TY - GEN
T1 - Using Real Worked Examples to Aid Software Engineering Teaching
AU - Tonhão, Simone
AU - Colanzi, Thelma
AU - Steinmacher, Igor
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 ACM.
PY - 2021/9/27
Y1 - 2021/9/27
N2 - Worked examples are instructional devices composed of the description of a problem, steps to solve the problem, and the final result. There is evidence that the use of the worked examples improves the learning process by reducing the learning time, reducing the cognitive load, and facilitating the construction of cognitive schemes. In addition, students who learn from worked examples tend to solve similar problems more quickly and easily. Worked examples are adopted in several areas of knowledge but are not well-explored in Software Engineering (SE) teaching. Thus, the goal of this work was to explore the use of worked examples in SE courses. To do so, we conducted an exploratory study split into two stages. In the first stage, we administered a survey with SE instructors to investigate the use of common examples, worked examples, and the difficulties find this type of material. In the second stage, we applied worked examples in the classroom and collected feedback from students. The second stage was carried out remotely due to the conditions imposed by COVID-19. The results showed that instructors are employing examples in their courses; some of them use worked examples, even when they do not know the definition. In addition, the feedback from the students was positive, which may encourage the use of worked examples in SE teaching.
AB - Worked examples are instructional devices composed of the description of a problem, steps to solve the problem, and the final result. There is evidence that the use of the worked examples improves the learning process by reducing the learning time, reducing the cognitive load, and facilitating the construction of cognitive schemes. In addition, students who learn from worked examples tend to solve similar problems more quickly and easily. Worked examples are adopted in several areas of knowledge but are not well-explored in Software Engineering (SE) teaching. Thus, the goal of this work was to explore the use of worked examples in SE courses. To do so, we conducted an exploratory study split into two stages. In the first stage, we administered a survey with SE instructors to investigate the use of common examples, worked examples, and the difficulties find this type of material. In the second stage, we applied worked examples in the classroom and collected feedback from students. The second stage was carried out remotely due to the conditions imposed by COVID-19. The results showed that instructors are employing examples in their courses; some of them use worked examples, even when they do not know the definition. In addition, the feedback from the students was positive, which may encourage the use of worked examples in SE teaching.
KW - Exploratory study
KW - Real Examples
KW - Software Engineering Education
KW - Worked Examples
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85117113650&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85117113650&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1145/3474624.3476970
DO - 10.1145/3474624.3476970
M3 - Conference contribution
AN - SCOPUS:85117113650
T3 - ACM International Conference Proceeding Series
SP - 133
EP - 142
BT - CBSOFT 2021 - Brazilian Conference on Software; Proceedings - 35th Brazilian Symposium on Software Engineering, SBES 2021
PB - Association for Computing Machinery
T2 - 35th Brazilian Symposium on Software Engineering, SBES 2021, held in conjunction with the Brazilian Conference on Software: Theory and Practice, CBSoft 2021
Y2 - 29 September 2021 through 1 October 2021
ER -