Background

Computer programming courses that use PBL as the main learning method

• Students have to learn new, abstract, and interrelated concepts.
• These concept have precise meaning.
• Fluent conceptual understanding is necessary for practical programming skills.
• Despite its other benefits, PBL did not seem to lead to accurate conceptual understanding.

Problem: How to improve the conceptual understanding?

• Make students to externalize and clarify their conceptual structures.
• Attempt 1: Essays
  Observations:
  • Verbose rhetoric and fuzzy meaning.
  • Tedious to write and read.
• Attempt 2: Mind maps
  Observations:
  • Loosely associated concepts without named relationships.
  • Meaning is vague.
• Attempt 3: Concept maps and CMapTool.
  Observations:
  • Better understanding of concepts.
  • Easier to spot gaps and errors in knowledge than in essays or mind maps.
  • Still, too much vagueness in the meaning of relationships.