Teaching data structures with BeSocratic (abstract only)

Data structures are one of the fundamental concepts that all computer scientist students must learn if they are to succeed in their careers. Therefore, it is important to develop and assess questions targeted at improving the teaching of data structures. Unfortunately, research suggests that multiple choice or matching questions cannot be used to properly assess deep knowledge on a subject [1,2,3,4]. Students can often guess their way to the correct answer. We believe that students must construct these structures instead of simply identifying them. However, analyzing many hand-drawn data structures is time-consuming for large class sizes. This poster describes a web-based software tool, BeSocratic, designed to facilitate interactivity in a data structures course. BeSocratic allows students to build data structures intuitively using a combination of handwriting recognition and gestures. Using BeSocratic, instructors can create intelligent tutors that teach students to construct various data structures. These tutors are able to identify problems and provide multi-tiered feedback to students. Furthermore, BeSocratic records each action a student makes, so it may be replayed and visualized to gain deeper insights into how students construct data structures and complete algorithms. We have created and pilot-tested a BeSocratic activity, which teaches students how to construct splay trees.