Using facet-based assessment to understand introductory programming students knowledge

Knowing what students understand is crucial for making teaching decisions. Our goal was to explore the potential of using facet-based assessment in engineering education. We wanted to see what the process of developing, verifying, and implementing facet-based assessment would look like. For our investigation, we chose a concept covered early in introductory programming, variables. After identifying potential facets we designed a questionnaire to verify them. Based upon this pilot data we revised the questionnaire, eliminating some facets and incorporating others. We gathered data from an introductory programming class and performed a rapid analysis to provide feedback to the instructor prior to the next class meeting. Based upon the data we collected, we believe that facets may be suitable for providing formative on-going assessment to help teachers make day-to-day teaching decisions based upon their students' current understandings.