Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Using The Solo Taxonomy To Understand Subgoal Labels Effect In Cs1, Adrienne Decker, Lauren E. Margulieux, Briana B. Morrison

Computer Science Faculty Proceedings & Presentations

This work extends previous research on subgoal labeled instructions by examining their effect across a semester-long, Java-based CS1 course. Across four quizzes, students were asked to explain in plain English the process that they would use to solve a programming problem. In this mixed methods study, we used the SOLO taxonomy to categorize student responses about problem-solving processes and compare students who learned with subgoal labels to those who did not. The use of the SOLO taxonomy classification allows us to look deeper than the mere correctness of answers to focus on the quality of the answers produced in terms …