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Papers by Paula Correia Tavares

This chapter presents a research developed in collaboration by two higher education institutions.... more This chapter presents a research developed in collaboration by two higher education institutions. Nowadays, high education programs can only be successful with the use of new technologies in the teaching/ learning process, especially when there are special education requirements. Two experiments were carried out: (1) a set of billiard balls, for snooker game, simulated by using physics laws and, (2) aLJo 2009, a game whose aim is to achieve the correct sorting of a sequence to accomplish a common task. Both projects were developed by students with different background and from different engineering courses. The snooker game, an academic project, aims to demonstrate that, through a simple game, several areas of knowledge can be used. On the other hand, aLJo 2009 was developed considering a collaboration protocol between the university and the Parents and Friends Association of the Citizen with Mental Deficiency (APPCDM), to improve behavior and social skills in patients with mental impairments.

Open Education Studies, 2022

Computer Programming Learners usually fail to get approved in introductory courses because solvin... more Computer Programming Learners usually fail to get approved in introductory courses because solving problems using computers is a complex task. The most important reason for that failure is concerned with motivation; motivation strongly impacts on the learning process. In this paper we discuss how techniques like program animation, and automatic evaluation can be combined to help the teacher in Computer Programming courses. In the article, PEP system will be introduced to explain how it supports teachers in classroom and how it engages students on study sessions outside the classroom. To support that work, students’ motivation was studied; to complement that study, a survey involving students attending the first year of Algorithms and Programming course of an Engineering degree was done. It is also presented a tool to analyse surveys, using association rules.

Proceedings of the 9th International Conference on Computer Supported Education, 2017

Motivate students is one of the biggest challenges that teachers have to face, in general and in ... more Motivate students is one of the biggest challenges that teachers have to face, in general and in particular in programming courses. In this article two techniques, aimed at supporting the teaching of programming, are discussed: program animation, and automatic evaluation of programs. Based on the combination of these techniques and their currently available tools, we will describe two possible approaches to increase motivation and improve the success. The conclusions of a first experiment conducted in the classroom will be presented. PEP, a Web-based tool that implements one of the approaches proposed, will be introduced.

Learning programming is a complex task that poses significant challenges. Students face different... more Learning programming is a complex task that poses significant challenges. Students face different kinds of difficulties at complex levels that traditional teaching/learning methods are nor able to cope with resulting in a high rate of failures. Two very distinguished concepts that are incredibly misunderstood by the students are: learning programming and learning the syntax of a programming language. Programming is, first of all, to outline strategies in order to solve problems, regardless of the language used. In fact, this task involves several steps that go from the understanding of the work proposal to the test of the program, passing through the algorithm development and codification. Although we believe the codification is not the main difficulty, previous studies had conclude that (Gomes, 2010), the adopted programming paradigm and the language used have a huge impact in the learning process and consequently in the task performance. Learning how to program is an iterative pro...

Computer Applications in Engineering Education, 2020

Previous research studies on introductory programming courses in engineering education in Portuga... more Previous research studies on introductory programming courses in engineering education in Portugal and Serbia have indicated that although high motivation and high expectations seem to be reported by students, many students may fail the course. This prompted a further inquiry into student attitudes, behavior, and achievement, and it also led to the introduction of C Tutor, a widely known program visualization tool, into courses in both countries. As a result, in the present study, self-reported student achievement (grades), self-reported student progress (knowledge improvement and confidence), and self-reported usage and helpfulness of C Tutor were investigated. Anonymous data about students and their experience in the course, which also included the usage of C Tutor, were collected in a survey in Portugal and Serbia. Quantitative methods, including descriptive statistics, clustering, statistical testing of independence, and partial correlation analysis, were applied in analyses of survey data. The distribution of grades differed between the two countries, but overall attitudes were similar. Various uncovered patterns involving student attitudes and usage of C Tutor may serve as a starting point for new research studies.

2015 10th Iberian Conference on Information Systems and Technologies (CISTI), 2015

Learning programming is a complex task that poses significant challenges. Students face different... more Learning programming is a complex task that poses significant challenges. Students face different kinds of difficulties at complex levels that traditional teaching/learning methods are nor able to cope with. For this reason, several authors have researched the pedagogical effectiveness of program visualization and animation, and developed some tools. Animation can help students on the analysis and understanding of given programs, and can also guide on the development of new ones. It is very important to give students the opportunity to practice solving programming exercises by themselves. Receiving feedback is essential for knowledge acquisition. New tools arose (especially in the area of programming contests) to allow for the submission of solutions (programs developed by the students) to the problem statements presented by the teacher and to assess them, returning immediately information about the submitted answer. These tools can be incorporated into teaching activities, allowing students to test their work getting immediate feedback. Automatic evaluation systems significantly improve students performance. In this article are shown these two approaches, animation and automatic assessment, and proposed a new pedagogical practice resulting from the combination of both.

Proceedings of the 8th International Conference on Computer Supported Education, 2016

One of the main reasons that justify the student's failure in (introductory) programming courses ... more One of the main reasons that justify the student's failure in (introductory) programming courses is the lack of motivation that impacts on the knowledge acquisition process, affecting learning results. As soon as students face the difficulties concerning the development of algorithms or the coding in a programming language, they give up and do not try harder to solve other problems; they think it is a demanding activity and feel frustrated. In this paper we describe in detail an experiment conducted to verify the effectiveness, in terms of the increase in motivation and in knowledge acquisition, of combining program Animation tools with the immediate feedback provided by Automatic Evaluations Systems.

Por fim ainda se estudou a importância de incluir no sistema de apoio ao ensino elementos dos jog... more Por fim ainda se estudou a importância de incluir no sistema de apoio ao ensino elementos dos jogos que estimulam a motivação e ainda se propôs um enriquecimento do sistema PEP através da inclusão de técnicas de ludificação ou gamificação.

Proceedings of the 10th International Conference on Computer Supported Education, 2018

For Programming teachers it is of utter most importance to understand the factors that impact on ... more For Programming teachers it is of utter most importance to understand the factors that impact on students' motivation to improve their ability to become good computer programmers. To understand a problem, to develop an algorithm for its solution, and to write the corresponding program is a challenging and arduous task, demanding time and self-confidence. In previous work we studied computer based technics to engage students in the learning activity; visualization, animation, automatic program assessment were some approaches that we combined. To support that work we studied carefully students' motivation and complemented that study with an inquiry to a group of students of Algorithm and Programming course of the first year of an Engineering degree. In this paper we show how Association Rules can be used to mine the data gathered in the inquiry to discover relationships among factors influencing extrinsic motivation.

This chapter presents a research developed in collaboration by two higher education institutions.... more This chapter presents a research developed in collaboration by two higher education institutions. Nowadays, high education programs can only be successful with the use of new technologies in the teaching/ learning process, especially when there are special education requirements. Two experiments were carried out: (1) a set of billiard balls, for snooker game, simulated by using physics laws and, (2) aLJo 2009, a game whose aim is to achieve the correct sorting of a sequence to accomplish a common task. Both projects were developed by students with different background and from different engineering courses. The snooker game, an academic project, aims to demonstrate that, through a simple game, several areas of knowledge can be used. On the other hand, aLJo 2009 was developed considering a collaboration protocol between the university and the Parents and Friends Association of the Citizen with Mental Deficiency (APPCDM), to improve behavior and social skills in patients with mental impairments.

Open Education Studies, 2022

Computer Programming Learners usually fail to get approved in introductory courses because solvin... more Computer Programming Learners usually fail to get approved in introductory courses because solving problems using computers is a complex task. The most important reason for that failure is concerned with motivation; motivation strongly impacts on the learning process. In this paper we discuss how techniques like program animation, and automatic evaluation can be combined to help the teacher in Computer Programming courses. In the article, PEP system will be introduced to explain how it supports teachers in classroom and how it engages students on study sessions outside the classroom. To support that work, students’ motivation was studied; to complement that study, a survey involving students attending the first year of Algorithms and Programming course of an Engineering degree was done. It is also presented a tool to analyse surveys, using association rules.

Proceedings of the 9th International Conference on Computer Supported Education, 2017

Motivate students is one of the biggest challenges that teachers have to face, in general and in ... more Motivate students is one of the biggest challenges that teachers have to face, in general and in particular in programming courses. In this article two techniques, aimed at supporting the teaching of programming, are discussed: program animation, and automatic evaluation of programs. Based on the combination of these techniques and their currently available tools, we will describe two possible approaches to increase motivation and improve the success. The conclusions of a first experiment conducted in the classroom will be presented. PEP, a Web-based tool that implements one of the approaches proposed, will be introduced.

Learning programming is a complex task that poses significant challenges. Students face different... more Learning programming is a complex task that poses significant challenges. Students face different kinds of difficulties at complex levels that traditional teaching/learning methods are nor able to cope with resulting in a high rate of failures. Two very distinguished concepts that are incredibly misunderstood by the students are: learning programming and learning the syntax of a programming language. Programming is, first of all, to outline strategies in order to solve problems, regardless of the language used. In fact, this task involves several steps that go from the understanding of the work proposal to the test of the program, passing through the algorithm development and codification. Although we believe the codification is not the main difficulty, previous studies had conclude that (Gomes, 2010), the adopted programming paradigm and the language used have a huge impact in the learning process and consequently in the task performance. Learning how to program is an iterative pro...

Computer Applications in Engineering Education, 2020

Previous research studies on introductory programming courses in engineering education in Portuga... more Previous research studies on introductory programming courses in engineering education in Portugal and Serbia have indicated that although high motivation and high expectations seem to be reported by students, many students may fail the course. This prompted a further inquiry into student attitudes, behavior, and achievement, and it also led to the introduction of C Tutor, a widely known program visualization tool, into courses in both countries. As a result, in the present study, self-reported student achievement (grades), self-reported student progress (knowledge improvement and confidence), and self-reported usage and helpfulness of C Tutor were investigated. Anonymous data about students and their experience in the course, which also included the usage of C Tutor, were collected in a survey in Portugal and Serbia. Quantitative methods, including descriptive statistics, clustering, statistical testing of independence, and partial correlation analysis, were applied in analyses of survey data. The distribution of grades differed between the two countries, but overall attitudes were similar. Various uncovered patterns involving student attitudes and usage of C Tutor may serve as a starting point for new research studies.

2015 10th Iberian Conference on Information Systems and Technologies (CISTI), 2015

Learning programming is a complex task that poses significant challenges. Students face different... more Learning programming is a complex task that poses significant challenges. Students face different kinds of difficulties at complex levels that traditional teaching/learning methods are nor able to cope with. For this reason, several authors have researched the pedagogical effectiveness of program visualization and animation, and developed some tools. Animation can help students on the analysis and understanding of given programs, and can also guide on the development of new ones. It is very important to give students the opportunity to practice solving programming exercises by themselves. Receiving feedback is essential for knowledge acquisition. New tools arose (especially in the area of programming contests) to allow for the submission of solutions (programs developed by the students) to the problem statements presented by the teacher and to assess them, returning immediately information about the submitted answer. These tools can be incorporated into teaching activities, allowing students to test their work getting immediate feedback. Automatic evaluation systems significantly improve students performance. In this article are shown these two approaches, animation and automatic assessment, and proposed a new pedagogical practice resulting from the combination of both.

Proceedings of the 8th International Conference on Computer Supported Education, 2016

One of the main reasons that justify the student's failure in (introductory) programming courses ... more One of the main reasons that justify the student's failure in (introductory) programming courses is the lack of motivation that impacts on the knowledge acquisition process, affecting learning results. As soon as students face the difficulties concerning the development of algorithms or the coding in a programming language, they give up and do not try harder to solve other problems; they think it is a demanding activity and feel frustrated. In this paper we describe in detail an experiment conducted to verify the effectiveness, in terms of the increase in motivation and in knowledge acquisition, of combining program Animation tools with the immediate feedback provided by Automatic Evaluations Systems.

Por fim ainda se estudou a importância de incluir no sistema de apoio ao ensino elementos dos jog... more Por fim ainda se estudou a importância de incluir no sistema de apoio ao ensino elementos dos jogos que estimulam a motivação e ainda se propôs um enriquecimento do sistema PEP através da inclusão de técnicas de ludificação ou gamificação.

Proceedings of the 10th International Conference on Computer Supported Education, 2018

For Programming teachers it is of utter most importance to understand the factors that impact on ... more For Programming teachers it is of utter most importance to understand the factors that impact on students' motivation to improve their ability to become good computer programmers. To understand a problem, to develop an algorithm for its solution, and to write the corresponding program is a challenging and arduous task, demanding time and self-confidence. In previous work we studied computer based technics to engage students in the learning activity; visualization, animation, automatic program assessment were some approaches that we combined. To support that work we studied carefully students' motivation and complemented that study with an inquiry to a group of students of Algorithm and Programming course of the first year of an Engineering degree. In this paper we show how Association Rules can be used to mine the data gathered in the inquiry to discover relationships among factors influencing extrinsic motivation.