The Impact of Students' Pre-Knowledge on Learning Computer Programming (original) (raw)
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A study on student’s characteristics and programming learning
Results in introductory programming courses are often disappointing. Several possible causes for this situation have been reported. One of them is the differences between students in terms of their individual characteristics. This paper reports some results of an experiment where we tried to find correlations between first year student's performance in an initial programming course and some of their characteristics, namely previous programming experience, secondary education grades (in general and in Mathematics), learning styles, problem solving abilities and motivation to the study area. The study took place during the academic year of 2007-2008 and involved two different groups of students, from two different institutions, that followed two different programming languages approaches.
Performance of Students in Computer Programming: An Analysis
International Journal of Engineering Research in Computer Science and Engineering (IJERCSE), 2023
The recent challenges in the delivery of instruction leads to the indispensable use of online platforms. Tasks of mentors and learners are now required to be done online. Presently it is undeniable that all disciplines involve the use of a computer. Thus the increasing utilization of computers is not only for computer education and computer programming skills but in all fields or disciplines. This study determined the challenges and experiences encountered by lecturers and students in relation to the acquisition and transfer of relevant knowledge in computer education specifically in programming courses. The Random Sampling method was used in identifying the sample size that is calculated based on the following parameters: (1) population size; (2) margin of error; and (3) confidence level. The total population of respondents is one hundred twenty-nine (129), eighty-four (84), or 65% males and forty-five (45), or 35% females. The test-retest method was employed to ensure the reliability of the instrument and the Modified-adopted survey questionnaire for gathering the required data. In order to check the coefficient of reliability of the data the Spearman-Brown method was utilized. Results revealed that most males prefer to enroll in Bachelor of Science in Computer Science (BSCS), keener and more motivated to do programming. They are keener in computer programming. Study also shows that students need to have the good foundation in courses like (1) knowledge in basic science and math course as well as (2) more hands-on programming activities. In order to produce well-versed BS Computer Science graduates, it is recommended that a more enhanced IT and Computing Education and Orientation Program should be given priority.
An investigation into student characteristics affecting novice programming performance
ACM SIGCSE Bulletin, 2005
Novice programmers usually experience difficulties when programming for the first time. The main aim of the study presented in this paper is to identify those characteristics that negatively effect procedural programming performance, so that additional support can be provided in the instruction of programming courses for students possessing these characteristics. Investigations were conducted at two South African tertiary institutions. At both institutions a first course in Java programming, focussing on procedural programming aspects, was used for purposes of the study. The characteristics investigated were the student's problem solving ability, gender, learning style, first language and previous computer experience. The study revealed that a student's problem solving ability and first language definitely have an impact on his or her programming performance.
Early Training in Programming: From High School to College
Smart Objects and Technologies for Social Good, 2017
Informatics is recognized as a fundamental discipline in education at all levels. It is also an indispensable subject for scientific and technical studies. Some abilities connected to informatics learning (computational thinking) has being considered to provide "fundamental skills for everyone". Programming or, more generally, the ability of solving problems by algorithmic methods is one of these skills. In Italy, many scientific degree courses offer, at the first year, at least an introductory course in programming. Digital expertize and a basic attitude to computational thinking are in general expected. The present study, has been conducted at the University of Verona, in the context of the course Programming with laboratory of Applied Mathematics curriculum. We focus on first period of lessons, when the fundamentals of programming are introduced. Most of the students come from secondary schools, in particular Liceo, a secondary school with emphasis science or humanities, and where the role of informatics is in general not central. So, an academic course in programming can be a difficult task for students. In this paper, we analyze how the "cultural" background influences the learning of programming and the performance of students.
Correlates of Success in Introductory Programming: A Study with Middle School Students
Journal of Education and Learning, 2016
The demand for computing professionals in the workplace has led to increased attention to computer science education, and introductory computer science courses have been introduced at different levels of education. This study investigated the relationship between gender, academic performance in non-programming subjects, and programming learning performance among middle school students with no prior programming experience who took an introductory programming course. We found that girls performed as well as or even better than boys in introductory programming among high-ability Chinese middle school students. However, we found that, instead of gender, students’ performance differences in programming were better explained by their academic performance in non-programming subjects. Students’ math ability was strongly related to their programming performance, and their English ability was the best predictor of their success in introductory programming for these Chinese students. Findings ...
An ITiCSE 2004 Working Group: A Study of the Programming Knowledge of First-Year CS Students
www-staff.it.uts.edu.au
Despite our best efforts, many students are still challenged by programming. A 2001 ITiCSE working group (the “McCracken group”) assessed the programming ability of a large population of students from eight universities, in the United States and four other countries [McCracken, 2001]. Each author tested his or her own students from a common set of programming problems. The students at each institution were required to write a program to solve one of the problems. Most students at all the institutions performed much more ...
The wide range of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) experience that first year students bring to an Information Technology (IT) qualification can present a challenge to lecturers. The perception exists that students with prior ICT experience have an advantage when enrolling for an IT qualification. The majority of South African university students enrolling for an IT qualification originate from a government-based education system where teachers are mainly computer illiterate and computer facilities are not available. This means that many students do not have exposure to computers at school and do not have the opportunity to select the school subjects Information Technology (IT) or Computer Applications Technology (CAT) for the last three years of their schooling. In this paper, the relationship between students’ Grade 12 computer results and their academic performance in their programming module is investigated. The results show a moderate positive correlation between ...
The Study of the Development of Programming Ability and Thinking Skills in High School Students
2013
This article reports on a year-long study of high school students learning computer programming. The study examined three issues: 1) what is the impact of programming on particular mathematical and reasoning abilities?; 2) what cognitive skills or abilities best predict programming ability?; and 3) what do students actually understand about programming after two years of high school study? The results showed that even after two years of study, many students had only a rudimentary understanding of programming. Consequently, it was not surprising to also find that programming experience (as opposed to expertise) does not appear to transfer to other domains which share analogous formal properties. The article concludes that we need to more closely study the pedagogy of programming and how expertise can be better attained before we prematurely go looking for significant and wide reaching transfer effects from programming. Psychologists, computer scientists, and educators have argued that computer programming can be a powerful means of enhancing thinking and the development of good problem-solving skills in children, in addition to being a powerful method for teaching students fundamental concepts in mathematics, physics, and logistics [I-31. At first glance, the enthusiasm surrounding programming seems well-founded. Observations of expert adult programmers indicate that * The work reported here was supported by the National Institute of Education (Contract No. 400-83-0016). The opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect the position or policy of the National Institute of Education and no official endorsement should be inferred.
Individual Differences in Learning Computer Programming: A Social Cognitive Approach
Contemporary Educational Technology
The purpose of this study is to investigate and conceptualize the ranks of importance of social cognitive variables on university students' computer programming performances. Spatial ability, working memory, self-efficacy, gender, prior knowledge and the universities students attend were taken as variables to be analyzed. The study has been conducted with 129 2nd year undergraduate students, who have taken Programming Languages-I course from three universities. Spatial ability has been measured through mental rotation and spatial visualization tests; working memory has been attained through the measurement of two sub-dimensions; visual-spatial and verbal working memory. Data were analyzed through Boosted Regression Trees and Random Forests, which are non-parametric predictive data mining techniques. The analyses yielded a user model that would predict students' computer programming performance based on various social and cognitive variables. The results yielded that the variables, which contributed to the programming performance prediction significantly, were spatial orientation skill, spatial memory, mental orientation, self-efficacy perception and verbal memory with equal importance weights. Yet, the effect of prior knowledge and gender on programming performance has not been found to be significant. The importance of ranks of variables and the proportion of predicted variance of programming performance could be used as guidelines when designing instruction and developing curriculum.
Many factors can be attributed to the high rate of failure in computer programming courses. This paper studies the background of students, their fields of study and learning approaches applied to the study of programming courses. It is worth considering as a major factor and necessary to research into the causes of failure of students in programming courses from the learner perspective. Programming courses form part of the core concentration areas for students especially studying Information Technology (IT) and Computer Science as well as those other fields of study sandwiched with IT in an undergraduate degree programs. Through the use of questionnaires, interviews and focused group, a survey was conducted using one hundred (100) students at the middle and end of the semester. The responses from the three groups of students were compared. Their opinions to the usefulness of their background, field of study and learning approaches toward programming courses were investigated. The needs and concerns about these key factors are highlighted in the survey and discussed thereby leading to the inferences made and then proposed recommendations on the learning approach in relation to the background and field of study of students in computer programming courses in order to improve understanding of programming by students, hence, reducing failure rates.