Notional Machines in Computing Education

Abstract

This report defines notional machines (NMs), and provides a series of definitional characteristics by which they may be identified. Over several sections, it includes a first-hand report of the origin of NMs, reports a systematic literature review to track the use and development of the concept, and presents a small collection of examples collected through interviews with experienced teachers. Additionally, the report presents NMs in a common format, and makes some preliminary explorations of their use in practice, including examples of instructors using multiple NMs in sequence. Approach and method are fully detailed in evidential appendices, to support replication of results and adoption/adaptation of practice.

Authors 12

1. Sally A. Fincher

   University of Kent

   Affiliation as printed

   University of Kent, Canterbury, Kent, United Kingdom

2. Johan T. Jeuring

   Utrecht University

   Affiliation as printed

   Utrecht University, Utrecht, Netherlands

3. Craig S. Miller

   DePaul University

   Affiliation as printed

   DePaul University, Chicago, IL, USA

4. Peter Donaldson

   University of Glasgow

   Affiliation as printed

   University of Glasgow, Glasgow, Scotland, United Kingdom

5. Benedict du Boulay

   University of Sussex

   Affiliation as printed

   University of Sussex, Brighton, Sussex, United Kingdom

6. Matthias Hauswirth

   Università della Svizzera italiana

   Affiliation as printed

   Università della Svizzera italiana (USI), Lugano, Switzerland

7. Arto Hellas

   Aalto University

   Affiliation as printed

   Aalto University, Espoo, Finland

8. Felienne Hermans Aachen

   Leiden University

   Affiliation as printed

   Leiden University, Leiden, Netherlands

9. Colleen M. Lewis

   University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

   Affiliation as printed

   Univ. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL, USA

10. Andreas Mühling

    Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel

    Affiliation as printed

    Kiel University, Kiel, Germany

11. Janice L. Pearce

    Berea College

    Affiliation as printed

    Berea College, Berea, KY, USA

12. Andrew Petersen

    University of Toronto

    Affiliation as printed

    University of Toronto Mississauga, Mississauga, ON, Canada