Animated Flowchart with Example Followed by Think-Pair-Share Activity for Teaching Algorithms of Engineering Courses

It is generally observed that students always find the difficulty in understanding and studying the algorithms of any course. Algorithm part of any course can be taught using a flowchart which is a diagrammatic representation of a program that represents an algorithm, work-flow or process. Flowchart helps the students understand how the algorithm works and will remember for a long time. But only flowchart is not sufficient for understanding some algorithms, so animated flowchart with the example to understand the steps of algorithm instead of normal flowchart is considered in the current study. This animated flowchart with example improves the understanding about algorithm, conveys the information easily, gives the clear view of algorithm and analyzes the problem effectively. Think-Pair-Share (TPS) is an active learning strategy, in which students work on a problem posed by instructor, first individually (Think), then in pairs (Pair) and finally together with the entire class (Share). TPS helps students understand fundamental knowledge of a topic, enable self learning ability, develop the ability to percolate information and draw conclusions, and improve technical and soft skills. In this paper, I have combined animated flowchart with example and TPS activity. This modified the TPS activity is named Animated Flowchart with Example Think-Pair-Share and is useful for algorithm based courses. The case study of algorithm based course like System Programming of Third Year Computer Science and Engineering is considered for this modified TPS activity. Animated Flowchart with Example Think-Pair-Share is a modified TPS activity in which first the algorithm is explained with help animated flowchart and then step by step working of algorithm is demonstrated with the help of example followed by TPS activity. One group pre-test and post-test model is considered for this study. It is found that Animated Flowchart with Example Think-Pair-Share activity is effective and results are also improved. Experimental results and students' perception about this activity are also presented in the study. Other active learning strategies conducted for System Programming course are also discussed which improved the university results.