Mental models of recursion
T. Götschi, I. Sanders and V. Galpin
Proceedings of the SIGCSE 2003 Technical Symposium on Computer
Science Education, Reno, Nevada, USA, 19-23
February 2003, ACM Press, 346-350.
Abstract
Recursion is a fundamental concept in Computer Science. A student's
knowledge of recursion can be termed their mental model
of recursion. A student's mental model is viable if it allows
them to accurately and consistently represent the mechanics of
recursion. Non-viable mental models are constructed if students have
misconceptions about the mechanisms of recursion or have misconceptions
about concepts fundamental to recursion. This paper presents a study of
the mental models of recursion that first year students at the
University of the Witwatersrand (Wits) have constructed in 2000,
2001 and 2002. It was found that while the majority of students
constructed the viable copies model, many non-viable
models such as the looping, active, step,
magic, return-value and various odd models
were also constructed. Identifying the models that students have can
allow lecturers to target individual students' specific problems and
analysis of the models can provide insight into learning.
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