When the new programming language Pascal was developed in the 1970's, Walter Gander did not like it because because many features which he appreciated in prior programming languages were missing in Pascal. For example the block structure was gone, there were no dynamical arrays, no functions or procedures were allowed as parameters of a procedure,…

STEM fields, such as physics, increasingly rely on complex programs to analyse large datasets, thus teaching students the required programming skills is an important component of all STEM curricula. Since undergraduate students often have no prior coding experience, they are reliant on error messages as the primary diagnostic tool to identify and…

The current educational system relies heavily on manual grading, posing challenges such as delayed feedback and grading inaccuracies. Automated grading tools (AGTs) offer solutions but come with limitations. To address this, "GRAD-AI" is introduced, an advanced AGT that combines automation with teacher involvement for precise grading,…

Due to the development of deep learning technology, its application in education has received increasing attention from researchers. Intelligent agents based on deep learning technology can perform higher order intellectual tasks than ever. However, the high deployment cost of deep learning models has hindered their widespread application in…

For the last decades, programming courses are being taught in nearly every educational sector. Students are now more likely to use an e-learning platform compared to traditional system because of lower internet costs, remote access, and faster communication facilities. For a programming course studied in both manual and e-learning platforms,…

Background: Automatically graded programming assignments provide instant feedback to students and significantly reduce manual grading time for instructors. However, creating comprehensive suites of test cases for programming problems within automatic graders can be time-consuming and complex. The effort needed to define test suites may deter some…

Automated test assembly (ATA) is a modern approach to test assembly that applies advanced optimization algorithms on computers to build test forms automatically. ATA greatly improves the efficiency and accuracy of the test assembly. This study investigated the effects of the modeling methods and solvers in the mixed-integer programming (MIP)…

An important course in the computer science discipline is 'Data Structures and Algorithms' (DSA). "The coursework" lays emphasis on experiential learning for building students' programming and algorithmic reasoning abilities. Teachers set up a repertoire of formative programming exercises to engage students with different programmatic…

From September 2023 to March 2024, Faculty AI, the National Institute of Teaching (NIoT) and ImpactEd Group (representing the AI in Schools Initiative) have worked with the Department for Education (DfE) to deliver the Use Cases for Generative Artificial Intelligence in Education project. The project explored potential applications for Generative…

The plate and frame filtration experiment is one of the essential experiments performed by undergraduate students during their practical education. While this experiment often relies on the conventional manual recording of data and calculation, there are frequent problems with data collection because capturing transient data of filtrate volume and…

This study explores the potential of the large language model GPT-4 as an automated tool for qualitative data analysis by educational researchers, exploring which techniques are most successful for different types of constructs. Specifically, we assess three different prompt engineering strategies -- Zero-shot, Few-shot, and Fewshot with…

The increasing volume of large-scale assessment data poses a challenge for testing organizations to manage data and conduct psychometric analysis efficiently. Traditional psychometric software presents barriers, such as a lack of functionality for managing data and conducting various standard psychometric analyses efficiently. These challenges…

The challenge of learning programming in a MOOC is twofold: acquiring programming skills and learning online, independently. Automated testing and feedback systems, often offered in programming courses, may scaffold MOOC learners by providing immediate feedback and unlimited re-submissions of code assignments. However, research still lacks…

Providing consistent, individualized feedback to teachers is essential for improving instruction but can be prohibitively resource-intensive in most educational contexts. We develop M-Powering Teachers, an automated tool based on natural language processing to give teachers feedback on their uptake of student contributions, a high-leverage…

Programming and automation continue to evolve rapidly and advance the capabilities of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields. However, physical computing (the integration of programming and interactive physical devices) integrated within biomedical contexts remains an area of limited focus in secondary STEM education…