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Conducting Multi-Institutional Studies of Parsons Problems

Authors:

Francisco J. Gutierrez,

Konstantinos Liaskos,

Aadarsh Padiyath,

Michael James Scott,

David H. Smith,

Jayakrishnan Warriem,

Angela Zavaleta BernuyAuthors Info & Claims

ITiCSE 2023: Proceedings of the 2023 Conference on Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education V. 2

Pages 571 - 572

https://doi.org/10.1145/3587103.3594211

Published: 29 June 2023 Publication History

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Abstract

Many novice programmers struggle to write code from scratch and get frustrated when their code does not work. Parsons problems can reduce the difficulty of a coding problem by providing mixed-up blocks that the learner assembles in the correct order. Parsons problems can also include distractor blocks that are not needed in a correct solution, but which may help students learn to recognize and fix errors. Evidence indicates that students find Parsons problems engaging, easier than writing code from scratch, useful for learning patterns, and typically faster to solve than writing code from scratch with equivalent learning gains. This working group leverages the work of the 2022 ITiCSE working group which published an extensive literature review of Parsons problems and designed and piloted several studies based on the gaps identified by the literature review. The 2023 working group is revising, conducting, and creating new studies. We will analyze the data from these multi-institutional and multi-national studies and publish the results as well as recommendations for future working groups.

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Cited By

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Hou IMan OMettille SGutierrez SAngelikas KMacNeil S(2024)More Robots are Coming: Large Multimodal Models (ChatGPT) can Solve Visually Diverse Images of Parsons ProblemsProceedings of the 26th Australasian Computing Education Conference10.1145/3636243.3636247(29-38)Online publication date: 29-Jan-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3636243.3636247
Tabarsi BReichert HLytle NCatete VBarnes T(2024)Scaffolding Novices: Analyzing When and How Parsons Problems Impact Novice Programming in an Integrated Science AssignmentProceedings of the 2024 ACM Conference on International Computing Education Research - Volume 110.1145/3632620.3671110(42-54)Online publication date: 12-Aug-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3632620.3671110
Smith, IV DPoulsen SFowler MZilles CChoppella VPhatak DLuxton-Reilly ACraig M(2023)Comparing the Impacts of Visually Grouped and Jumbled Distractors on Parsons Problems in CS1 AssessmentsProceedings of the ACM Conference on Global Computing Education Vol 110.1145/3576882.3617927(154-160)Online publication date: 5-Dec-2023
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3576882.3617927

Index Terms

Conducting Multi-Institutional Studies of Parsons Problems
1. Social and professional topics
  1. Professional topics
    1. Computing education

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Published In

ITiCSE 2023: Proceedings of the 2023 Conference on Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education V. 2

June 2023

694 pages

ISBN:9798400701399

DOI:10.1145/3587103

General Chairs:
Mikko-Jussi Laakso
University of Turku, Finland
,
Mattia Monga
University of Milan, Italy
,
Program Chairs:
Simon
Unaffiliated, Australia
,
Judithe Sheard
Monash University, Australia

Permission to make digital or hard copies of part or all of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. Copyrights for third-party components of this work must be honored. For all other uses, contact the Owner/Author.

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Association for Computing Machinery

New York, NY, United States

Publication History

Published: 29 June 2023

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ITiCSE 2023

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SIGCSE

ITiCSE 2023: Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education

July 7 - 12, 2023

Turku, Finland

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Overall Acceptance Rate 552 of 1,613 submissions, 34%

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Cited By

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Hou IMan OMettille SGutierrez SAngelikas KMacNeil S(2024)More Robots are Coming: Large Multimodal Models (ChatGPT) can Solve Visually Diverse Images of Parsons ProblemsProceedings of the 26th Australasian Computing Education Conference10.1145/3636243.3636247(29-38)Online publication date: 29-Jan-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3636243.3636247
Tabarsi BReichert HLytle NCatete VBarnes T(2024)Scaffolding Novices: Analyzing When and How Parsons Problems Impact Novice Programming in an Integrated Science AssignmentProceedings of the 2024 ACM Conference on International Computing Education Research - Volume 110.1145/3632620.3671110(42-54)Online publication date: 12-Aug-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3632620.3671110
Smith, IV DPoulsen SFowler MZilles CChoppella VPhatak DLuxton-Reilly ACraig M(2023)Comparing the Impacts of Visually Grouped and Jumbled Distractors on Parsons Problems in CS1 AssessmentsProceedings of the ACM Conference on Global Computing Education Vol 110.1145/3576882.3617927(154-160)Online publication date: 5-Dec-2023
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3576882.3617927

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Recommendations

Multi-Institutional Multi-National Studies of Parsons Problems

Parsons Problems and Beyond: Systematic Literature Review and Empirical Study Designs

Planning a Multi-institutional and Multi-national Study of the Effectiveness of Parsons Problems