Blogs (3) >>

This program is tentative and subject to change.

Thu 27 Feb 2025 15:45 - 16:03 at Meeting Rooms 310-311 - Algorithms #2

Concept inventories are standardized assessments that evaluate student understanding of key concepts within academic disciplines. While prevalent across STEM fields, their development lags for advanced computer science topics like dynamic programming (DP) - an algorithmic technique that poses significant conceptual challenges for undergraduates. To fill this gap, we developed and validated a Dynamic Programming Concept Inventory (DPCI). We detail the iterative process used to formulate multiple-choice questions targeting known student misconceptions about DP concepts identified through prior research studies. We discuss key decisions, tradeoffs, and challenges faced in crafting probing questions to subtly reveal these conceptual misunderstandings. We conducted a preliminary psychometric validation by administering the DPCI to 172 undergraduate CS students finding our questions to be of appropriate difficulty and effectively discriminating between differing levels of student understanding. Taken together, our validated DPCI will enable instructors to accurately assess student mastery of DP. Moreover, our approach for devising a concept inventory for an advanced theoretical computer science concept can guide future efforts to create assessments for other under-evaluated areas currently lacking coverage.

This program is tentative and subject to change.

Thu 27 Feb

Displayed time zone: Eastern Time (US & Canada) change

15:45 - 17:00
15:45
18m
Talk
Construction and Preliminary Validation of a Dynamic Programming Concept Inventory
Papers
Matthew Ferland University of Southern California, Varun Nagaraj Rao Princeton University, Arushi Arora University of California, Irvine, Drew van der Poel Northeastern, Michael Luu University of California, Irvine, Randy Huynh University of California Irvine, Frederick Reiber Boston University, Sandra Ossman UC Irvine, Seth Poulsen Utah State University, Michael Shindler University of California, Irvine
16:03
18m
Talk
Investigating the Capabilities of Generative AI in Solving Data Structures, Algorithms, and Computability Problems
Papers
Ofek Gila University of California, Irvine, Shahar Broner University of California, Irvine, Yubin Kim UC Irvine, Computer Science Department, Nero Li UC Irvine, Computer Science Department, Katrina Mizuo UC Irvine, Computer Science Department, Elijah Sauder UC Irvine, Computer Science Department, Claire To UC Irvine, Computer Science Department, Albert Wang UC Irvine, Computer Science Department, Michael Shindler University of California, Irvine
16:22
18m
Talk
Reflections on Teaching Algorithm Courses
Papers
J. Ángel Velázquez-Iturbide Universidad Rey Juan Carlos
16:41
18m
Talk
Student Utilization of Metacognitive Strategies in Solving Dynamic Programming Problems
Papers
Jonathan Liu University of Chicago, Erica Goodwin University of Chicago, Diana Franklin University of Chicago