Paper Info
Title
Design and First Results of a Psychometric Test for Measuring Basic Programming Abilities.
Abstract
We present the design of a test for measuring students' abilities concerning the application of control structures. Validated test instruments are a valuable tool for the evaluation of teaching both in a research setting as well as in a classroom setting. Our test is based on item-response-theory, in particular the Rasch model, and comprises a set of items all following the same format and using a simple, artificial programming language. We field-tested and modified the instrument in four iterations using only small samples and special statistical methods instead of the large samples usually required for IRT models. After the fourth iteration, the test has now reached a usable state. Based on the results, we were able to identify two misconceptions that are occurring very frequently in our test population - students of grade 7 to 10 in secondary schools.
Year
DOI
Venue
2015
10.1145/2818314.2818320
WiPSCE
Keywords
Field
DocType
Algorithmic control structures, assessment, computer science education, computing concepts, latent-trait, novice programmer, program flow, psychometric test
USable,Population,Test method,Computer science,Pedagogy,Rasch model
Conference
Citations 
PageRank 
References 
9
0.61
11
Authors
3
Name
Order
Citations
PageRank
Andreas Mühling19911.73
Alexander Ruf2454.13
Peter Hubwieser338464.53