Elliot Soloway
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"E. Soloway"
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Publications by Elliot Soloway (bibliography)
» 2009 «
Kuhn, Alex, Quintana, Chris and Soloway, Elliot (2009): StoryTime: a new way for children to write. In: Proceedings of ACM IDC09 Interaction Design and Children 2009. pp. 218-221. Available online
“The StoryTime project explores the benefits of and issues surrounding the use of mobile finger-touch devices to support struggling writers. StoryTime is a mobile finger-touch tool designed from a learner-centered design perspective to be a supportive writing tool for children 7-9 years old. StoryTime allows children to write stories by providing simpler writing mechanics, increased user engagement, and a contextualized writing experience. The combination of these attributes allows struggling writers to focus more on the sentence construction task. Here we describe the iterative design and testing of three versions of StoryTime on 13 children to date.”
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» 2004 «
Luchini, Kathleen, Quintana, Chris and Soloway, Elliot (2004): Design guidelines for learner-centered handheld tools. In: Dykstra-Erickson, Elizabeth and Tscheligi, Manfred (eds.) Proceedings of ACM CHI 2004 Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems April 24-29, 2004, Vienna, Austria. pp. 135-142. Available online
“Handheld computers are mobile, flexible devices that can provide real-time, one-to-one support for students from within the context of their learning activities. This paper describes the design of three learner-centered handheld tools used as part of a nine-month classroom study involving thirty-three eighth grade students. A review of related work identifies some of the challenges of building educational software within the constraints of handheld screens, and two broad design guidelines are synthesized to help address these challenges. The first design guideline focuses on decomposing the learning activity to identify salient tasks and the type of supports (or scaffolds) students need to engage in these tasks, then building separate handheld workspaces to support each task. The second guideline focuses on methods for implementing scaffolds within these task-based workspaces while preserving the usability of the overall handheld software.”
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Scott, Lisa Ann, Zimmerman, Robert, Chang, Hsin-Yi, Heitzman, Mary, Krajcik, Joseph, McNeill, Kate Lynch, Quintana, Chris and Soloway, Elliot (2004): Chemation: a handheld chemistry modeling and animation tool. In: Proceedings of ACM IDC04: Interaction Design and Children 2004. pp. 145-146. Available online
“Chemation, a simple 2-D modeling and animation tool for handhelds (e.g., PalmOS computers), was developed to help teach important chemistry concepts, such as chemical reaction, conservation of mass, and the particulate nature of matter (as specified in national standards). Users build 2-D molecular models of substances and then, through a process of copying and modifying the model, create flipbook-style animations to illustrate various processes. Chemation is currently being piloted by teachers using a standards-based, inquiry-oriented 7th grade chemistry curriculum. The tool is intended to be an alternative or a supplement to current hands-on activities in which students build physical (ball-and-stick) models to represent various chemical phenomena. In this demonstration, we will show the basic functions of Chemation highlighting its important features -- modeling and animation of chemical processes on a handheld tool. We will also show example student models of various chemical processes.”
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» 2003 «
Luchini, Kathleen, Quintana, Chris and Soloway, Elliot (2003): Pocket PiCoMap: a case study in designing and assessing a handheld concept mapping tool for learners. In: Cockton, Gilbert and Korhonen, Panu (eds.) Proceedings of the ACM CHI 2003 Human Factors in Computing Systems Conference April 5-10, 2003, Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, USA. pp. 321-328.
» 2002 «
Quintana, Chris, Krajcik, Joseph and Soloway, Elliot (2002): A Case Study to Distill Structural Scaffolding Guidelines for Scaffolded Software Environments. In: Terveen, Loren (ed.) Proceedings of the ACM CHI 2002 Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems Conference April 20-25, 2002, Minneapolis, Minnesota. pp. 81-88.
Abbas, June, Norris, Cathleen and Soloway, Elliot (2002): Middle school children's use of the ARTEMIS digital library. In: JCDL02: Proceedings of the 2nd ACM/IEEE-CS Joint Conference on Digital Libraries 2002. pp. 98-105. Available online
“A case study of middle school student's interaction within a digital library, the differential use of interface features by students, and the issues of representation and retrieval obstacles are examined. A mechanism for evaluating user's search terms and questions is explained. Findings of a current case study indicate that student's interaction with the system varied between individual classes and between different achievement levels. Terms used by the system to represent the resources do not adequately represent the user groups' information needs.”
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Luchini, Kathleen, Quintana, Chris and Soloway, Elliot (2002): ArtemisExpress: A Case Study in Designing Handheld Interfaces for an Online Digital Library. In: Paterno, Fabio (ed.) Mobile Human-Computer Interaction - 4th International Symposium - Mobile HCI 2002 September 18-20, 2002, Pisa, Italy. pp. 306-310. Available online
Guzdial, Mark and Soloway, Elliot (2002): Teaching the Nintendo generation to program. In Communications of the ACM, 45 (4) pp. 17-21
Norris, Cathleen A., Soloway, Elliot and Sullivan, Terry (2002): Examining 25 years of technology in U.S. education. In Communications of the ACM, 45 (8) pp. 15-18
» 2001 «
Abbas, June M., Norris, Cathleen A. and Soloway, Elliot (2001): Analyzing Middle School Students' Use of the ARTEMIS Digital Library. In: ICALT 2001 2001. pp. 107-108.
Luchini, Kathleen, Oehler, Paul, Quintana, Chris and Soloway, Elliot (2001): An Engineering Process for Constructing Scaffolded Work Environments to Support Student Inquiry: A Case Study in History. In: ICALT 2001 2001. pp. 55-56.
Quintana, Chris, Krajcik, Joseph and Soloway, Elliot (2001): Issues and Methods for Evaluating Learner-Centered Scaffolding. In: ICALT 2001 2001. pp. 353-356.
Quintana, Chris, Soloway, Elliot and Norris, Cathleen A. (2001): Learner-Centered Design: Developing Software That Scaffolds Learning. In: ICALT 2001 2001. pp. 499-500.
Soloway, Elliot, Norris, Cathleen A., Blumenfeld, Phyllis, Fishman, Barry, Krajcik, Joseph and Marx, Ronald (2001): Log on education: Handheld devices are ready-at-hand. In Communications of the ACM, 44 (6) pp. 15-20
» 2000 «
Soloway, Elliot, Becker, Henry Jay, Norris, Cathleen A. and Topp, Neal (2000): Teachers and Technology: Easing the Way. In Communications of the ACM, 43 (6) pp. 23-26
Soloway, Elliot, Norris, Cathleen A., Blumenfeld, Phyllis, Fishman, Barry, Krajcik, Joseph and Marx, Ronald (2000): K-12 and the Internet. In Communications of the ACM, 43 (1) pp. 19-23
Soloway, Elliot, Norris, Cathleen A., Blumenfeld, Phyllis, Marx, Ronald, Krajcik, Joseph and Fishman, Barry (2000): The three Ts of elementary education. In Communications of the ACM, 43 (12) pp. 15-19
» 1999 «
Quintana, Chris, Eng, Jim, Carra, Andrew, Wu, Hsin-Kai and Soloway, Elliot (1999): Symphony: A Case Study in Extending Learner-Centered Design Through Process Space Analysis. In: Altom, Mark W. and Williams, Marian G. (eds.) Proceedings of the ACM CHI 99 Human Factors in Computing Systems Conference May 15-20, 1999, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. pp. 473-480. Available online
“We are exploring a new class of tools for learners: scaffolded integrated tool environments (or SITEs), which address the needs of learners trying to engage in new, complex work processes. A crucial phase within a learner-centered design approach for SITE design involves analyzing the work process to identify areas where learners need support to engage in the process. Here we discuss the design of Symphony, a SITE for high-school science students. Specifically, we discuss how the process-space model helped us analyze the science inquiry process to help us identify a detailed set of learner needs, leading to a full set of process scaffolding strategies for Symphony.”
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Soloway, Elliot, Grant, Wayne C., Tinger, Robert, Roschelle, Jeremy, Mills, Mike, Resnick, Mitchel, Berg, Robert and Eisenberg, Michael (1999): Science in the Palms of Their Hands. In Communications of the ACM, 42 (8) pp. 21-26
» 1998 «
Jackson, Shari L., Krajcik, Joseph and Soloway, Elliot (1998): The Design of Guided Learner-Adaptable Scaffolding in Interactive Learning Environments. In: Karat, Clare-Marie, Lund, Arnold, Coutaz, Joëlle and Karat, John (eds.) Proceedings of the ACM CHI 98 Human Factors in Computing Systems Conference April 18-23, 1998, Los Angeles, California. pp. 187-194. Available online
“The learner-centered design of software suggests the need to design scaffolding -- fadeable supports -- in educational tools. We describe an approach, Guided Learner-Adaptable Scaffolding (GLAS), in which the learner controls the fading of scaffolding, with guidance and support provided by the system. Using GLAS, we have developed a tool, TheoryBuilder, that supports learners in building and testing dynamic models of complex systems. We have conducted extensive classroom testing with students who used the tool several times throughout a year. An analysis of the data demonstrates the success of the GLAS approach in developing an adaptable tool to support the diverse and changing needs of learners.”
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Wallace, Raven, Soloway, Elliot, Krajcik, Joseph, Bos, Nathan, Hoffman, Joseph, Hunter, Heather Eccleston, Kiskis, Dan, Klann, Elisabeth and Peters, Greg (1998): ARTEMIS: Learner-Centered Design of an Information Seeking Environment for K-12 Education. In: Karat, Clare-Marie, Lund, Arnold, Coutaz, Joëlle and Karat, John (eds.) Proceedings of the ACM CHI 98 Human Factors in Computing Systems Conference April 18-23, 1998, Los Angeles, California. pp. 195-202. Available online
“Learners use software for different reasons and with different skills and motivations than other users. Using concepts of learner-centered design (LCD), we developed a user interface for supporting learners as they use digital information resources in inquiry-based science classrooms. Learner needs are categorized in five areas: content knowledge, technology knowledge, strategic and metacognitive knowledge, and motivation. Results of research on problems encountered by students as they engage in information seeking are used as the basis for applying LCD, by identifying some specific problem areas learners encounter: engaging in a process, generating search terms, staying on task, and evaluating information. Solutions offered through the Artemis interface are described.”
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Hsi, Sherry and Soloway, Elliot (1998): Learner-Centered Design: Specifically Addressing the Needs of Learners. In ACM SIGCHI Bulletin, 30 (4) pp. 53-55
“The first workshop on learner-centered design gathered together 21 participants at CHI 98 in Los Angeles. For a 1-day workshop, our agenda was ambitious. Our goals were to synthesize a shared understanding of an emerging area of HCI that specifically addresses learners and education beyond the design principles borne of research on routine cognitive tasks, walk-up systems, and groupware, and to begin to think deeply about "how to design for learning?" We were successful in bringing many central issues the surface and well as common approaches of HCI practitioners and education research/learning technology designers. Yet, we reached consensus on few issues and recognized the need for the community of LCD designers to better identify novel differences between current methods employed in UCD and the weaknesses of UCD approaches to solve learning and schooling issues at all levels. The workshop results further motivate LCD practitioners to pursue future gatherings on this topic.”
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Soloway, Elliot (1998): No One Is Making Money In Educational Software. In Communications of the ACM, 41 (2) pp. 11-15
Soloway, Elliot and Norris, Cathleen A. (1998): Using Technology to Address Old Problems in New Ways. In Communications of the ACM, 41 (8) pp. 11-18
» 1997 «
Soloway, Elliot and Wallace, Raven (1997): Does the Internet Support Student Inquiry? Don't Ask. In Communications of the ACM, 40 (5) pp. 11-16
» 1996 «
Soloway, Elliot, Jackson, Shari L., Klein, Jonathan, Quintana, Chris, Reed, James, Spitulnik, Jeff, Stratford, Steven J., Studer, Scott and Eng, Jim (1996): Learning Theory in Practice: Case Studies of Learner-Centered Design. In: Tauber, Michael J., Bellotti, Victoria, Jeffries, Robin, Mackinlay, Jock D. and Nielsen, Jakob (eds.) Proceedings of the ACM CHI 96 Human Factors in Computing Systems Conference April 14-18, 1996, Vancouver, Canada. pp. 189-196. Available online
“The design of software for learners must be guided by educational theory. We present a framework for learner-centered design (LCD) that is theoretically motivated by sociocultural and constructivist theories of learning. LCD guides the design of software in order to support the unique needs of learners: growth, diversity, and motivation. To address these needs, we incorporate scaffolding into the context, tasks, tools, and interface of software learning environments. We demonstrate the application of our methodology by presenting two case studies of LCD in practice.”
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Atkins, Daniel E., Birmingham, William P., Durfee, Edmund H., Glover, Eric J., Mullen, Tracy, Rundensteiner, Elke A., Soloway, Elliot, Vidal, José M., Wallace, Raven and Wellman, Michael P. (1996): Toward Inquiry-Based Education Through Interacting Software Agents. In IEEE Computer, 29 (5) pp. 69-76
Jackson, Shari L., Stratford, Steven J., Krajcik, Joseph and Soloway, Elliot (1996): A Learner-Centered Tool for Students Building Models. In Communications of the ACM, 39 (4) pp. 48-49
Soloway, Elliot (1996): Teachers are the Key. In Communications of the ACM, 39 (6) pp. 11-14
Soloway, Elliot and Pryor, Amanda (1996): Using Computational Media to Facilitate Learning (Introduction to the Special Section). In Communications of the ACM, 39 (8) p. 83
Soloway, Elliot and Pryor, Amanda (1996): The Next Generation in Human-Computer Interaction. In Communications of the ACM, 39 (4) pp. 16-18
» 1995 «
Guzdial, Mark, Kafai, Yasmin B., Carroll, John M., Fischer, Gerhard, Schank, Roger, Soloway, Elliot and Shneiderman, Ben (1995): Learner-Centered System Design: HCI Perspective for the Future. In: Proceedings of DIS95: Designing Interactive Systems: Processes, Practices, Methods, & Techniques 1995. pp. 143-147.
“User-centered system design (Norman & Draper, 1986) taught the HCI community to address users and their needs, but the community has learned that the needs of users are not a constant. Learner-centered design draws attention to the changing needs of users (both students and professionals) as they gain expertise and how these changes need to be reflected in the interface. The panelists will help in defining how interface design must be tailored to support users as learners with case studies of their experiences in designing adaptive and adaptable interfaces for learners.”
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Soloway, Elliot (1995): Beware, Techies Bearing Gifts. In Communications of the ACM, 38 (1) pp. 17-24
» 1994 «
Soloway, Elliot, Guzdial, Mark and Hay, Kenneth E. (1994): Learner-Centered Design: The Challenge for HCI in The 21st Century. In Interactions, 1 (2) pp. 36-48
“Soloway, Guzdial, and Hay contend that the HCI community must move from user-centered design to learner-centered design.”
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Kafai, Yasmin B. and Soloway, Elliot (1994): Computational Gifts for the Barney Generation. In Communications of the ACM, 37 (9) pp. 19-22
Soloway, Elliot (1994): Ways of Seeing. In Communications of the ACM, 37 (2) pp. 15-20
» 1993 «
Linn, Marcia C., Clancy, Michael J., Mann, Lydia M., Miller, Philip and Soloway, Elliot (1993): Has of ESP Research Improved Programming Instruction?. In: Cook, Curtis, Scholtz, Jean and Spohrer, James C. (eds.) Empirical Studies of Programmers - Fifth Workshop December 3-15, 1993, 1993, Palo Alto, California. pp. 3-5.
“This panel discussion will address: (a) how instructors use current research on programming and (b) how future research might contribute to better teaching. We hope to help participants at the ESP V conference synthesize current studies and identify future directions for empirical work. In addition, we hope to alert researchers to unanticipated consequences of current empirical studies for programming courses.”
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Soloway, Elliot (1993): Technology in Education - Introduction to the Special Issue. In Communications of the ACM, 36 (5) pp. 28-30
Soloway, Elliot (1993): Reading and Writing in the 21st Century. In Communications of the ACM, 36 (5) pp. 23-27
Soloway, Elliot (1993): Should We Teach Students to Program?. In Communications of the ACM, 36 (10) pp. 21-24
» 1992 «
Thomas, Anne Nicol, Pellegrino, James, Rowley, Peter, Scardamalia, Marlene, Soloway, Elliot and Webb, Jim (1992): Designing Collaborative, Knowledge-Building Environments for Tomorrow's Schools. In: Bauersfeld, Penny, Bennett, John and Lynch, Gene (eds.) Proceedings of the ACM CHI 92 Human Factors in Computing Systems Conference June 3-7, 1992, Monterey, California. pp. 427-430. Available online
“The notion that children learn by constructing their own knowledge is highly popular these days among educational theorists. But what are the particular abilities that enable learners to be successful? And how must computer systems, and in particular their user interfaces, be designed to foster and support those abilities? The panel members represent several nationally-recognized education projects, all designed to give children control over their own learning while, at the same time, providing supports for effective learning strategies. They will discuss the unique design issues -- resolved and unresolved -- that arise as cognitive theories meet classroom realities. CSILE, a collaborative, user-constructed database, JASPER, a video-based mathematics program, and MediaText, a multi-media authoring environment, are available for use and review by CHI92 attendees prior to the panel presentation.”
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Brade, Kathleen, Guzdial, Mark, Steckel, Mark and Soloway, Elliot (1992): Whorf: A Visualization Tool for Software Maintenance. In: Proceedings of the 1992 IEEE Workshop on Visual Languages September 15-18, 1992, Seattle, Washington, USA. pp. 148-154.
Soloway, Elliot (1992): Buying Computers for Your School: A Guide for the Perplexed. In Communications of the ACM, 35 (7) pp. 21-24
» 1991 «
Gray, Wayne D., Anderson, John R., Reiser, Brian J., Soloway, Elliot and Spohrer, James C. (1991): Tutors and Environments for Novice Programmers. In: Koenemann-Belliveau, Jurgen, Moher, Thomas G. and Robertson, Scott P. (eds.) Proceedings of the Fourth Annual Workshop on Empirical Studies of Programmers 1991, Norwood, New Jersey, USA. pp. 3-4.
Soloway, Elliot (1991): How the Nintendo Generation Learns. In Communications of the ACM, 34 (9) pp. 23-26,95
Soloway, Elliot (1991): Quick, Where do the Computers Go?. In Communications of the ACM, 34 (2) pp. 29-33
» 1990 «
Detienne, Francoise and Soloway, Elliot (1990): An Empirically-Derived Control Structure for the Process of Program Understanding. In International Journal of Man-Machine Studies, 33 (3) pp. 323-342
“Various models of program understanding have been developed from the Schema Theory. To date, the authors have sought to identify the knowledge that programmers have and use in understanding programs, i.e. Programming Plans and Rules of Discourse. However, knowledge is only one aspect of program understanding. The other aspect is the cognitive mechanisms that use knowledge. The contribution of this study is the identification of different mechanisms involved in program understanding by experts, specifically the mechanisms which cope with novelty. An experiment was conducted to identify and describe the expert's strategies involved in understanding usual (plan-like) and unusual (unplan-like) programs. While performing a fill-in-a-blank task, subjects were asked to talk aloud. The analysis of verbal protocols allowed the identification of four different strategies of understanding. Under "normal" conditions the strategy of symbolic simulation is involved. But when failures occur additional strategies are required. The authors identified three types of understanding failures the subject may experience (no expectation, expectation clashes, insufficient expectations) and the additional strategies invoked in those cases: (1) reasoning according to rules of discourse and principles of the task domain; (2) reasoning with plan constraints; (3) concrete simulation. The authors develop an operational description of these strategies and discuss the control structure of program understanding in the framework of schema theory.”
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» 1989 «
Soloway, Elliot and Spohrer, James C. (eds.) (1989): Studying the Novice Programmer. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates
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Detienne, F. and Soloway, Elliot (1989): Program Understanding as an Expectation-Driven Activity. In: Proceedings of the Third International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction 1989. pp. 28-34.
“The contribution of this study is the identification of different mechanisms involved in program understanding by experts, specifically the mechanisms which cope with novelty. An experiment was conducted to identify and describe the expert's strategies involved in understanding usual (plan-like) and unusual (unplan-like) programs. Under "normal" conditions the strategy which is observed is symbolic simulation. Information extracted from the program allows the activation of schemas and evoked knowledge creates expectations on what information should be in the program. But when failures occur additional strategies are required. The authors identified three types of understanding failures the subject may experience and the additional strategies invoked in those cases.”
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» 1988 «
Soloway, Elliot, Frye, Douglas and Sheppard, Sylvia B. (eds.) Proceedings of the ACM CHI 88 Human Factors in Computing Systems Conference June 15-19, 1988, Washington, DC, USA.
Egan, Dennis E., Gomez, Louis M., McKeown, Kathleen R., Soloway, Elliot, Reiser, Brian J. and Marshall, Catherine C. (1988): Dealing with Diversity: Approaches to Individual Differences in Human-Computer Interaction. In: Soloway, Elliot, Frye, Douglas and Sheppard, Sylvia B. (eds.) Proceedings of the ACM CHI 88 Human Factors in Computing Systems Conference June 15-19, 1988, Washington, DC, USA. pp. 79-81.
“Developers and behavioral scientists concerned with human-computer interaction need to learn more about problems caused by user differences, and prospects for dealing with diverse user populations. This panel is intended to heighten the awareness of CHI'88 conferees to recent research documenting user differences, experimental approaches to user-sensitive interface design, and the implications of user differences for system developers.”
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Pinto, Jeannine and Soloway, Elliot (1988): Providing the Requisite Knowledge Via Software Documentation. In: Soloway, Elliot, Frye, Douglas and Sheppard, Sylvia B. (eds.) Proceedings of the ACM CHI 88 Human Factors in Computing Systems Conference June 15-19, 1988, Washington, DC, USA. pp. 257-261.
“Software documentation should be useful to the programmer trying to understand a program. The key in that sentence was the word should: by and large documentation has a very bad reputation. We have been working on trying to improve documentation, in order that it may realize its potential. In this case study, we examine a programmer's use of documentation constructed along some specific guidelines. These guidelines, developed from our previous studies of documentation, are intended to help programmers draw causal connections between non-contiguous portions of programming plans in the program. This documentation appears to be helpful to a particular class of programmers, i.e., those who come to a program without the requisite background knowledge.”
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Soloway, Elliot, Pinto, Jeannine, Letovsky, Stanley, Littman, David and Lampert, Robin (1988): Designing Documentation to Compensate for Delocalized Plans. In Communications of the ACM, 31 (11) pp. 1259-1267
» 1987 «
Olson, Gary M., Sheppard, Sylvia B. and Soloway, Elliot (eds.) (1987): Empirical Studies of Programmers: Second Workshop. Norwood, NJ, Ablex Publishing
Olson, Gary M., Sheppard, Sylvia B. and Soloway, Elliot (eds.) Empirical Studies of Programmers - Second Workshop December 7-8 1987, 1987, Washington, DC.
Olson, Gary M., Catrambone, Richard and Soloway, Elliot (1987): Programming and Algebra Word Problems: A Failure to Transfer. In: Olson, Gary M., Sheppard, Sylvia B. and Soloway, Elliot (eds.) Empirical Studies of Programmers - Second Workshop December 7-8 1987, 1987, Washington, DC. pp. 1-13.
“Prior work has suggested that learning to program may provide students with skills that help them in algebra. However, this work was only preliminary. An extensive experiment was conducted in order to examine the contribution of programming to students' algebra word problem performance. Students taking an introductory programming course in Pascal were compared to a control group of students (taking an introductory statistics course) with a similar mathematics background. Subjects were tested on algebra word problems at the beginning of the semester and either one week later or at the end of the semester (12 weeks later). Subjects performance on the algebra word problems improved from the first test to the second. However, contrary to expectations, the programming students did not improve more than the control subjects. In addition, those subjects who took the second test one week after the first test improved more than subjects who took the second test at the end of the semester. The results suggest that programming does not provide general benefits that transfer to algebra word problems, but that there is specific transfer due to practicing algebra problems.”
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Letovsky, Stanley, Pinto, Jeannine, Lampert, Robin and Soloway, Elliot (1987): A Cognitive Analysis of a Code Inspection. In: Olson, Gary M., Sheppard, Sylvia B. and Soloway, Elliot (eds.) Empirical Studies of Programmers - Second Workshop December 7-8 1987, 1987, Washington, DC. pp. 231-247.
“In this paper we describe a cognitive analysis of a design and code inspection. This formal inspection process, as designed and carried out at IBM, has shown itself to be effective for improving the quality of produced code. Our intent in studying this process was to understand what goes on during a code inspection and why. After analyzing one video-taped, 65 minute inspection in detail, we suggest that the participants in the inspection were attempting to achieve three main goals (clarity, correctness, and consistency), by executing three corresponding behaviors (design reconstruction, mental simulation, document cross-checking). These categories accounted for 89% of the duration of the code inspection. The major overall finding is that, surprisingly, considerable resources (time and personnel) were spent in establishing the relationship between the various software documents, i.e., the requirements, the design, and the code.”
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Frye, Douglas and Soloway, Elliot (1987): Interface design: A neglected issue in educational software. In: Graphics Interface 87 (CHI+GI 87) April 5-9, 1987, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. pp. 93-97.
Smith, Philip J., Soloway, Elliot and Carroll, John M. (1987): Intelligent Tutoring and Help Systems. In: Proceedings of the Human Factors Society 31st Annual Meeting 1987. p. 280.
“In recent years, considerable effort has been focused on the development of computational models of expert human performance. One class of expertise that has been studied is that of human tutors. The resultant intelligent tutoring systems are intended to provide the user with the "instructional advantage that a sophisticated human tutor can provide," (Anderson, Boyle and Reiser, 1985). This line of research is of interest to the human factors community for two reasons: 1. Intelligent tutoring systems offer potential tools for use in training and educational programs, a long-standing area of interest to human factors researchers and practitioners; 2. there are many human factors and human performance issues that should be addressed in the design of such tutoring systems. The speakers in this special session will provide an overview of research issues in the design of intelligent tutoring systems. Relevant conceptual issues and approaches will be highlighted in the context of a variety of application areas. Included will be a discussion of the "use of intelligent system monitors that allow users to integrate the time and effort spent on learning with actual use of a system", (Carroll and McKendree, 1987).”
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Soloway, Elliot (1987): I Can't Tell What in the Code Implements What in the Specs. In: Salvendy, Gavriel (ed.) HCI International 1987 - Proceedings of the Second International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction - Volume 2 August 10-14, 1987, Honolulu, Hawaii. pp. 317-328.
» 1986 «
Soloway, Elliot and Iyengar, Sitharama (eds.) Empirical Studies of Programmers June 5-6 1986, 1986, Washington, DC.
Littman, David C., Pinto, Jeannine, Letovsky, Stanley and Soloway, Elliot (1986): Mental Models and Software Maintenance. In: Soloway, Elliot and Iyengar, Sitharama (eds.) Empirical Studies of Programmers June 5-6 1986, 1986, Washington, DC. pp. 80-98.
“Understanding how a program is constructed and how it functions are important parts of the task of maintaining or enhancing a computer program. We have analyzed videotaped protocols of experienced programmers as they enhanced a personnel database program. Our analysis suggests that there are two strategies for program understanding, the systematic strategy and the as-needed strategy. The programmer using the systematic strategy traces data flow and control flow through the program in order to understand global program behavior. The programmer using the as-needed strategy focuses on local program behavior in order to localize study of the program. Our empirical data show that there is a strong relationship between using a systematic approach to acquire knowledge about the program and modifying the program successfully. Programmers who used the systematic approach to study the program constructed successful modifications; programmers who used the as-needed approach failed to construct successful modifications. Programmers who used the systematic strategy gathered knowledge about the causal interactions of the program's functional components. Programmers who used the as-needed strategy did not gather such causal knowledge and therefore failed to detect interactions among components of the program.”
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Spohrer, James C. and Soloway, Elliot (1986): Analyzing the High Frequency Bugs in Novice Programs. In: Soloway, Elliot and Iyengar, Sitharama (eds.) Empirical Studies of Programmers June 5-6 1986, 1986, Washington, DC. pp. 230-251.
“In this paper, we provide a detailed analysis of the bugs that novice programmers most frequently made while solving a set of introductory programming problems. First, we show the special status of high frequency bugs: Lots of students learning to program make the same bugs. Second, we show that most of the high frequency bugs do not arise because students have a misconception about some language construct. The implications of these two results for teaching programming are discussed.”
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Soloway, Elliot (1986): What to Do Next: Meeting the Challenge of Programming-in-the-Large. In: Soloway, Elliot and Iyengar, Sitharama (eds.) Empirical Studies of Programmers June 5-6 1986, 1986, Washington, DC. pp. 263-268.
Soloway, Elliot (1986): Learning to Program = Learning to Construct Mechanisms and Explanations. In Communications of the ACM, 29 (9) pp. 850-858
Spohrer, James C. and Soloway, Elliot (1986): Novice Mistakes: Are the Folk Wisdoms Correct?. In Communications of the ACM, 29 (7) pp. 624-632
» 1985 «
Spohrer, James C., Soloway, Elliot and Pope, Edgar (1985): Where The Bugs Are. In: Borman, Lorraine and Curtis, Bill (eds.) Proceedings of the ACM CHI 85 Human Factors in Computing Systems Conference April 14-18, 1985, San Francisco, California. pp. 47-53.
“In this paper we propose one explanation of why some novice programs are buggier than others. Central to our explanation is the notion of merged goals/plans in which multiple goals are achieved in a single integrated plan. Our arguments are based on our theory of the knowledge -- plans and goals -- used by a novice in creating a program, and an analysis of actual buggy novice programs.”
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Soloway, Elliot (1985): Introduction to this Special Issue on Novice Programming. In Human-Computer Interaction, 1 (2) pp. 105-106
Bonar, Jeffrey and Soloway, Elliot (1985): Preprogramming Knowledge: A Major Source of Misconceptions in Novice Programmers. In Human-Computer Interaction, 1 (2) pp. 133-161
“We present a process model to explain bugs produced by novices early in a programming course. The model was motivated by interviews with novice programmers solving simple programming problems. Our key idea is that many programming bugs can be explained by novices inappropriately using their knowledge of step-by-step procedural specifications in natural language. We view programming bugs as patches generated in response to an impasse reached by the novice while developing a program. We call such patching strategies bug generators. Several of our bug generators describe how natural language preprogramming knowledge is used by novices to create patches. Other kinds of bug generators are also discussed. We describe a representation both for novice natural language preprogramming knowledge and novice fragmentary programming knowledge. Using these representations and the bug generators, we evaluate the model by analyzing four interviews with novice programmers.”
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Spohrer, James C., Soloway, Elliot and Pope, Edgar (1985): A Goal/Plan Analysis of Buggy Pascal Programs. In Human-Computer Interaction, 1 (2) pp. 163-207
“In this paper, we present a descriptive theory of buggy novice programs and a bug categorization scheme that is based on this theory. Central to this theory is the cognitively plausible knowledge -- goals and plans -- that underlies programming. The bug categorization scheme makes explicit problem-dependent goal and plan knowledge at many different levels of detail. We provide several examples of how the scheme permits us to focus on bugs in a way that facilitates generating plausible accounts of why the bugs may have arisen. In particular, our approach has led us to one explanation of why some novice programs are buggier than others. A basic part of this explanation is the notion of merged goals and merged plans in which a single integrated plan is used to achieve multiple goals.”
Copyrights may apply
» 1984 «
Adelson, Beth, Littman, D., Ehrlich, Kate, Black, J. and Soloway, Elliot (1984): Novice-Expert Differences in Software Design. In: Shackel, Brian (ed.) INTERACT 84 - 1st IFIP International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction September 4-7, 1984, London, UK. pp. 473-478.
“In this paper we describe the results of analyzing protocols of expert and novice software designers as they performed a novel, non-trivial design task from a domain with which they were familiar. The protocols allowed us to develop a model which can account for several interesting and recurrent expert behaviors such as constraint gathering, balanced development, and the building and running of mental simulations of partially completed designs. We have also found what look like systematic differences between our novices and our experts.”
Copyrights may apply
» 1983 «
Soloway, Elliot, Ehrlich, Kate and Black, John B. (1983): Beyond Numbers: Don't Ask "How Many" ... Ask "Why". In: Smith, Raoul N., Pew, Richard W. and Janda, Ann (eds.) Proceedings of the ACM CHI 83 Human Factors in Computing Systems Conferenc December 12-15, 1983, Boston, Massachusetts, United States. pp. 240-246.
“While programmers may differ in their assessment of the comprehensibility of a program, there are nonetheless some clear cut cases of programs that are truly difficult to understand. In this paper, we analyze three programs -- two of which are relatively incomprehensible -- using Halstead's Volume Metric, Propositional Analysis and Plan Analysis. We argue that only Plan Analysis provides a satisfactory explanation for why the programs in question differ with respect to understandability. Moreover, we suggest that a qualitative analysis, such as provided by Plan Analysis, is the desired type of evaluation: rather than simply providing a numerical ranking for programs, the qualitative analysis can pinpoint the troublesome area in the code and provide prescriptive information for correcting the difficulty.”
Copyrights may apply
Soloway, Elliot, Bonar, Jeffrey and Ehrlich, Kate (1983): Cognitive Strategies and Looping Constructs: An Empirical Study. In Communications of the ACM, 26 (11) pp. 853-860
» 1982 «
Soloway, Elliot, Ehrlich, Kate and Bonar, Jeffrey (1982): Tapping Into Tacit Programming Knowledge. In: Nichols, Jean A. and Schneider, Michael L. (eds.) Proceedings of the SIGCHI conference on Human factors in computing systems March 15-17, 1982, Gaithersburg, Maryland, United States. pp. 52-57.
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Mar 22nd, 2010
Changes to this page (author)
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