The effective use of quicksort visualizations in the classroom

Authors:
Tom Naps;Scott Grissom
Affiliations:
University of Wisconsin - Oshkosh, Oshkosh, WI;Grand Valley State University, Allendale, MI
Venue:
Journal of Computing Sciences in Colleges
Year:
2002

Citing 5
Cited 9

Using student-built algorithm animations as learning aids

SIGCSE '97 Proceedings of the twenty-eighth SIGCSE technical symposium on Computer science education
JHAVÉ—an environment to actively engage students in Web-based algorithm visualizations

Proceedings of the thirty-first SIGCSE technical symposium on Computer science education
Assessing the benefits of interactive prediction using Web-based algorithm animation courseware

Proceedings of the thirty-first SIGCSE technical symposium on Computer science education
Using Visualizations to Learn Algorithms: Should Students Construct Their Own, or View an Expert's?

VL '00 Proceedings of the 2000 IEEE International Symposium on Visual Languages (VL'00)
Toward effective algorithm visualization artifacts: designing for participation and communication in an undergraduate algorithms course

Toward effective algorithm visualization artifacts: designing for participation and communication in an undergraduate algorithms course

Algorithm visualization in CS education: comparing levels of student engagement

Proceedings of the 2003 ACM symposium on Software visualization
Accessible student-directed visualization of computer organization concepts

eclipse '04 Proceedings of the 2004 OOPSLA workshop on eclipse technology eXchange
Analyzing engagement taxonomy in collaborative algorithm visualization

Proceedings of the 12th annual SIGCSE conference on Innovation and technology in computer science education
Balanced cognitive load significantly improves the effectiveness of algorithm animation as a problem-solving tool

Journal of Visual Languages and Computing
Extending the Engagement Taxonomy: Software Visualization and Collaborative Learning

ACM Transactions on Computing Education (TOCE)
The effect of visualizing roles of variables on student performance in an introductory programming course

ITiCSE '09 Proceedings of the 14th annual ACM SIGCSE conference on Innovation and technology in computer science education
Human-centered visualization environments

Human-centered visualization environments
HCI to engage design team members in IT-integrated design collaboration process

WSEAS Transactions on Information Science and Applications
Requirements and design strategies for open source interactive computer science eBooks

Proceedings of the ITiCSE working group reports conference on Innovation and technology in computer science education-working group reports

Quantified Score

Hi-index	0.00

Visualization

Abstract

We first draw the distinction between two instructional modes of using algorithm visualization (AV). The first of these is to have students construct their own visualizations. The second is to have students view an algorithm animation created by an expert. We then describe an experiment designed to test whether AV can be an effective learning tool in this second mode of use. To encourage the student's active engagement with the visualization, the AV system we used required that students interactively predict the actions that the depiction of the algorithm would portray. Two groups used the system, along with their textbook, to study quick sort. The difference between the groups was that one group used the system only for studying one particular algorithm. The other group had AV integrated more thoroughly into their entire course. We found that the latter group performed significantly better.