Integrating algorithm visualization technology into an undergraduate algorithms course: ethnographic studies of a social constructivist approach

Algorithm visualization (AV) software graphically illustrates how algorithms work. Traditionally, computer science instructors have used the software as a visual aid in lectures, or as the basis for interactive laboratories. An alternative approach, inspired by Social Constructivist learning theory, is to have students construct and present their own visualizations. Notice that, in this alternative approach, rather than acting as a knowledge conveyer that transfers an expert’s mental model of an algorithm to students, AV software grants students access to forms of expert course participation typically reserved only for instructors. To explore this alternative approach, I conducted a pair of ethnographic field studies in a junior-level algorithms course that included AV construction and presentation assignments. Through a broad range of field techniques, including participant observation, interviewing, videotaping, and diary collecting, I gained crucial insights into three key research questions surrounding AV construction and presentation assignments: (1) Do the assignments promote activities that are relevant to the community being reproduced through an undergraduate algorithms course?; (2) Do the assignments promote learning—that is, do they help students to participate more fully in that community?; and (3) How should AV technology be designed so as to support AV construction and presentation? My most significant finding was that, when used within the context of AV construction and presentation exercises, conventional AV