History of Efforts to Measure CS1 History of Efforts to Measure CS1 LearningLearning

Elliot Soloway’s “Rainfall Problem” (1983)◦14% could solve it

McCracken’s ITICSE 2001 Group◦Average score 21%

Lister’s Leeds ITICSE 2004Allison Elliott Tew 2010

◦Average score on the pseudo-code exam 33.78%, and 48.61% on the “native” language exam

The value of a good yardstickThe value of a good yardstick

Hestenes et al.’s Force Concept Inventory◦Less than 15% of students understood

Newton’s Third LawDeveloped interactive-engagement

methodsOver 6,000 participants in a study later,

showed marked improvements in learning (Hake, 1998)