The Lugano Computing Education Resarch Lab
Luce is a research lab at the Software Institute
of USI in Lugano, Switzerland.
Our research, teaching, and service is related to computing education,
with a specific focus on learning to program.
What we are up to
Come meet us at upcoming events and check out materials and recordings of past events.
- 13/05/2024 WG 2.4 Meeting 69 Talk: Teaching Problem Decomposition with PyTamaro
- 23/03/2024 SIGCSE '24 PyTamaro Workshop Workshop 404: Decompose Graphics to Compose Programs in Python with PyTamaro
- 22/03/2024 SIGCSE '24 Poster Using Notional Machines to Automatically Assess Students' Comprehension of Their Own Code
- 25/01/2024 Meeting at UER MI, HEP Vaud Talks on Scratch Misconceptions, PyTamaro, Expression Tutor
- 23/01/2024 Meeting at Institut für Medien und Schule, PH Schwyz Discussion on Misconceptions in Block-Based Languages
- 04/12/2023 Hour of Code 2023 Hour of Code: Program Your Own Castle
- 14/11/2023 PhD Dissertation Defence of Andrea Adamoli An Agile Concept Inventory Methodology to Accurately and Efficiently Measure Student Programming Language Misconceptions
What we produced
Our research connects programming languages and computing education. We design tools and approaches, conduct studies, teach at all levels of the university, contribute to textbooks, and help in teacher education. Here are some of our current favorites:
PyTamaro
Problem Decomposition with Graphics
Expression Tutor
Understand Expressions as Trees
Progmiscon
Turn Misconceptions into Learning Opportunities
Notional Machine Collection
Pedagogic Devices for Teaching Programming
Publications
- 2023 Research Paper Teaching Programming with Graphics: Pitfalls and a Solution
- 2022 Research Paper Expressions in Java: Essential, Prevalent, Neglected?
- 2022 Research Article ICER 2022 call for participation
- 2021 Research Paper Wrong Answers for Wrong Reasons: The Risks of Ad Hoc Instruments
- 2021 Demonstration Paper Conceptual Checks for Programming Teachers
- 2021 Conference Paper A Curated Inventory of Programming Language Misconceptions
- 2020 Book Chapter Operators and Expressions
- 2020 Conference Paper Notional Machines in Computing Education: The Education of Attention
- 2019 Short Paper Experiences in bridging from functional to object-oriented programming
- 2019 Conference Paper Impact of Explicit Failure and Success-driven Preparatory Activities on Learning