Intellectual Merit: The Discrete Mathematics in Computing Education project is investigating the role of discrete math in computer science education. Motivated by the successful use of concept inventories in fields like physics, chemistry, and engineering, the project is constructing a concept inventory for discrete mathematics. This inventory is being administered to an initial group of 15 public and private colleges and the results are being used to determine which topics to present, in what order, to increase student performance. This project is using methods, which have been demonstrated to be effective in other STEM disciplines, to determine the relative effectiveness of different approaches to teaching discrete math to undergraduate computer science students.
Broader Impact: Through the project's involvement at over a dozen sites around the country it is having a national impact on instructors, textbook authors, curriculum planners and accreditation agencies.
