%0 Conference Paper %1 Xhakaj_2015 %A Xhakaj, Franceska %A Liew, Chun W. %B Proceedings of the 2015 ACM Conference on Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education %D 2015 %I ACM %K progtutor %P 278-283 %R 10.1145/2729094.2742624 %T A New Approach To Teaching Red Black Tree %U https://doi.org/10.1145%2F2729094.2742624 %X Red black trees are considered an important data structure and students can find it to be challenging and difficult to learn. This paper describes our new approach, the granularity approach, to teaching the top-down insertion algorithm for red black trees. Past approaches have focused on teaching the mechanics of applying the rules (color flip, single rotation and double rotation). The new approach is based on the hypothesis that students have more difficulty selecting the correct rule than in applying a selected rule. Our approach focuses on helping students learn how to correctly select focuses on helping students learn how to correctly select the rules to be applied. We supplement classroom lectures with an intelligent tutoring system that incorporates our approach. The approach and the tutoring system were used and evaluated in a small data structures class in the fall semester of 2014. The early results indicate that our approach and tutoring system are effective at helping students learn the top-down insertion algorithm.

@inproceedings{Xhakaj_2015, abstract = {Red black trees are considered an important data structure and students can find it to be challenging and difficult to learn. This paper describes our new approach, the granularity approach, to teaching the top-down insertion algorithm for red black trees. Past approaches have focused on teaching the mechanics of applying the rules (color flip, single rotation and double rotation). The new approach is based on the hypothesis that students have more difficulty selecting the correct rule than in applying a selected rule. Our approach focuses on helping students learn how to correctly select focuses on helping students learn how to correctly select the rules to be applied. We supplement classroom lectures with an intelligent tutoring system that incorporates our approach. The approach and the tutoring system were used and evaluated in a small data structures class in the fall semester of 2014. The early results indicate that our approach and tutoring system are effective at helping students learn the top-down insertion algorithm. }, added-at = {2021-06-09T20:29:47.000+0200}, author = {Xhakaj, Franceska and Liew, Chun W.}, biburl = {https://www.bibsonomy.org/bibtex/20595ef85d11a64cec9b31d74e6da233e/brusilovsky}, booktitle = {Proceedings of the 2015 {ACM} Conference on Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education}, description = {A New Approach To Teaching Red Black Tree | Proceedings of the 2015 ACM Conference on Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education}, doi = {10.1145/2729094.2742624}, interhash = {e4ba933ecdd1fae7134d1a3b19273abe}, intrahash = {0595ef85d11a64cec9b31d74e6da233e}, keywords = {progtutor}, month = jun, pages = {278-283}, publisher = {{ACM}}, timestamp = {2021-06-09T20:29:47.000+0200}, title = {A New Approach To Teaching Red Black Tree}, url = {https://doi.org/10.1145%2F2729094.2742624}, year = 2015 }