Assessment of Learning Outcomes Using a Mathematical Reasoning Concept Inventory

Undergraduate computer science students need to learn analytical reasoning skills to develop high quality software and to understand why the software they develop works as specified. This paper describes a systematic process for introducing reasoning skills into the curriculum and assessing how well the students have learned those skills. It presents a comprehensive Reasoning Concept Inventory (RCI) that captures the finer details of basic skills students need to possess (as a minimum) to reason about software correctness. Elements of the inventory can be taught at various levels of depth across the curriculum. This paper illustrates the use of the inventory over several iterations of a software engineering course and a development foundations course. It summarizes how learning outcomes motivated by the inventory lead to questions that in turn form the basis for a careful analysis of student understanding as well as for fine tuning what is taught.