Computer programming and analogical reasoning: An exploratory study.
Item
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Title
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Computer programming and analogical reasoning: An exploratory study.
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Identifier
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AAI9618100
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identifier
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9618100
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Creator
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Schlafmitz, Marcia.
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Contributor
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Adviser: T. C. Wesselkamper
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Date
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1996
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Language
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English
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Publisher
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City University of New York.
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Subject
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Education, Sciences | Education, Higher
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Abstract
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When computer science courses are taught at the undergraduate level, the tendency is to teach them in isolation, without broader consideration of their place in the student's overall education. This project explores the possibility of designing a computer science course in the light of suggestions made in the American Association of Colleges (1990) proposals that the traditional concept of courses in the major be re-evaluated to include more than just "coverage" of subject matter but also to encompass questions of "methods and processes ... (of) inquiry (and) abstract logical thinking that are at the heart of the intellectual process." The study of computer science involves the application of many forms of abstract thinking in myriad concrete situations, and the skill of computer programming involves the mapping of context-independent problem-solving structures between dissimilar domains. Drawing on these aspects of the discipline, this study looks at the teaching of abstract reasoning skills in a college-level computer programming course. This project focuses on the abstract intellectual tool of analogical reasoning, studies its application within computer programming, and carries out an exploratory study whose goal is the formulation of research questions for a formal study dealing with the possibility of integrating the study of analogical reasoning into an introductory computer-programming course. Literature is reviewed in the areas of general analogical reasoning; the cognitive processes involved in computer programming; and computer programming as a specific type of analogical problem solving. The exploratory study is carried out in an introductory course in Pascal in which students are taught specifically to "program by analogy" and to relate their analogical thought processes to domains other than computer programming. Research questions are formulated for the formal, controlled study to follow, which will aim to increase the possibilities of "mindful abstraction and application of principles learned" (Perkins and Salomon 1987) in the class in order to heighten the possibility of the transfer of the use of analogy within the domain of computer programming into other intellectual domains.
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Type
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dissertation
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Source
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PQT Legacy CUNY.xlsx
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degree
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Ph.D.
