Theoretical issues of computer science are traditionally taught in a way that presupposes a solid mathematical background and are usually considered more or less inaccessible for students without this. An effective methodology is described which has been developed for a target group of university students with different backgrounds such as natural…

The aim of research is to compare difference between tenth class students and determine their level of success about classic and web based educational applications of Turbo Pascal lesson. This research was applied to 10 A and 10 TLB students of Izmir Karsikaya Anatolian Technical and industrial high school computer department in second term of…

Computational precision is sometimes given short shrift in a first programming course. Treating this topic requires discussing integer and floating-point number representations and inaccuracies that may result from their use. An example of a moderately simple programming problem from elementary statistics was examined. It forced students to…

Students often find that learning to program is hard. Introductory programming courses have high drop-out rates and students do not learn to program well. This paper presents experiences from three educational institutions where introductory programming courses were improved by adopting Python as the first programming language and roles of…

Three different approaches to teaching introductory programming are reviewed: the incremental approach, the sub-language approach, and the mini-language approach. The paper analyzes all three approaches, providing a brief history of each and describing an example of a programming environment supporting this approach. In the incremental approach,…

Discusses computational tools for learning programming and describes a system that was developed to help university students acquire the capability to model computational problems independently of a specific programming language. User-system interaction is explained; and system architecture is described, including specification acquisition, a…

The educational literature recognizes that people go through a number of stages in their intellectual development. During the first stage, called "received knowledge" or "dualism", people expect knowledge to be handed to them by authority figures (thus "received") and think in terms of black and white (thus "dualism"). Our experience indicates…

From time to time developers of (database) applications will encounter, explicitly or implicitly, structures such as trees, graphs, and networks. Such applications can, for instance, relate to bills of material, organization charts, networks of (rail)roads, networks of conduit pipes (e.g., plumbing, electricity), telecom networks, and data…

Recursion is a programming paradigm as well as a problem solving strategy thought to be very challenging to grasp for university students. This article outlines a pilot study, which expands the age range of students exposed to the concept of recursion in computer science through instruction in a series of interesting and engaging activities. In…

The "Computers-for-edu" case is designed to provide students with hands-on exposure to creating Advanced Business Application Programming (ABAP) reports and dialogue programs, as well as navigating various mySAP Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) transactions needed by ABAP developers. The case requires students to apply a wide variety…

This study investigates perceptions of 29 prospective teachers about a course based on Project-Based Learning (PBL) approach. The course, "Authoring Languages in PC Environment (B-320)" lasted in 14 weeks in fall semester of 2004-2005. In this course each prospective teacher carried out a project that requires designing and developing courseware…

This paper describes applications of logic programming technology to the teaching of the inductive method in computer science and mathematics. It discusses the nature of inductive thought and its place in those fields of inquiry, arguing that a complete logic programming system for supporting inductive inference is not only feasible but necessary.…

The idea of using "Learning Objects" in teaching has become very popular in the last few years. Although the concept of using objects in teaching is not new, the power of the computer technology and the Internet gives educators large opportunities and endless combination of possibilities in applying new theories to web-based education.…

Introductory courses in computer science at colleges and universities have undergone significant changes in 20 years. This article provides an overview of the history of introductory computer science (FORTRAN, ANSI flowchart symbols, BASIC, data processing concepts, and PASCAL) and its future (robotics and C++). (PEN)

Based on a computer-science course, this article outlines an alternative ordering of programming concepts that aims to develop a reuse habit before other styles of programming are developed. Although the discussion is based on transition from Modula-2 to C++, the issues raised apply to transition from any procedural to any object-oriented…