Communications of the ACM
Constructivism in computer science education
Journal of Computers in Mathematics and Science Teaching
The concept of nondeterminism: its development and implications for teaching
ACM SIGCSE Bulletin
Using control network programming in teaching nondeterminism
Proceedings of the 13th International Conference on Computer Systems and Technologies
Proceedings of the 11th Brazilian Symposium on Human Factors in Computing Systems
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Nondeterminism is a fundamental concept of computer science. However, since it is a very abstract concept, teaching and learning nondeterminism is difficult. In this paper we focus on one aspect of the teaching and learning processes of nondeterminism: the extent to which undergraduate students of computer science perceive that nondeterministic automata exhibit nondeterministic behavior, that is, they are unpredictable and inconsistent. First we show that students tend to think of nondeterministic automata as consistent machines; then we show that an explicit intervention can significantly affect students' mental models of nondeterministic automata in the direction of improving their perception of nondeterministic behavior.