An investigation into student characteristics affecting novice programming performance (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.
Analysis of Student Difficulties in Computer Programming
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Computer programming skills are required in mathematics computing courses. Most students have difficulty making computer programs. This study aims to identify the difficulties faced by students in making computer programs. This research is descriptive quantitative research. The subjects in this study are students of Mathematics Education Departement, Muhammadiyah University of Tangerang. Based on the results of data analysis, the conclusion is: (1) there are significant differences in multidimensional array material between high, medium and low group; (2) there is a significant difference in input / ouput command material between high, medium and low group; (3) there are significant differences about the difficulties experienced by students in understanding the basic concept of programming between high, medium and low groups; (4) there is a significant difference regarding the difficulties experienced by students in finding the fault of their own programs between high, medium and low groups; (5) there is no significant difference in situations that may assist students in programming for lab work in the high, medium and low groups; (6) there is no significant difference in situations that can assist students in programming to do alone tasks between high, medium and low groups; (7) there is no significant difference in the lack of examples shown when practice makes poor performance in programming between high, medium and low groups; (8) there is no significant difference in what makes poor performance in programming a less conducive atmosphere between high, medium and low groups.
A study of the difficulties of novice programmers
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Programming is related to several fields of technology, and many university students are studying the basics of it. Unfortunately, they often face difficulties already on the basic courses. This work studies the difficulties in learning programming in order to support developing learning materials for basic programming courses. The difficulties have to be recognized to be able to aid learning and teaching in an effective way.
Factors Affecting Programming Performance of First Year Students at a University in Botswana
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One of the challenges encountered in programming courses offered at first year level is high failure rate, which is a serious concern to lecturers and university management. To address the issue of high failure rate, it is important to have a clear understanding of the factors that may affect performance. This study investigates the effect of gender and prior academic experience on performance in an introductory programming course. These factors have special significance related to the societal and educational context in which the study is conducted. Moreover, prior academic experience is commonly used as an admission criterion and hence its validity needs to be assessed. Data were collected from 146 first year computing students who took an introductory programming course during semester 1 of the 2016/2017 academic year. The study found a statistically significant correlation between high school performance in mathematics and physics (albeit moderate and weak correlations respectively) and performance in an introductory programming course. Surprisingly, the study found no statistically significant correlation between performance in high school computer studies (where programming is taught) and performance in the introductory programming course. A discussion of the potential reasons for this discrepancy and its implications is provided.
Major Problems in Basic Programming that Influence Student Performance
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Programming is an important basic skill for computer science students. However, most students found it is hard to learn and score a good mark. This paper discusses the study to identify problems and causes faced by programming students. The study was conducted at the Faculty of Information Science and Technology, UKM. Data was collected from 179 students who answered online questionnaire. The study identified several major problems; reference materials, lectures and lab session approaches, problem solving ability, time management and self-confidence. The findings will be used to improve the courses and thus ensures the realization of course outcomes, decrease the failure rates and increase students' interest in programming.
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 ...
PREDICTORS OF NOVICE'S PROGRAMMERS PERFORMANCE
Abstract: Despite the awareness of the important role of programming in today’s technological lifestyle and the fact that programming jobs are among the most sought after professions today, computer science students consider programming contents overly demanding and often avoid them. This paper aims to provide an overview of the relevant literature and studies that examine factors that may significantly affect the performance of programming. We will give an overview of good and bad predictors of success in programming and factors that, so far, have not shown the prediction’s strength or their impact on the performance of programming hasn’t been sufficiently explored. Knowledge of these factors is extremely important for computer science teachers in order to apply the appropriate teaching model for novices that emphasizes the development of the ability to anticipate and understand what happens when a specific computer program performs. Factors like good mathematical knowledge, attribution of success and good spatial maps sketching have proved to be good predictors of programming success while surface learning approach had shown strong negative impact on novices' programming performance. On the other hand, despite the expectations, student’s gender, number of years of programming, number of familiar programming languages haven't shown any significant impact on programming performance. Keywords: Programming, novices, predictors, teaching. Research Interests: Programming Languages and Novice Programmers
Comparative Analysis of Students’ Performance In Computer Programming Paradigms.pdf
Programming differs from Poetry in that, the former follows a particular order and sequence with the aim of executing a given instruction, though both require lots of thinking. This sequential process of programming, called, algorithm, is usually taught at the early stage of computer degree programme at any higher institution of learning, mostly as Introduction to Computer (CSC101) or Introduction to Programming (CSC102). While different programming paradigms featured different language designs, all still adopt algorithmic steps of programming. While students learn the different syntax of these paradigms, it is assumed coping with and conquering the language/paradigm is just a matter of learning the design and syntax, as it is still the same algorithmic knowledge that will be applied. This comparative study looks into performances of students in different programming paradigms. The result of the analysis carried out using Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) and accessing the programming courses’ results of CSC Dept., AAUA for some specified academic sessions shows that, there is a ‘slim’ difference in the performances of students in the various programming paradigms. Worthy of note however is the chart analysis that further shows that UTME students performed better in all the programming courses than the D.E. students, largely due to the fact that, they were taught the rudiments of programming at their 100Level.
AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE CAUSES OF PERCEIVED POOR PERFORMANCE OF STUDENTS IN COMPUTER PROGRAMMING
This research sought to investigate into the causes of perceived poor performance of students in computer programming, with emphasis on the compulsory programming course (CEE111) taught in the university. The study population consisted of the students of the faculty of education, Enugu State University of Science and Technology (ESUT). A total sample size of 144 involving 136 randomly selected students and 8 computer science lecturers, was used for the study. The survey research design was adopted for the study. A Questionnaire was used as the instrument for data collection. It comprised of 17 items divided into 4 sections. Each of the sections addressed one of the 4 research questions used for the study. The data which were collected, were analyzed using simple frequency counts and mean. Results of the study among others, identified the causes of poor performance in programming to include the lack of prior exposure of students to basic computer literacy, deficient teaching methods, poor and lackadaisical attitudes of students towards learning the course, and negative attitudes of lecturers. It was recommended among others that lecturers or instructors should develop more evaluation points at the labs, innovative methodologies should be developed for use in lectures that appeal to the wide range of students offering programming, and that adequate computer systems should be procured for the computer laboratory so as to cater for the large number of students.