Join us to discuss developing abstraction skills on Monday 2nd March at 2pm GMT
How do students learn the fundamental skill of abstraction? Join us to discuss this via an ITiCSE paper by Marjahan Begum and co-authors [1], from the abstract
Abstraction is a fundamental yet challenging skill to teach and learn in Computer Science education. Traditional frameworks of abstraction and concept formation often emphasize understanding an abstraction over its application, the latter being critical for practical Computer Science. Additionally, a common issue in education is when students may understand a concept in a classroom or a very specific setting but struggle to apply it outside of that context. In response, we present here a novel pedagogical framework designed to enhance both the development and application of abstraction skills in diverse educational contexts within the field of Computer Science. Our framework synthesizes common themes from existing models while introducing a new dimension focused explicitly on the actionable development of abstraction skills. Educators can adapt the framework to various educational contexts to support development of students’ abstraction skills. Our framework was iteratively developed through a combination of theoretical analysis and reflective practice across multiple teaching contexts. We demonstrate the suitability of the framework by applying it to various case studies, demonstrating its broad applicability and practical utility. By offering a flexible yet comprehensive structure, our framework enables educators to effectively organize and deliver educational content, guiding students from abstract theoretical concepts to their practical application in Computer Science.
As usual, we’ll be meeting on Zoom, details on the slack channel
References
- Marjahan Begum, Julia Crossley, Filip Strömbäck, Eleni Akrida, Isaac Alpizar-Chacon, Abigail Evans, Joshua B. Gross, Pontus Haglund, Violetta Lonati, Chandrika Satyavolu, Sverrir Thorgeirsson (2024) A Pedagogical Framework for Developing Abstraction Skills in ITiCSE 2024: 2024 Working Group Reports on Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education Pages 258 – 299 10.1145/3689187.3709613