CIC: Semester 2, Week 5: Assessing Programming

We continue the theme of assessing learning about computer science this week by focussing on an automatic method of evaluating Scratch code through static analysis. This approach has the advantage of providing instant feedback for programs written in an entry level language used by hundreds of thousands of learners. It’s not perfect, of course, but it is interesting. As you learn more about Dr Scratch, think about whether it would be possible to do something similar for the first programming language you learned. What would Dr Haskell be like? <shudder> 

1. Download the sample children’s Scratch games. Pick three of your favourite games and upload them to Dr Scratch for assessment. For each game, look at the feedback from Dr Scratch and then look at the source code. Do you think the feedback is fair? Is it helpful? 
2. Read the paper about Dr Scratch.  (You can get free access through UoE) 
3. Make notes on: 
   1. Does Dr Scratch measure what it intends to? How do you know? 
   2. Could this assessment be used to help children learn? Or it is a way to measure progress? 
   3. Do you think the assessment can distinguish between poor and good performances? 
   4. Under what circumstances would you advise teachers (or your classmates) to use this? 
4. If you have done Scratch programming with children recently, please bring along a sample program to the class if you can. 
5. Make notes about how you will evaluate your materials for report 2. You can discuss your ideas with me and your fellow students in the class on Thursday, or put them on Piazza if you can’t attend the live session. You should consider: 
   1. What are you evaluating? 
   2. Who will evaluate it? 
   3. What sort of information do you need to collect? 
   4. How will you analyse the information?