CAREER: Exploring Cognitive, Social, and Cultural Dimensions of Visualization in Computer Science Education

Washington State University, Pullman WA

Investigators

Abstract

An approach in which students become teachers by using algorithm visualization technology not only to construct their own visualizations, but also to present those visualizations to their instructor and peers for feedback and discussion will be studied within the context of a third-year, undergraduate computer science course on computer algorithms. This approach will be used to develop a studio-based algorithms course in which the construction and discussion of visualizations are the central activities of the course. Specifically, students will use algorithm visualization technology to construct their own visual solutions to algorithm design and analysis problems. In a variety of regularly scheduled review sessions, they will present their solutions to instructors and peers for feedback, discussion, and evaluation. This research will yield several products and outcomes from which science educators, educational researchers, visualization technologists, and cognitive anthropologists stand to benefit.