A model-theoretical approach to action and progression

Synchronization is a very important concept in computer science and engineering. It is a required topic in courses of various levels concerning operating systems, system programming, uniprocessor/multiprocessor systems, distributed systems, computer networks, and databases. Nevertheless, due to the dynamic nature of the computing events involved, synchronization is difficult for instructors to teach and difficult for students to understand. The proposed work is intended to develop an interactive visualization software tool that can be used to (1) demonstrate the existence of synchronization problems and (2) illustrate the principles and workings of the synchronization techniques used to solve those problems. The tool, implemented in Java, allows the user to dynamically configure a synchronization environment. The user can choose one of several synchronization techniques, such as binary semaphores, counting semaphores, or monitors, to remedy a problem. Similarly, the synchronization of the interacting processes is animated.

Computer science faculty must attract and retain students by offering innovative courses that spark student interest, yet still teach core, computer science concepts. These efforts have become particularly important as computer science enrollments have declined, thus increasing concerns for attracting and retaining students. We describe an innovative course that leverages students' interest in computer security issues to attract and retain technically-oriented students. Our initial vision was to offer a course covering computer viruses - a subject that even a novice computer user has some familiarity. To avoid the controversy associated with teaching students how to write malicious software, we focused the course on techniques for defending against viruses, so we named the course Defense Against the Dark Arts. In teaching the course, we have found the subject matter provides an engaging way to introduce and reinforce many important computer science concepts that other courses often cover, most particularly, the traditional compiler course. We have taught the course three times at two separate institutions, with a third school soon to follow. The course has been well received by students - completely filling each semester with enrollments that are four to five times greater than the compiler course. Furthermore, student surveys indicate that the course raises students' awareness of computer security while introducing students to important program translation and analysis concepts.

Coding is increasingly popular in schools around the world and is often taught by non-specialist teachers as an integrated task with other subject areas. In this article, we explore the relationship between computer science (CS) concepts and students’ multimodal expression in a coding animated narrative (CAN) task in the context of an integrated English-Technology unit of learning. Through this collective case study, we explore how CS concepts underpin semiotic elements of an animated narrative, analyse the factors that influence the extent to which students exercise those concepts, and reveal the tensions and opportunities that a CAN task may present for learning computer science concepts in regular, non-specialist, cross-curricular classrooms. The findings suggest that CAN tasks are unique in presenting opportunities for students to learn challenging CS concepts such as synchronisation and parallelism. At the same time, CAN tasks present tensions for teaching CS concepts in non-specialist classrooms, where student projects are often judged on their visual qualities. In such settings, procedural, rather than conceptual knowledge, may be a more efficient route to creative outcomes. It also means that drawing skills need to be prioritised. Role specialisation often led to better quality projects but at the expense of individual students’ conceptual development in computer science.

Mathematical logic and computer science have driven the design of a growing number of logics and related formalisms such as set theories and type theories. In response to this population explosion, logical frameworks have been developed as formal meta-languages in which to represent, structure, relate and reason about logics.Research on logical frameworks has diverged into separate communities, often with conflicting backgrounds and philosophies. In particular, two of the most important logical frameworks are the framework of institutions, from the area of model theory based on category theory, and the Edinburgh Logical Framework LF, from the area of proof theory based on dependent type theory. Even though their ultimate motivations overlap – for example in applications to software verification – they have fundamentally different perspectives on logic.In the current paper, we design a logical framework that integrates the frameworks of institutions and LF in a way that combines their complementary advantages while retaining the elegance of each of them. In particular, our framework takes a balanced approach between model theory and proof theory, and permits the representation of logics in a way that comprises all major ingredients of a logic: syntax, models, satisfaction, judgments and proofs. This provides a theoretical basis for the systematic study of logics in a comprehensive logical framework. Our framework has been applied to obtain a large library of structured and machine-verified encodings of logics and logic translations.

As one component of a college-wide redesign of its introductory engineering courses, a project-based introduction to computer science is being developed using open-source software running under the GNU/Linux operating system. The course components include hardware assembly, operating system and software installation, basic system administration, and a working introduction to the engineering design process through the completion of several collaborative projects involving content-based graphic design and computer animation. Through the three semesters, the course has gravitated away from a module-based survey of fundamental concepts in computer science and engineering toward greater student exploration of fewer topics most relevant to the projects. Continuing assessment of each phase of the course provides formative and summative feedback and has played an important role in the maturation of the course.

Visualization of VHDL-based simulations as a pedagogical tool for supporting computer science education

The mutual exclusion scheduling problem for permutation and comparability graphs

Diversity has become increasingly relevant in computer science and technology development, both in terms of inclusive design teams and as a concept used to design “diversity-aware” technologies. The latter part has received less attention and notions of diversity leveraged to design technologies remain understudied. This paper critically examines diversity concepts employed by computer scientists and designers by reviewing 120 articles in two subfields of computer science: personalized recommendations and human–computer interaction. Drawing on Black feminism and critical race theory-inspired literature, I offer a critique of demographic and cultural user representations and underscore the shortcomings of diversity as a strategy to increase user satisfaction and fairness. Particularly concerning is the unreflected use of binary, static, and individual-level diversity concepts in the design of technologies. Such concepts render structural inequalities between and within groups of users invisible and thereby risk reinforcing existing injustices. The paper closes with considerations on whether and how diversity concepts can be leveraged by designers in a social justice–oriented manner.

Natural language processing (NLP) is the study of mathematical and computational modeling of various aspects of language and the development of a wide range of systems. These include spoken language systems that integrate speech and natural language; cooperative interfaces to databases and knowledge bases that model aspects of human-human interaction; multilingual interfaces; machine translation; and message-understanding systems, among others. Research in NLP is highly interdisciplinary, involving concepts in computer science, linguistics, logic, and psychology. NLP has a special role in computer science because many aspects of the field deal with linguistic features of computation and NLP seeks to model language computationally.

Natural language processing (NLP) is the study of mathematical and computational modeling of various aspects of language and the development of a wide range of systems. These include spoken language systems that integrate speech and natural language; cooperative interfaces to databases and knowledge bases that model aspects of human-human interaction; multilingual interfaces; machine translation; and message-understanding systems, among others. Research in NLP is highly interdisciplinary, involving concepts in computer science, linguistics, logic, and psychology. NLP has a special role in computer science because many aspects of the field deal with linguistic features ofcomputation and NLP seeks to model language computationally.

A variety of approaches exist to teach computer science concepts to students from K-12 to graduate school. One such approach involves using the mass appeal of game design and creation to introduce students to programming and computational thinking. Specifically, Scalable Game Design enables students with varying levels of expertise to learn important concepts relative to their experience. This paper presents our observations using Scalable Game Design over multiple years to teach middle school students, college level students, graduate students, and even middle school teachers fundamental to complex computer science and education concepts. Results indicate that Scalable Game Design appeals broadly to students, regardless of background, and is a powerful teaching tool in getting students of all ages exposed and interested in computer science. Furthermore, it is observed that many student projects exhibit transfer enabling their games to explain complex ideas, from all disciplines, to the general public.

The rapid rate of the development of computer technology raises the issue of how to reform Computer Science education in elementary and middle schools. In Korea the government has taken this issue seriously, and the Ministry of Education & Human Resources Development has announced substantial revisions to its computing curricula, leading to a new curriculum in Informatics to be introduced for middle schools in 2010, and for high schools in 2011. There is a proposal that the elementary school curriculum will be linked to these, and with a stronger focus on not just learning how to operate computers and software, but understanding the methods and algorithms behind Computer Science. Research on identifying effective teaching methods for CS topics at the elementary level is critical at the moment, as the content of the developing curriculum will be influenced by information about which topics are able to be taught effectively at this level. We are particularly interested to establish how these topics can be covered effectively without having to reduce them to a comfortable re-working of the status quo driven by a lack of background on teaching these new topics. Hence it is important to have experience with teaching such topics so that they can be considered for widespread use in the curriculum. As in most countries, Korean elementary school teachers are generalists, and therefore the Informatics curriculum needs to be presented in a way that a generalist can engage with it, as well as engage their students. One approach that avoids the difficulties and distraction of computers in the elementary school classroom is the use of offline activities: activities that work with Computer Science concepts, but are not done at the computer. These aim to educate students about abstract and challenging concepts behind algorithms, but without using a computer. It is our belief that computer science fundamentals can be taught without the help of computers; many key concepts predate the modern computer, and many demonstrations are available for a wide range of concepts. Currently the existing work on offline activities is not directly aimed at teaching CS to elementary-age children. Much of the published work is aimed primarily at tertiary level students, and is generally intended for motivated students in a university classroom. Most of the kinesthetic material developed for elementary school material is aimed at enthusing students about CS; they explicitly do not presume to teach ideas , but simply inform students about the kind of thinking and problem solving that is required for CS, and therefore make students better informed about choosing a career in the field. In particular, assessment is an important component of teaching, and current resources are not strong in this area. With the opportunity for CS topics to be taught to students, we have experimented with using kinesthetic approaches in the classroom. In addition to needing to provide assessment, we have identified that a particular issue is that elementary level teachers are usually non-specialists, and we report on work to enable such teachers to adopt CS teaching material effectively. An important component of this is providing background information about how the topic is used in practice. The poster summarises our experiences and feedback from teachers in making this material accessible for elementary school students.

Integrating computer science (CS) into school curricula has become a worldwide preoccupation. Therefore, we present a CS and Robotics integration model and its validation through a large-scale pilot study in the administrative region of the Canton Vaud in Switzerland. Approximately 350 primary school teachers followed a mandatory CS continuing professional development program (CPD) of adapted format with a curriculum scaffolded by instruction modality. This included CS Unplugged activities that aim to teach CS concepts without the use of screens, and Robotics Unplugged activities that employed physical robots, without screens, to learn about robotics and CS concepts. Teachers evaluated positively the CPD and their representation of CS improved. Voluntary adoption rates reached 97% during the CPD and 80% the following year. These results combined with the underpinning literature support the generalisability of the model to other contexts.

"Computer Science (CS) Unplugged" is an educational method for introducing non-specialists to concepts of CS through hands-on activities that don't require the use of a computer. Often the deeper concepts of CS have been considered as being too difficult for elementary and middle school students, and many educators teaching "IT" are not even aware of the richness of the topic. CS Unplugged methods have been used successfully with students of a wide range of ages. In this paper, we analyze the structure of CS Unplugged activities to identify the elements that make them work well. Based on the analysis, we propose a design pattern which will be useful as a guideline for developing new activities, and to revise existing ones. We also describe our experience developing original teaching material, using the pattern as a benchmark for evaluation.

Currently, robots are being used as teaching tools and can be found in K-12 and college classrooms. The primary appeal associated with employing robots is that they tend to capture the attention of the target audience and thereby facilitate the learning process. While there are numerous robotic kits on the market today, few can be used to teach both high-level concepts in computer science and engineering as well as low-level concepts in a K-12 environment and those that are capable, are more expensive. In this paper we propose an affordable setup of a basic software and hardware framework to accomplish this interaction. Specifically, the overall system architecture, low-cost robot, Web service and mobile device software will be the topics of interest in this paper.