Mission to Mars

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Mission to Mars A Study on Naming and Referring

• Michael Weigend
• University of Münster, Germany

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Outline

1. Introduction Naming and referring
2. Design of the Study Mission to Mars
3. Mission 1
4. Mission 2
5. Mission 3
6. Conclusion

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Introduction
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Names

• Functions
• Identifying (making it distinguishable)
• Addressing (making it accessible)

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Types of Names
Mom E player_1 My brothers daughters
dog flight.passengers0 sqrt(2)

• explicit - implicit
• direct - indirect

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Naming and Referring
to name to create a name to refer to use a
name person flight.passengersi print(per
son)
Constructing an indirect name implies
referring. Creating a name includes anticipating
its usage.
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Working Memory
Baddeley (1974, , 2006)
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Naming and Reduction of Working Memory Load
flight.passengersi.name0
Split
person flight.passengersi first_letter
person.name0 print(first_letter) if
first_letter in "ABCDE" ...
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Mathematical Modeling in Science
Short direct names instead of long indirect names
Let c0 be the concentration of the hydrochloric
acid in the beaker.
E mc²
Naming conventions
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Design of the StudyMission to Mars
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Question
To what extent are students without former
informatics education able to use naming
techniques, when they have to write algorithms?
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Workshops

• Briefing
• Phase 1 Interpret given instructions
• Phase 2 Write instructions
• Phase 3 Exchange instructions
• Phase 4 Compare the results
• Debriefing

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Mission 1Naming and Referring
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Phase 1 the Model
direct name
(1) Draw a five point star. One of the tips
points upwards. Write the letter A in the middle
of the star. (2) Draw a four point star with
four beams a little bit below star A. One tip of
the new star points upwards. Write the letter B
at the star. (3) Mark star A. Mark star B.
Name of an activity
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Phase 1 the Model
indirect name
(4) Draw circles around the tips number 1, 2 and
5 of star A. (6) Put your finger on the circle,
which is at tip number 5 of A. Draw a second
circle left to this circle. (9) Write the word
Sauerstoff (oxygen) next to the right hand side
of the circle, which is at tip number 2 of A.
implicit name
62 no mistake 23 one mistake.
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Phase 2 Writing Instructions

• 8 different problems of equal complexity
• At a table each student has a different problem

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Some Results
Naming Concept percentage
Explicit direct names (like A, B) 32
Indexing 66
Implicit name (like put your finger at ) 9
Define a separate procedure (like to mark a polygon) 17
105 students, grade 9, average age 15.3 years,
57 male, 47 female (one person did not tell )
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Discussion

• Most students tend to avoid to create direct
  names, especially for activities.
• Indexing (numbering) things is easier than
  creating explicit direct names.

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Mission 2Naming Activities
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Phase 1 The Model
Procedure call
To draw a Mars habitat (1) Draw a living unit in
the middle of your paper. Call it W1. (2) Draw a
second living unit below W1. This new living
unit is called W2. (3) To draw a living
unit To draw a laboratory To draw a
tank (1) Draw a circle.
Procedure definition
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Phase 1 Solution
75 no mistake 12 one mistake
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Phase 2 Writing Instructions

• 8 different problems of equal complexity
• Three instances of an aggregrat (highlighted)

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Some Results
Concept percentage
Defining procedures 4
Subheadings (like First part of the habitat) 29
Numbering the instructions (1), (2), 73
52 students, grade 10, average age 16.1 years,
32 male, 19 female (one did not tell).
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Discussion

• Students avoid structured programming
• (using procedures).
• Why?
• Avoid a split attention situation (Sweller).
• Extra effort to create a (and rehearse) new
  holistic concept of activity.
• Easier to use an existing concept of activity
  (like numbering corners).

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Mission 3Referring to Entities within a Complex
Geometry
49 students, grade 9
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Phase 1 the Model
(1) The pyramid in the right corner of the
platform is called corner pyramid. Write number
1 on the corner pyramid. (100
correct) Explicit direct name
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Phase 1 the Model
(5) When you move from the corner pyramid along
the edge of the platform to the left, you reach a
cube. Write 6 on this cube. (92
correct) Path-oriented reference
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Phase 1 the Model
(5) A Cylsphe is a cylinder with a sphere on top.
Write a 5 on the cube, which is on top of the
Cylsphe, which is in front of a pyramid. (92
correct) Name for a type of aggregates
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Phase 1 the Model
(8) Put your finger on the big sphere in the
middle of the platform. At this sphere there is
an arrow pointing to a pyramid. Write an 8 on
this pyramid. (100 correct) Implicit direct
name
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Phase 2 Writing Instructions
Different structure. Parts with numbers must be
replaced . Write instructions! Different sets of
6 parts.
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Some Results - Naming
Concept Percentage
Some kind of naming (including implicit) 47
Introducing and using explicit entity name (like corner pyramid or X) 6
Number of an entity (Put your finger on part 3 ) 10
Using corner pyramid (phase 1) without introducing it 24
Implicit naming (Put your finger at ) 27
Introducing and using new aggregate types (Würzel/Cuder for cube/zylinder) 6
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Some Results - Referring
Concept Percentage
Attribute oriented references The cube is glued at a cylinder, which is on top of a bigger grey cube, which stands upon four white cylinders. Additionally there are two white pyramids on top of the big cube. 55
Path-oriented references The arrow points to a small cube. This is in front of a bigger cube. On the bigger cube there is a sphere. Write number 5 on this sphere. 90
Aggregate-oriented references You see a row of cubes. On top of each cube there is a sphere. Beside one cube with a sphere on top there is another sphere. Write number 6 on the sphere, which is on top of this cube. 57
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Some Results - Referring
Concept Percentage
Attribute oriented references The cube is glued at a cylinder, which is on top of a bigger grey cube, which stands upon four white cylinders. Additionally there are two white pyramids on top of the big cube. 55
Path-oriented references The arrow points to a small cube. This is in front of a bigger cube. On the bigger cube there is a sphere. Write number 5 on this sphere. 90
Aggregate-oriented references You see a row of cubes. On top of each cube there is a sphere. Beside one cube with a sphere on top there is another sphere. Write number 6 on the sphere, which is on top of this cube. 57
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Conclusion
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Conclusion

• Students (grades 9 and 10, without specific
  training) avoid creating explicit and direct
  names.
• Naming and referring are essential facets of
  modeling, algorithm development and
  communication.
• For this competence we need informatics
  education!

Thank you for your attention!
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Reste (please ignore the following)

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Algorithm Comprehension

Draw thing number Ups 1 in the middle of Main
Road. 53 correct 7 questions
149 children, 3rd and 4th grade (age 9-10),
Weigend 2009
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Phonological Loop Word Length Effect
Number of stored items Number of Items that
can be articulated in 2 secs Baddeley 2003
Recall of a five-words-sequence One syllable
each 90 Five syllables each 50 Ellis
Hennelley 1980 Digit span of Welsh speaking
children is lower. Welsh digits (385ms) take
longer to articulate than their English
equivalents (321ms)
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Phase 1 the Model
(3) A Threesphe consists of three spheres, which
are connected vertically. One of the Threesphes
has got a dark sphere in the middle. Write number
3 on the cube, which is beside this Threesphe on
the platform. (96 correct) Names for types of
aggregates Aggregate-oriented reference
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Naming and Typing

• A name may be connected to a type ? inducing
  semantics
• Java
• int add(int a, int b)
• int r
• r a b
• return r
• Everyday life
• Mister Jones
• A streetcar named Desire

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