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12.7
Assessment
This section includes two activities (97 and 98) related to assessment in the context
of recursion to be facilitated in the MTCS course: evaluation of a nonprogramming
task and a test construction.
Activity 97: Analysis of Recursive Phenomena
In Chap. 10, we mentioned that a computer science teacher should use a vari-
ety of assessment methods. In this spirit, we recommend on a nonprogram-
ming project for the assessment of learners' understanding of recursion, as is
illustrated below.
• StageA:Choosingandanalysisofrecursivephenomena,homework
• ThestudentsworkontheworksheetpresentedinTable
12.6
as a home-
work assignment.
Table 12.6
Worksheet on recursion in a nonprogramming context
Worksheet—recursion in life
Choose 2 topics which you find interesting; for example, biology, mathematics, politics,
transportation, communication,
history.
For each topic, choose two phenomena that represent different types of recursion. For
example, look at the following table:
Linear recursion Two-dimensional
recursion
Topic 1: food Phenomenon 1 Phenomenon 2
Topic 2: music Phenomenon 3 Phenomenon 4
Accordingtotheexample,phenomena1and2shouldhaveadifferentrecursivenature;
the same implies for phenomena 3 and 4.
Addressthefourphenomena:Analyzetheirrecursivetypes,comparethem,anddiscuss
connections among them.
Your homework will be graded as follows: Each phenomenon receives 5 % for its
description, and 15 % for its recursive analysis. In addition, 20 % is given for the analy-
sis of the four phenomena, connections among them, and their comparison.
• StageB:Classpresentationanddiscussion
• Afterthestudentscompletetheirhomework,itisrecommendedtoallocate
time for the presentation of their work in the class. It is also important to
discuss the task both from a cognitive perspective and from a pedagogical
perspective. The discussion can be based on the examination of several
specific student works and their evaluation. Such a discussion enables to
concentrate on the evaluation theme on three levels: (a) the evaluation of
this specific task about recursion, (b) the evaluation of a nonprogramming
task, and finally (c) general ideas related to evaluation (see also Chap. 10).
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