This study implemented an experimental introductory CS course for non-CS majors focusing on two pedagogic factors: 1) the use of a visual blocks programming language known as App Inventor for Android (AIA) and 2) the adoption of SBL as the main teaching methodology. Participants included 30 undergraduates enrolled in two introductory CS courses; the experimental course (CS116) and a traditional lecture oriented CS course. The Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire (MSLQ) was implemented in both courses at several stages. Statistically significant differences were found in the Control of Learning Beliefs, Help Seeking, and Intrinsic Motivation scales, were CS116’s participants scored higher rates. In CS116, entry and exit interviews were conducted as well as a mind maps analysis. Their results showed a positive response to the pedagogic factors, positive attitudes towards CS, and an improvement in the understanding of CS. The majority of participants did very well and showed creativity with not one student failing the course. They found the experimental course to cultivate collaboration, creativity, and motivation to learn. The experimental approach was found have a positive effect on students’ motivation, achievement, and attitude towards CS. / Department of Computer Science

Thesis (M.S.)--Ohio University, March, 2000. / Title from PDF t.p.

Thesis (M.S.)--Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, 1990. / Vita. Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 171-172). Also available via the Internet.

Thesis (M.S. in Computer Science)--Naval Postgraduate School, Sept. 2004. / Thesis Advisor(s): Mikhail Auguston. Includes bibliographical references (p. 75). Also available online.

Thesis (M.Sc.)--Acadia University, 2000. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 83-92). Also available on the Internet via the World Wide Web.

Sedentary behavior is linked to numerous adverse effects on a person’s health, such as obesity, depression, and a higher risk of cardiovascular events. Professions that are primarily sedentary have increased due to the growth of office-related occupations, one of which is software engineering. A potential intervention to reduce sedentary behavior is to utilize new interactive technologies such as virtual reality (VR) to change the work context and allow software engineers to interact with their work environment in a more embodied manner. This study has designed and evaluated a visual programming language (VPL) in VR for its potential to reduce sedentary behavior and its compromise on usability. Ten participants solving simple programming tasks using the VPL in VR revealed the potential of reducing continuous sedentary behavior with light physical activity. The main contributor to this activity was the need to walk to and from interactive elements placed a few meters from each other in the design. However, the usability evaluation showed that users modify the environment over time to reduce this distance such that less walking is needed. In contrast, movement induced by navigating to code blocks and getting an overview of the current state of the work had positive marks and a high contribution to the observed movement. Lastly, the second contributor to physical activity was moving blocks around. The usability evaluation indicates that using VR controllers was slower than using a mouse but allowed more precise interactions. / Stillasittande beteende har ett flertal negativa effekter på en persons hälsa, såsom obesitas, depression och en högre risk för kardiovaskulära händelser. Yrken som främst är stillasittande har ökat på grund av tillväxten av yrken som är kontorsbaserade, till exempel mjukvaruutveckling. Ett potentiellt ingripande för att minska stillasittande beteende är att använda nya interaktiva tekniker, så som virtuell verklighet (VR) för att förändra arbets kontexten och låta mjukvaruingenjörer interagera med sin arbetsmiljö på ett mer förkroppsligat sätt. Denna studie har utvecklat och utvärderat en visuellt programmeringsspråk (VPL) i VR för dess potential att minska stillasittande beteende och dess kompromiss på användbarhet. Tio deltagare som löste enkla programmeringsuppgifter med hjälp av VPL i VR visade potentialen för att bryta upp stillasittande beteende med lätt fysisk aktivitet. Den främsta bidragsgivaren till den observerade aktivitet var behovet av att gå till och från interaktiva element placerade med några meter avstånd från varandra. Utvärderingen visade dock att användare modifierar miljön över tid för att minska detta avstånd så att man behöver gå mindre. Däremot hade rörelser när man behöver navigera till kodblock och få en överblick över arbetet positiva kommentarer och ett högt bidrag till den observerade aktiviteten. Slutligen var aktiviteten att flytta runt block den handling som bidrog näst mest till den observerade fysisk aktivitet. Utvärderingen av användbarheten indikerar att VR-kontroller var långsammare än att använda en mus men tillät mer tillförlitliga interaktioner.

This thesis describes a visual programming language designed to describe and generate Ada program unit specifications. The author first describes the foundations for the work, and gives a brief introduction to some of the features of the language. Most of the thesis is dedicated to describing the visual representation for each portion of an Ada package specification. The BNF grammar of an Ada package specification is used as a basis for organization. By organizing the thesis via the package specification, all program unit specifications i.e., package, task, subprogram and generic specifications) are described and given a representation in the language. Toward the end of the thesis, the design and reference of a package specification is demonstrated in a hypothetical implementation. / Master of Science

Experimental game theory is the use of game theoretic abstractions—games, players, and strategies—in experiments and simulations. It is often used in cases where traditional, analytical game theory fails or is difficult to apply. This thesis collects three previously published papers that provide domain-specific language (DSL) support for defining and executing these experiments, and for explaining their results. Despite the widespread use of software in this field, there is a distinct lack of tool support for common tasks like modeling games and running simulations. Instead, most experiments are created from scratch in general-purpose programming languages. We have addressed this problem with Hagl, a DSL embedded in Haskell that allows the concise, declarative definition of games, strategies, and executable experiments. Hagl raises the level of abstraction for experimental game theory, reducing the effort to conduct experiments and freeing experimenters to focus on hard problems in their domain instead of low-level implementation details. While analytical game theory is most often used as a prescriptive tool, a way to analyze a situation and determine the best course of action, experimental game theory is often applied descriptively to explain why agents interact and behave in a certain way. Often these interactions are complex and surprising. To support this explanatory role, we have designed visual DSL for explaining the interaction of strategies for iterated games. This language is used as a vehicle to introduce the notational quality of traceability and the new paradigm of explanation-oriented programming. / Graduation date: 2012