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Variations : “A completion a given solution” question can be varied by chang-
ing the number of the missing instructions. This number should be determined by
taking into the consideration that it may affect the difficulty and complexity of the
question.
In general, the missing instructions can relate to one or more aspects of the algo-
rithm and the teacher should consider whether to focus on one or more aspects. For
example, if the teacher's target is to focus on the use of a boolean flag, the missing
instructions should be only those that relate to this flag; if the target is to focus on
the loop limits, the limits should be the missing parts and, sometimes, also the incre-
ment of the loop control variable.
In the example presented, the missing instructions are related to three aspects:
the counter control (initialization, increment, and return); the range of the loop (the
first and the last array elements should not be accessed in the loop because they do
not have two neighbors); and the specific condition to be checked.
Discussion : This type of question, as well, requires students to understand the
logic of the given solution, when the actual question difficulty is determined ac-
cording to students' level and stage of learning. Still, with respect to each CS sub-
ject, relatively simple “completion of a given solution” questions exist, where the
understanding of the logic of the solution is straightforward. At the same time, how-
ever, there are more challenging questions and the teacher should be aware of this
complexity. For example, asking to complete instructions in a given bubble sort
algorithm, in which meaningful instructions are missing, without introducing the
rational of this sorting approach, is considered a difficult question.
9.2.8
Type8. Instruction Manipulations
Description : A problem and its solution are given. Students are asked to address
different manipulations performed on the solution.
Example : The following method executes a variation of the selection sort.
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