Scheduling topics for improved student comprehension of recursion

This paper presents the results of an experiment conducted to assess the affects of teaching recursion in two disjoint, non-consecutive units of instruction. One group of students was taught basic and advanced recursion topics in four consecutive class periods, while a second group was taught recursion in two two-period blocks that were separated by several class periods. It was unknown whether the time period separating the presentation of basic and advanced material would benefit, or hinder, student comprehension. Statistical analysis of empirical data indicates that students learning basic and advanced recursion in a consecutive unit of instruction spend less time solving their problems than the students learning the topic in two separated units, while achieving comparable scores.