Recent Studies About Teaching Algorithms (CS1) and Data Structures (CS2) for Computer Science Students

This Research Full Paper presents a review of recent studies on SIGCSE about teaching programming (CS1) and data structures (CS2) for university students in computer science courses. Our main contribution is the identification of three categories and their respective subcategories for teaching programming: (i) characterization of contents, (ii) identification of pedagogical strategies and (iii) grouping of support tools. Context: Technology is increasingly more present in modern life. This demands qualified professionals in algorithmic thinking and coding. However, teaching programming is a challenging task, with frequently high dropout and failure rates. Because of this there is a large amount of scientific literature about methods and tools for teaching this topic. A systematic review to compile existing techniques can be very useful for teacher and professionals interested in the area. Objective: The goal of this paper is to identify and discuss the recent approaches used in teaching algorithms and data structures presented in the last five years of SIGCSE. Thus, we investigated the following research question: What are the recent approaches to teaching programming and data structures? Method: We conducted a review of the primary researches published in SIGCSE Technical Symposium during 2014-2018. All primary studies published in this period were evaluated according to the inclusion criteria. The studies related to our objective were completely read, passed through the extraction of data and classified according to the research questions. Results: In the end of the selection phase, 60 papers were used to conduct this research. Our results were classified into three categories: (i) contents were identified in 60 papers. We found that CS1 is predominant, it is present in 76.7% of papers. Whereas the teaching of CS2 is present in only 38.3% of the papers; (ii) teaching strategies were identified in 32 papers. Active learning approaches are usually the target of these studies. It should be noted that pair programming was present in 18.3% of these papers; finally (iii) 28 papers were found about support tools and most of them are focused on visualization and animation. Conclusion: Effective pedagogical approaches for teaching CS1 and CS2 are of great concern for educators around the globe. There is also a need for more tools that support the teaching of these disciplines.