skip to main content
10.1145/1734263.1734406acmconferencesArticle/Chapter ViewAbstractPublication PagessigcseConference Proceedingsconference-collections
research-article

Empirical evidence for the existence and uses of metacognition in computer science problem solving

Published:10 March 2010Publication History

ABSTRACT

We describe the second phase of an ongoing study whose aims are to explore how computer science students solve problems and to understand the relationship between metacognition and schemata. This research uses verbal protocols from computer science students, and based on the analysis of their transcripts, empirical evidence supports metacognition as a significant role in computer science problem solving. For the problem solved in this research, the students reveal a pattern in their interactions between metacognitive processes and the domain-specific strategies used to develop a program.

References

  1. Almstrum, V. L., Henderson, P. B., Harvey, V., Heeren, C., Marion, W., Riedesel, C., Soh, L. and Tew, A. E. 2006. "Concept inventories in computer science for the topic discrete mathematics." SIGCSE Bull., 38(4), 132--145. Google ScholarGoogle ScholarDigital LibraryDigital Library
  2. Anderson, M. L. and Oates, T. (Eds.). 2005. Metacognition in Computation: Papers from the 2005 AAAI Spring Symposium. Menlo Park, CA: AAAI Press.Google ScholarGoogle Scholar
  3. Chinn, D., Spencer, C., and Martin, K. 2007. Problem solving and student performance in data structures and algorithms. Proceedings of the 12th Annual SIGCSE Conference on Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education (June 2007), 241--245. Google ScholarGoogle ScholarDigital LibraryDigital Library
  4. Ericsson, K. A. and Simon, H. A. 1993. Protocol Analysis: Verbal Reports as Data. MIT Press, Cambridge, MA.Google ScholarGoogle ScholarCross RefCross Ref
  5. Flavell, J. H. 1979. Metacognition and cognitive monitoring: A new area of cognitive-developmental inquiry. American Psychologist 34, 10 (Oct. 1979), 906--911.Google ScholarGoogle ScholarCross RefCross Ref
  6. Hanly, Jeri R. and Koffman, Elliot B. 2006. Problem Solving and Program Design in C, 5th ed. Addison Wesley. Google ScholarGoogle ScholarDigital LibraryDigital Library
  7. Hart, J. T. 1965. Memory and the feeling-of-knowing experience. Journal of Educational Psychology 56, 4 (1965), 208--216.Google ScholarGoogle ScholarCross RefCross Ref
  8. Kim, B., Park, H., and Baek, Y. 2009. Not just fun, but serious strategies: Using meta-cognitive strategies in game-based learning. Computers & Education 52(4), 800--810. Google ScholarGoogle ScholarDigital LibraryDigital Library
  9. Moores, T. T., Chang, J. C., and Smith, D. K. 2006. Clarifying the role of self-efficacy and metacognition as predictors of performance: construct development and test. SIGMIS Database 37, 2-3 (Sep. 2006), 125--132. Google ScholarGoogle ScholarDigital LibraryDigital Library
  10. Murphy, L. and Tenenberg, J. 2005. Do computer science students know what they know?: a calibration study of data structure knowledge. In Proceedings of the 10th Annual SIGCSE Conference on innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education (June 2005), 148--152. Google ScholarGoogle ScholarDigital LibraryDigital Library
  11. Parham, J., Chinn, D., and Stevenson, D. E. 2009. Using Bloom's taxonomy to code verbal protocols of students solving a data structure problem. In Proceedings of the 47th Annual Southeast Regional Conference (March 2009), 1--6. Google ScholarGoogle ScholarDigital LibraryDigital Library
  12. Shaft, T. M. 1995. Helping programmers understand computer programs: the use of metacognition. SIGMIS Database 26, 4 (Nov. 1995), 25--46. Google ScholarGoogle ScholarDigital LibraryDigital Library
  13. Sternberg, R. J. 1985. Beyond IQ: A triarchic theory of human intelligence. Cambridge University Press.Google ScholarGoogle Scholar

Index Terms

  1. Empirical evidence for the existence and uses of metacognition in computer science problem solving

      Recommendations

      Comments

      Login options

      Check if you have access through your login credentials or your institution to get full access on this article.

      Sign in
      • Published in

        cover image ACM Conferences
        SIGCSE '10: Proceedings of the 41st ACM technical symposium on Computer science education
        March 2010
        618 pages
        ISBN:9781450300063
        DOI:10.1145/1734263

        Copyright © 2010 ACM

        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]

        Publisher

        Association for Computing Machinery

        New York, NY, United States

        Publication History

        • Published: 10 March 2010

        Permissions

        Request permissions about this article.

        Request Permissions

        Check for updates

        Qualifiers

        • research-article

        Acceptance Rates

        Overall Acceptance Rate1,595of4,542submissions,35%

        Upcoming Conference

        SIGCSE Virtual 2024
        SIGCSE Virtual 2024: ACM Virtual Global Computing Education Conference
        November 30 - December 1, 2024
        Virtual Event , USA

      PDF Format

      View or Download as a PDF file.

      PDF

      eReader

      View online with eReader.

      eReader