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Computer architecture and mental models

Published: 23 February 2005 Publication History

Abstract

The EasyCPU visualization environment was developed for teaching computer architecture to novice students of computer science. During the development, the process of choosing the appropriate conceptual model of the computer for the visualization motivated research on the mental models that arise in the students as they learn. These mental models come from attempts by the students to make sense of the conceptual models presented to them by the software tool and their learning materials (textbook and exercises). The research findings support the view that the visualization was critical in enabling the construction of a viable mental model, a process that did not occur from textbook learning alone, because for the majority of students, their mental models were based upon their end-user experience rather than on the theoretical learning.

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Published In

cover image ACM SIGCSE Bulletin
ACM SIGCSE Bulletin  Volume 37, Issue 1
2005
562 pages
ISSN:0097-8418
DOI:10.1145/1047124
Issue’s Table of Contents
  • cover image ACM Conferences
    SIGCSE '05: Proceedings of the 36th SIGCSE technical symposium on Computer science education
    February 2005
    610 pages
    ISBN:1581139977
    DOI:10.1145/1047344
Permission to make digital or hard copies of all or part of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. Copyrights for components of this work owned by others than ACM must be honored. Abstracting with credit is permitted. To copy otherwise, or republish, to post on servers or to redistribute to lists, requires prior specific permission and/or a fee. Request permissions from [email protected]

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Association for Computing Machinery

New York, NY, United States

Publication History

Published: 23 February 2005
Published in SIGCSE Volume 37, Issue 1

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Author Tags

  1. computer architecture education
  2. mental models
  3. visualization

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  • (2018)Improving Performance and Progression of Novice Programmers: Factors ConsiderationsInternational Journal of Information and Education Technology10.18178/ijiet.2018.8.1.10038:1(7-10)Online publication date: 2018
  • (2014)Visualizing mental models: understanding cognitive change to support teaching and learning of multimedia design and developmentEducational Technology Research and Development10.1007/s11423-014-9354-563:1(73-96)Online publication date: 8-Oct-2014
  • (2012)Chemistry Pre-service Teachers’ Mental Models of Science Teaching and Learning in MalaysiaChemistry Education and Sustainability in the Global Age10.1007/978-94-007-4860-6_7(73-83)Online publication date: 30-Oct-2012
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  • (2006)Putting threshold concepts into context in computer science educationProceedings of the 11th annual SIGCSE conference on Innovation and technology in computer science education10.1145/1140124.1140154(103-107)Online publication date: 26-Jun-2006
  • (2006)Putting threshold concepts into context in computer science educationACM SIGCSE Bulletin10.1145/1140123.114015438:3(103-107)Online publication date: 26-Jun-2006
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  • (2022)Design and Use of a Visualization for Teaching Integer CoercionProceedings of the 53rd ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education - Volume 110.1145/3478431.3499278(794-800)Online publication date: 22-Feb-2022
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