Can I read Commonsense Computing (Episode 5): Algorithm Efficiency and Balloon Testing on EtoBox?

Commonsense Computing (Episode 5): Algorithm Efficiency and Balloon Testing by Robert McCartney; Dennis J. Bouvier; Tzu-Yi Chen; Gary Lewandowski; Kate Sanders; Beth Simon; Tammy VanDeGrift is a scholarly article available to read on EtoBox.

What is Commonsense Computing (Episode 5): Algorithm Efficiency and Balloon Testing about?

This paper investigates what students understand about algorithm efficiency before receiving any formal instruction on the topic. We gave students a challenging search problem and two solutions, then asked them to identify the more efficient solution and to justify their choice. Many students did not use the standard worst-case analysis of algorithms; rather they chose other metrics, including average-case, better for more cases, better in all cases, one algorithm being more correct, and better for real-world scenarios. Students were much more likely to choose the correct algorithm when they were asked to trace the algorithms on specific examples; this was true even if they traced the algorithms incorrectly.

Author

Robert McCartney; Dennis J. Bouvier; Tzu-Yi Chen; Gary Lewandowski; Kate Sanders; Beth Simon; Tammy VanDeGrift

Publisher

ACM

Published

2009

Language

EN