Data for Attitude Questions

We first examine the data resulting from the six attitude questions. The data from each question are presented in Tables 5.1 through 5.6. The rows represent responses on the pre- survey. The columns represent the responses on the post-survey. From the table it is pos- sible to determine how many participants changed their responses for each of the possible responses. For example, in Table 5.1, the second row shows that 2 participants responses’ were “Disagree” on the pre-survey and of those one participant responded “Strongly Dis- agree” and one responded “Neutral” on the post-survey.

If the question is worded in a “positive” manner then the responses which appear above the the main diagonal of the table are from those participants who agree more strongly on the post-survey than on the pre-survey. These entries indicate a positive effect on that par- ticipant. Responses below the main diagonal of the table represent a negative effect. For “negatively” worded questions, the entries above the main diagonal represent a negative effect and the entries below the main diagonal represent a positive effect. This is the oppo- site of “positively” worded questions. For either type of wording, entries which are on the main diagonal of the table represent participants that did not change their responses from the pre-survey to the post-survey.

The first two questions were designed to determine whether the participants believe recursion is complex and difficult to understand. The results are shown in table 5.1 and table 5.2. For the question “Recursion is Complex”, 3 participants increased their responses by one level toward the “Strongly Agree” end of the scale. Six participants did not change their responses (4 remained at “Neutral” and 2 at “Agree”). The remaining 11 participants decreased their responses by at least one level toward the “Strongly Disagree” end of the scale. It is interesting that only 2 participants “Strongly Disagree” that recursion is complex on the post-survey. This is only 10% of the participant population.

Table 5.1: Results of question: “Recursion Is Complex”

Post-Survey

Strongly Strongly

Pre-Survey Disagree Disagree Neutral Agree Agree

Strongly Disagree 0 0 0 0 0

Disagree 1 0 1 0 0

Neutral 0 1 4 1 0

Agree 1 2 0 2 1

Strongly Agree 0 0 2 4 0

For the question “Recursion is Difficult To Understand”, 2 participants increased their responses toward the “Strongly Agree” end of the scale. One participant increased by 2 levels (from “Disagree” to “Agree”) and the other by one level (from “Neutral” to “Agree”). Seven participants did not change their responses. The other 12 participants decreased their responses by at least one level toward the “Strongly Disagree” end of the scale. Of these 12, two participants changed by more than one level. As in the previous question, only 2 participants “Strongly Disagree” that recursion is difficult to understand on the post-survey.

Table 5.2: Results of question: “Recursion Is Difficult To Understand”

Post-Survey

Strongly Strongly

Pre-Survey Disagree Disagree Neutral Agree Agree

Strongly Disagree 0 0 0 0 0

Disagree 1 2 0 1 0

Neutral 0 4 1 1 0

Agree 1 1 2 4 0

Strongly Agree 0 0 2 0 0

One possible conclusion to draw from these two tables is that the participants believe that recursion is complex and difficult to understand, but after playing the game and dis- cussing it they felt that recursion is less complex and difficult to understand than before the experience.

We now examine the results from the question “I Understand the Concept of Recur- sion” shown in table 5.3. One participant changed from “Strongly Agree” to “Agree”. Eight participants did not change their responses. The remaining 11 participants increased their responses toward the “Strongly Agree” end of the scale. It is interesting to note that all participants responded “Agree” or “Strongly Agree” on the post-survey (exactly split between the two levels).

One possible conclusion is that before the game most participants believed they under- stand recursion, but after the game all believed they understand recursion and in general felt more confident in their understanding.

The results of the question “I Know What a Recursive Function Is” are shown in table 5.4. The results are very similar to the results of the previous question. Half of the partic- ipants did not change their responses (of these ten, 5 responded “Agree” and 5 responded

Table 5.3: Results of question: “I Understand the Concept of Recursion”

Post-Survey

Strongly Strongly

Pre-Survey Disagree Disagree Neutral Agree Agree

Strongly Disagree 0 0 0 0 0

Disagree 0 0 0 3 0

Neutral 0 0 0 1 1

Agree 0 0 0 5 6

Strongly Agree 0 0 0 1 3

“Strongly Agree”). The other half increased their responses by at least one level. Note that the 3 participants who responded “Disagree” on the pre-survey all moved to “Agree” or “Strongly Agree”.These responses further support the conclusion that after playing the game participants believe that they had a better understanding of recursion.

Table 5.4: Results of question: “I Know What A Recursive Function Is”

Post-Survey

Strongly Strongly

Pre-Survey Disagree Disagree Neutral Agree Agree

Strongly Disagree 0 0 0 0 0

Disagree 0 0 0 2 1

Neutral 0 0 0 3 0

Agree 0 0 0 5 4

Strongly Agree 0 0 0 0 5

The results of the question “I Understand How Recursive Functions are Called” are shown in table 5.5. These results are very similar to the results from the previous two questions. One participant lowered their response from “Strongly Agree” to “Agree”. Eight participants did not change their responses. The remaining 11 participants increased their

responded “Disagree” on the pre-survey. These responses further support the previous conclusion. Based on the results, we conjecture that the game and lecture may be most effective for the participants who have the least faith in their knowledge (i.e. those that responded “Disagree” or “Strongly Disagree” on the pre-survey).

Table 5.5: Results of question: “I Understand How Recursive Functions Are Called”

Post-Survey

Strongly Strongly

Pre-Survey Disagree Disagree Neutral Agree Agree

Strongly Disagree 0 0 0 0 0

Disagree 0 0 0 1 1

Neutral 0 0 0 3 1

Agree 0 0 0 6 5

Strongly Agree 0 0 0 1 2

The results of the last attitude question are shown in table 5.6. Twelve of the partic- ipants did not change their response to the question “I Understand the Concept of Base Cases”. Three participants lowered their responses (one from “Agree” to “Disagree” and two from “Strongly Agree” to “Agree”). The remaining five participants increased their responses. Again the most striking improvements occur for the participants who responded “Strongly Disagree” and “Disagree” on the pre-survey. Three out of four participants an- swered “Agree” or “Strongly Agree” on the post-survey for this question. One possible conclusion to draw is that the game does not sufficiently represent recursion base cases in an explicit manner.

Table 5.6: Results of question: “I Understand The Concept Of Base Cases”

Post-Survey

Strongly Strongly

Pre-Survey Disagree Disagree Neutral Agree Agree

Strongly Disagree 0 0 0 1 0

Disagree 0 1 1 1 1

Neutral 0 0 2 1 0

Agree 0 1 0 4 0

Strongly Agree 0 0 0 2 5