Types of Questions in Computer Science Education - Guide to Teaching Computer Science: An Activity-Based Approach - page 175

The 12 question types presented in Sect. 9.2 could be further discussed as ques-
tions that can be presented as story questions and/or as closed questions. In what
follows, we classify them according to this criterion.
Types of questions that can be presented as closed questions:
• Type3—Tracing a given solution
• Type4—Analysis of code execution
• Type5—Finding the purpose of a given solution
• Type6—Examination of the correctness of a given solution
• Type9—Efficiency estimation
Example: A closed question of Type6 can present a list of methods that potentially
solve a given task, and ask learners to mark the methods that solve the task correctly.
Types of questions that cannot be presented as closed questions:
• Type1—Development of a solution
• Type2—Development of a solution that uses a given module
• Type10—Question design
• Type12—Transformation of a solution
Since the target of these types of questions is to require learners to develop a solu-
tion that meets specific requirements, if they become closed questions, this target
will not be achieved.
Types of questions that cannot naturally be presented as closed questions:
• Type7—Completion of a given solution
• Type8—Instruction manipulations
• Type11—Programming style questions
Example: A closed question of Type7 can present a list of optional instructions to be
added to a given code in a specific place in order to solve a given task, and learners
are asked to mark which of them fits for this purpose.
The target of Activity 77 is to train the prospective CS teachers in question formula-
tion. This training is especially important in the context of story questions which
usually include more words.
In ITiCSE-13, a working group developed a set of 654 multiple-choice questions
(a kind of closed question) on CS1 and CS2 topics called the Canterbury Question-
Bank (Sanders et al. 2013 ). This work describes twelve patterns of multiple-choice
questions, labels each one with a name, and adds a short description, a sample
question(s), and an identification of which of the twelve types of questions, present-
ed in this chapter, fits it the most (Sects. 9.2.1-9.2.12). The QuestionBank is pub-
licly available as a repository for computing education instructors and researchers.