Problems in comprehending recursion and suggested solutions
Abstract
Recursion is a very powerful and useful problem solving strategy. But, along with pointers and dynamic data structures, many beginning programmers consider recursion to be a difficult concept to master. This paper reports on a study of upper-division undergraduate students on their difficulty in comprehending the ideas behind recursion. Three issues emerged as the points of difficulty for the students: (1) insufficient exposure to declarative thinking in a programming context (2) inadequate appreciation of the concept of functional abstraction (3) lack of a proper methodology to express a recursive solution. The paper concludes with a discussion of our approach to teaching recursion, which addresses these issues. Classroom experience indicates this approach effectively aids students' comprehension of recursion.
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The two-phase organisation of dialogues is based on the theoretical idea that recursion is a useful and powerful problem-solving strategy.
“Similarly, the organisation of the dialogues in two phases is based on the theoretical idea that recursion is a useful and powerful problem-solving strategy (Levy, 2001;Sooriamurthi, 2001).”
From Teaching argumentative synthesis writing through deliberative dialogues: instructional practices in secondary education (2021) · cites this paper as Sooriamurthi, 2001
Cites
†, F. J. M. (2017) · Lexikon des gesamten Buchwesens Online · doi:10.1163/9789004337862_lgbo_com_161117 · Cited by 1,435 · see citing works
Conceptual models and cognitive learning styles in teaching recursion
Wu, C.-C., Dale, N. B., & Bethel, L. J. (1998) · ACM SIGCSE Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education (SIGCSE) · doi:10.1145/273133.274315 · Cited by 102 · see citing works
Teaching recursion in a procedural environment—how much should we emphasize the computing model?
Ginat, D., & Shifroni, E. (1999) · doi:10.1145/299649.299718 · Cited by 55 · see citing works
Using recursion as a tool to reinforce functional abstraction (poster session)
Sooriamurthi, R. (2000) · doi:10.1145/343048.343243 · Cited by 2 · see citing works
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Casado-Ledesma, L., Cuevas, I., Van den Bergh, H., Rijlaarsdam, G., Mateos, M., Granado-Peinado, M., & Martín, E. (2021) · Instructional Science · doi:10.1007/s11251-021-09548-3 · Cited by 29 · see citing works
- Authors
- Sooriamurthi, R.
- Affiliations
- University of West Florida (US)
- Corresponding author
- Sooriamurthi, Raja
- ORCID
- Sooriamurthi, Raja
- Venue
- ACM SIGCSE Bulletin
- Published
- 2001-06-25
- Volume
- 33
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 25-28
- ISSN
- 0097-8418 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W3161385807
- Cited by
- 14
- References
- 4
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2021: 1 · 2018: 1 · 2014: 3 · 2013: 1
- FWCI
- 0.00
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- ACM SIGCSE Bulletin (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Computer Science Applications › Teaching and Learning Programming
- Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Artificial Intelligence › Logic, programming, and type systems
- Social Sciences › Education › Problem and Project Based Learning
- Keywords
- recursion, programming education, functional abstraction
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