Computational thinking in educational activities: an evaluation of the educational game light-bot
- Gouws, Lindsey Ann, Bradshaw, Karen
- Authors: Gouws, Lindsey Ann , Bradshaw, Karen
- Date: 2013
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , book
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/477581 , vital:78101 , ISBN 9781450320788 , https://doi.org/10.1145/2462476.2466518
- Description: Computational thinking is gaining recognition as an important skill set for students, both in computer science and other disciplines. Although there has been much focus on this field in recent years, it is rarely taught as a formal course within the curriculum, and there is little consensus on what exactly computational thinking entails and how to teach and evaluate it. To address these concerns, we have developed a computational thinking framework to be used as a planning and evaluative tool. Within this framework, we aim to unify the differing opinions about what computational thinking should involve. As a case study, we have applied the framework to Light-Bot, an educational game with a strong focus on programming, and found that the framework provides us with insight into the usefulness of the game to reinforce computer science concepts.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2013
- Authors: Gouws, Lindsey Ann , Bradshaw, Karen
- Date: 2013
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , book
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/477581 , vital:78101 , ISBN 9781450320788 , https://doi.org/10.1145/2462476.2466518
- Description: Computational thinking is gaining recognition as an important skill set for students, both in computer science and other disciplines. Although there has been much focus on this field in recent years, it is rarely taught as a formal course within the curriculum, and there is little consensus on what exactly computational thinking entails and how to teach and evaluate it. To address these concerns, we have developed a computational thinking framework to be used as a planning and evaluative tool. Within this framework, we aim to unify the differing opinions about what computational thinking should involve. As a case study, we have applied the framework to Light-Bot, an educational game with a strong focus on programming, and found that the framework provides us with insight into the usefulness of the game to reinforce computer science concepts.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2013
Evaluating the acceleration of typical scientific problems on the GPU
- Tristram, Dale, Bradshaw, Karen
- Authors: Tristram, Dale , Bradshaw, Karen
- Date: 2013
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , book
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/477607 , vital:78103 , ISBN 9781450321129 , https://doi.org/10.1145/2513456.2513473
- Description: General-purpose computation on graphics processing units (GPGPU) has great potential to accelerate many scientific models and algorithms. However, some problems are considerably more difficult to accelerate than others, and it may be difficult for those new to GPGPU to ascertain the difficulty of accelerating a particular problem. Additionally, problems of different levels of difficulty require varying complexities of optimisations to achieve satisfactory results, and currently there is no clear separation between the different levels of known optimisations, which would be helpful to new users of GPGPU. Through what was learned in the acceleration of three problems, problem attributes have been identified to assist in evaluating the difficulty of accelerating a problem on a GPU. We envisage that with further development, these attributes could form the foundation of a difficulty classification system that could be used to determine whether GPU acceleration is practical for a candidate GPU acceleration problem, aid in identifying appropriate techniques and optimisations, and outline the required GPGPU knowledge.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2013
- Authors: Tristram, Dale , Bradshaw, Karen
- Date: 2013
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , book
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/477607 , vital:78103 , ISBN 9781450321129 , https://doi.org/10.1145/2513456.2513473
- Description: General-purpose computation on graphics processing units (GPGPU) has great potential to accelerate many scientific models and algorithms. However, some problems are considerably more difficult to accelerate than others, and it may be difficult for those new to GPGPU to ascertain the difficulty of accelerating a particular problem. Additionally, problems of different levels of difficulty require varying complexities of optimisations to achieve satisfactory results, and currently there is no clear separation between the different levels of known optimisations, which would be helpful to new users of GPGPU. Through what was learned in the acceleration of three problems, problem attributes have been identified to assist in evaluating the difficulty of accelerating a problem on a GPU. We envisage that with further development, these attributes could form the foundation of a difficulty classification system that could be used to determine whether GPU acceleration is practical for a candidate GPU acceleration problem, aid in identifying appropriate techniques and optimisations, and outline the required GPGPU knowledge.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2013
First year student performance in a test for computational thinking
- Gouws, Lindsey Ann, Bradshaw, Karen, Wentworth, Peter
- Authors: Gouws, Lindsey Ann , Bradshaw, Karen , Wentworth, Peter
- Date: 2013
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , book
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/477618 , vital:78104 , ISBN 9781450321129 , https://doi.org/10.1145/2513456.2513484
- Description: Computational thinking, a form of thinking and problem solving within computer science, has become a popular focus of research on computer science education. In this paper, we attempt to investigate the role that computational thinking plays in the experience of introductory computer science students at a South African university. To this end, we have designed and administered a test for computational thinking ability, and contrasted the results of this test with the class marks for the students involved. The results of this test give us an initial view of the abilities that students possess when entering the computer science course. The results indicate that students who performed well in the assessment have a favourable pass rate for their class tests, and specific areas of weakness have been identified. Finally, we describe the plan for a follow-up test to take place at the end of the course to determine how students' abilities have changed over a semester of studies.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2013
- Authors: Gouws, Lindsey Ann , Bradshaw, Karen , Wentworth, Peter
- Date: 2013
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , book
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/477618 , vital:78104 , ISBN 9781450321129 , https://doi.org/10.1145/2513456.2513484
- Description: Computational thinking, a form of thinking and problem solving within computer science, has become a popular focus of research on computer science education. In this paper, we attempt to investigate the role that computational thinking plays in the experience of introductory computer science students at a South African university. To this end, we have designed and administered a test for computational thinking ability, and contrasted the results of this test with the class marks for the students involved. The results of this test give us an initial view of the abilities that students possess when entering the computer science course. The results indicate that students who performed well in the assessment have a favourable pass rate for their class tests, and specific areas of weakness have been identified. Finally, we describe the plan for a follow-up test to take place at the end of the course to determine how students' abilities have changed over a semester of studies.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2013
HIV/AIDS: Preliminary Health Promotion activity based on service-learning principles in Grahamstown, Eastern Cape, South Africa
- Srinivas, Sunitha C, Wrench, Wendy, Bradshaw, Karen, Dukhi, Natisha
- Authors: Srinivas, Sunitha C , Wrench, Wendy , Bradshaw, Karen , Dukhi, Natisha
- Date: 2013
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/477629 , vital:78105
- Description: Objectives To investigate the effects of a service-learning based health promotion elective on knowledge of HIV and AIDS and ways to prevent them. Method A computer-based quiz, an information poster, an interactive board game and a take-home information leaflet on HIV/AIDS were developed by final year pharmacy students under supervision, as part of an exhibit during the 2009 National Festival of Science and Technology (SciFest) held in Grahamstown, South Africa. Predominantly school learners took part in the quiz and other educational activities. Results The majority (53.1%) of the 179 junior quiz participants were male learners and the majority (63.6%) of the 253 senior quiz participants were female learners. Results of the pre-intervention scores demonstrate fair knowledge of HIV/AIDS with 64.5% and 71.3% for the junior and senior school participants, respectively. Educational interventions resulted in improvement in the number of correct answers to some of the questions. The results showed significant genderdifferences for the pre- and post-intervention mean percentage scores among the junior quiz participants and only in the pre-intervention scores of the senior quizparticipants.Conclusion The health promotion elective was successful in raising awareness of HIV/AIDS but continuous, concerted health promotion activities and advocacyby all health care professionals is needed to address the prevention of HIV/AIDS.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2013
- Authors: Srinivas, Sunitha C , Wrench, Wendy , Bradshaw, Karen , Dukhi, Natisha
- Date: 2013
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/477629 , vital:78105
- Description: Objectives To investigate the effects of a service-learning based health promotion elective on knowledge of HIV and AIDS and ways to prevent them. Method A computer-based quiz, an information poster, an interactive board game and a take-home information leaflet on HIV/AIDS were developed by final year pharmacy students under supervision, as part of an exhibit during the 2009 National Festival of Science and Technology (SciFest) held in Grahamstown, South Africa. Predominantly school learners took part in the quiz and other educational activities. Results The majority (53.1%) of the 179 junior quiz participants were male learners and the majority (63.6%) of the 253 senior quiz participants were female learners. Results of the pre-intervention scores demonstrate fair knowledge of HIV/AIDS with 64.5% and 71.3% for the junior and senior school participants, respectively. Educational interventions resulted in improvement in the number of correct answers to some of the questions. The results showed significant genderdifferences for the pre- and post-intervention mean percentage scores among the junior quiz participants and only in the pre-intervention scores of the senior quizparticipants.Conclusion The health promotion elective was successful in raising awareness of HIV/AIDS but continuous, concerted health promotion activities and advocacyby all health care professionals is needed to address the prevention of HIV/AIDS.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2013
Performance optimisation of sequential programs on multi-core processors
- Tristram, Waide, Bradshaw, Karen
- Authors: Tristram, Waide , Bradshaw, Karen
- Date: 2012
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , book
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/477111 , vital:78046 , ISBN 9781450313087 , https://doi.org/10.1145/2389836.2389851
- Description: With the increasing availability of multi-core processors, the sequential programming paradigm is no longer capable of harnessing the full power of processors. Parallel programming is however, generally complex and requires more expertise than the traditional sequential programming model. On the other hand, there are a multitude of optimisations for sequential programs that can exploit multiple cores without much effort by the programmer. The primary goal of this research is to identify available tools and techniques to aid programmers in the process of optimising C/C++ programs for execution on multi-processors. Using a couple of example programs we show that improved performance is possible using the proposed methodology. However, the choice of optimisation is dependent on the type of problem being solved and there is no generic best choice for all classes of problems.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2012
- Authors: Tristram, Waide , Bradshaw, Karen
- Date: 2012
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , book
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/477111 , vital:78046 , ISBN 9781450313087 , https://doi.org/10.1145/2389836.2389851
- Description: With the increasing availability of multi-core processors, the sequential programming paradigm is no longer capable of harnessing the full power of processors. Parallel programming is however, generally complex and requires more expertise than the traditional sequential programming model. On the other hand, there are a multitude of optimisations for sequential programs that can exploit multiple cores without much effort by the programmer. The primary goal of this research is to identify available tools and techniques to aid programmers in the process of optimising C/C++ programs for execution on multi-processors. Using a couple of example programs we show that improved performance is possible using the proposed methodology. However, the choice of optimisation is dependent on the type of problem being solved and there is no generic best choice for all classes of problems.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2012
Visualization of C Data Structures for Novice Programmers
- van der Merwe, Dylan, Bradshaw, Karen
- Authors: van der Merwe, Dylan , Bradshaw, Karen
- Date: 2012
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , book
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/477133 , vital:78048 , ISBN 9780620536103
- Description: The adage “a picture is worth a thousand words” is true in many contexts, including understanding programming concepts. We have developed an IDE, consisting of a parser, interpreter and visualizer, for a subset of the C Programming Language to facilitate the teaching and learning of data structures and memory management in the language. Utilizing a visual system to create an immersive application for novice C programmers, has been shown to lead to faster comprehension of the programming concepts, as well as greater familiarity with the vocabulary of the programming terms.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2012
- Authors: van der Merwe, Dylan , Bradshaw, Karen
- Date: 2012
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , book
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/477133 , vital:78048 , ISBN 9780620536103
- Description: The adage “a picture is worth a thousand words” is true in many contexts, including understanding programming concepts. We have developed an IDE, consisting of a parser, interpreter and visualizer, for a subset of the C Programming Language to facilitate the teaching and learning of data structures and memory management in the language. Utilizing a visual system to create an immersive application for novice C programmers, has been shown to lead to faster comprehension of the programming concepts, as well as greater familiarity with the vocabulary of the programming terms.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2012
Delivering a personalised video service using IPTV
- Shibeshi, Zelalem S, Ndakunda, Shange, Terzoli, Alfredo, Bradshaw, Karen
- Authors: Shibeshi, Zelalem S , Ndakunda, Shange , Terzoli, Alfredo , Bradshaw, Karen
- Date: 2011
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/477078 , vital:78043
- Description: Video oriented services are taking the lead in terms of revenue in the current Internet environment. In order to tap this revenue, Telcos are resorting to serious measures such as moving to Next Generation Network (NGN) where they can provide QoS for services that demand this feature, such as, IPTV. IPTV is more than just what its name implies and includes various types of additional services to make the TV a better entertainment and communication environment. Various innovative IPTV services have been proposed and developed by researchers and practitioners, including personalized advertisement, personalized EPG (Electronic Program Guide), and personalized VoD (Video on Demand). In this paper we introduce a new IPTV service called, the personalized dynamic video delivery service, which sends new video alerts (like breaking news alert) to subscribed users and notifies them when the video is available. If desired, users can watch the video automatically by switching from what they are currently watching without requiring explicitly a new video setup. Users can configure their profile and also set a policy on the way they wish to be notified and the types of video they wish to be alerted to. The paper describes the issues surrounding the delivery of this service and presents the architecture and the various open source technologies that are used to develop the service.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2011
- Authors: Shibeshi, Zelalem S , Ndakunda, Shange , Terzoli, Alfredo , Bradshaw, Karen
- Date: 2011
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/477078 , vital:78043
- Description: Video oriented services are taking the lead in terms of revenue in the current Internet environment. In order to tap this revenue, Telcos are resorting to serious measures such as moving to Next Generation Network (NGN) where they can provide QoS for services that demand this feature, such as, IPTV. IPTV is more than just what its name implies and includes various types of additional services to make the TV a better entertainment and communication environment. Various innovative IPTV services have been proposed and developed by researchers and practitioners, including personalized advertisement, personalized EPG (Electronic Program Guide), and personalized VoD (Video on Demand). In this paper we introduce a new IPTV service called, the personalized dynamic video delivery service, which sends new video alerts (like breaking news alert) to subscribed users and notifies them when the video is available. If desired, users can watch the video automatically by switching from what they are currently watching without requiring explicitly a new video setup. Users can configure their profile and also set a policy on the way they wish to be notified and the types of video they wish to be alerted to. The paper describes the issues surrounding the delivery of this service and presents the architecture and the various open source technologies that are used to develop the service.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2011
Diabetes mellitus: Preliminary health-promotion activity based on service-learning principles at a South African national science festival
- Srinivas, Sunitha C, Wrench, Wendy, Bradshaw, Karen, Dukhi, Natisha
- Authors: Srinivas, Sunitha C , Wrench, Wendy , Bradshaw, Karen , Dukhi, Natisha
- Date: 2011
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/477592 , vital:78102
- Description: Objectives: To investigate the effects of a service-learning-based health promotion elective in influencing knowledge of diabetes mellitus (DM) and ways to prevent it. Method: A computer-based quiz, an information poster, interactive models and a take-home information leaflet on DM were developed as part of an exhibit during the 2009 National Festival of Science and Technology held in Grahamstown, South Africa. Predominantly school students visited the exhibit and took part in the quiz and other educational activities. Results: The majority of the 119 junior and 332 senior quiz participants were male students attending government schools in the Eastern Cape, South Africa. After an educational intervention, there was significant improvement in the junior quiz participants’ overall percentage knowledge scores (p-value = 0.024), while the senior quiz participants showed a markedly significant improvement in the overall percentage knowledge scores (p-value is less than 0.001). The results showed significant gender differences for both the pre- and post-intervention mean percentage scores among both groups, with better scores for female participants. Conclusion: The health-promotion elective was successful in raising awareness of DM. This approach may offer an additional tool that can be used in the continuous, concerted health promotion activities and advocacy by all healthcare professionals to address the prevention of DM.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2011
- Authors: Srinivas, Sunitha C , Wrench, Wendy , Bradshaw, Karen , Dukhi, Natisha
- Date: 2011
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/477592 , vital:78102
- Description: Objectives: To investigate the effects of a service-learning-based health promotion elective in influencing knowledge of diabetes mellitus (DM) and ways to prevent it. Method: A computer-based quiz, an information poster, interactive models and a take-home information leaflet on DM were developed as part of an exhibit during the 2009 National Festival of Science and Technology held in Grahamstown, South Africa. Predominantly school students visited the exhibit and took part in the quiz and other educational activities. Results: The majority of the 119 junior and 332 senior quiz participants were male students attending government schools in the Eastern Cape, South Africa. After an educational intervention, there was significant improvement in the junior quiz participants’ overall percentage knowledge scores (p-value = 0.024), while the senior quiz participants showed a markedly significant improvement in the overall percentage knowledge scores (p-value is less than 0.001). The results showed significant gender differences for both the pre- and post-intervention mean percentage scores among both groups, with better scores for female participants. Conclusion: The health-promotion elective was successful in raising awareness of DM. This approach may offer an additional tool that can be used in the continuous, concerted health promotion activities and advocacy by all healthcare professionals to address the prevention of DM.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2011
Using an RTSP Proxy to implement the IPTV Media Function via a streaming server
- Shibeshi, Zelalem S, Terzoli, Alfredo, Bradshaw, Karen
- Authors: Shibeshi, Zelalem S , Terzoli, Alfredo , Bradshaw, Karen
- Date: 2010
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/477122 , vital:78047 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.1109/ICUMT16976.2010"
- Description: Multimedia in IMS, including IPTV, is handled by a separate unit, the Media Function (MF), which is made up of Media Control and Media Delivery Functions (MCF and MDF). According to the different specifications of an IMS based IPTV architecture, the User Equipment (UE) is expected to use the RTSP protocol as a media control protocol to interact with the MCF, and gets delivery of media from the MDF using the RTP protocol. This generally means that the streaming session is initiated from the media controller on behalf of the user but the delivery of media is sent to the UE from the media deliverer (media server). Due to lack of free and open source Media Servers and on the contrary, the availability of free and open source Streaming Servers, the ideal choice for the delivery of media in multimedia services, including IPTV, by the research community are Streaming Servers. Nevertheless, because of denial of service attack and other issues, most streaming servers do not allow different locations for the session setup request and the delivery of media of the streaming session. This makes it difficult to have a separate media control unit for IPTV service in IMS, if one wants to use a streaming server as an MDF unit. For this purpose we propose another component (an RTSP proxy and relay unit) to be part of the IPTV Media Function (MF). The unit will be used to mediate between the MFC and MDF and will properly relay media control (RTSP) commands from the UE and MFC to the MDF and RTP packets from the MDF to the UE. This, we believe, will facilitate the development of an IPTV service using readily available open source streaming servers. In this paper we show how this RTSP proxy and relay unit can be integrated into the Media Function of the IPTV architecture to ease the media delivery process of IMS based IPTV service.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2010
- Authors: Shibeshi, Zelalem S , Terzoli, Alfredo , Bradshaw, Karen
- Date: 2010
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/477122 , vital:78047 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.1109/ICUMT16976.2010"
- Description: Multimedia in IMS, including IPTV, is handled by a separate unit, the Media Function (MF), which is made up of Media Control and Media Delivery Functions (MCF and MDF). According to the different specifications of an IMS based IPTV architecture, the User Equipment (UE) is expected to use the RTSP protocol as a media control protocol to interact with the MCF, and gets delivery of media from the MDF using the RTP protocol. This generally means that the streaming session is initiated from the media controller on behalf of the user but the delivery of media is sent to the UE from the media deliverer (media server). Due to lack of free and open source Media Servers and on the contrary, the availability of free and open source Streaming Servers, the ideal choice for the delivery of media in multimedia services, including IPTV, by the research community are Streaming Servers. Nevertheless, because of denial of service attack and other issues, most streaming servers do not allow different locations for the session setup request and the delivery of media of the streaming session. This makes it difficult to have a separate media control unit for IPTV service in IMS, if one wants to use a streaming server as an MDF unit. For this purpose we propose another component (an RTSP proxy and relay unit) to be part of the IPTV Media Function (MF). The unit will be used to mediate between the MFC and MDF and will properly relay media control (RTSP) commands from the UE and MFC to the MDF and RTP packets from the MDF to the UE. This, we believe, will facilitate the development of an IPTV service using readily available open source streaming servers. In this paper we show how this RTSP proxy and relay unit can be integrated into the Media Function of the IPTV architecture to ease the media delivery process of IMS based IPTV service.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2010
Hydra: A Python Framework for Parallel Computing
- Tristram, W.B, Bradshaw, Karen
- Authors: Tristram, W.B , Bradshaw, Karen
- Date: 2009
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , book
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/477100 , vital:78045 , ISBN 9781607500650 , https://doi.org/10.3233/978-1-60750-065-0-311
- Description: This paper investigates the feasibility of developing a CSP to Python translator using a concurrent framework for Python. The objective of this translation framework, developed under the name of Hydra, is to produce a tool that helps programmers implement concurrent software easily using CSP algorithms. This objective was achieved using the ANTLR compiler generator tool, Python Remote Objects and PyCSP. The resulting Hydra prototype takes an algorithm defined in CSP, parses and converts it to Python and then executes the program using multiple instances of the Python interpreter. Testing has revealed that the Hydra prototype appears to function correctly, allowing simultaneous process execution. Therefore, it can be concluded that converting CSP to Python using a concurrent framework such as Hydra is both possible and adds flexibility to CSP with embedded Python statements.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2009
- Authors: Tristram, W.B , Bradshaw, Karen
- Date: 2009
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , book
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/477100 , vital:78045 , ISBN 9781607500650 , https://doi.org/10.3233/978-1-60750-065-0-311
- Description: This paper investigates the feasibility of developing a CSP to Python translator using a concurrent framework for Python. The objective of this translation framework, developed under the name of Hydra, is to produce a tool that helps programmers implement concurrent software easily using CSP algorithms. This objective was achieved using the ANTLR compiler generator tool, Python Remote Objects and PyCSP. The resulting Hydra prototype takes an algorithm defined in CSP, parses and converts it to Python and then executes the program using multiple instances of the Python interpreter. Testing has revealed that the Hydra prototype appears to function correctly, allowing simultaneous process execution. Therefore, it can be concluded that converting CSP to Python using a concurrent framework such as Hydra is both possible and adds flexibility to CSP with embedded Python statements.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2009
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