, and Washington University is helping to ensure the validity of the proposed instruments by providing access to diverse student populations and different program objectives. With a standardized assessment tool, the computer science education community can make meaningful comparisons of the effectiveness of different pedagogical approaches, greatly facilitating computer science education research.Concept inventories are designed to test student comprehension of difficult concepts by forcing a choice between the correct answer and distractors constructed from common student misconceptions. As the primary source of information about which topics are difficult and about what the most common misconceptions are, students are being directly engaged through introspections, discussions, interviews, and "think alouds" to direct the development of questions for the concept inventories. These questions are then being refined and validated through peer review, qualitative, and psychometric analyses. An advisory panel, comprised of experienced concept inventory developers, is advising and annually assessing project progress.