scholarly journals Constructionist Attempts at Supporting the Learning of Computer Programming: A Survey

2019 ◽  
Vol 13 ◽  
pp. 99-121
Author(s):  
Michael LODI ◽  
Dario MALCHIODI ◽  
Mattia MONGA ◽  
Anna MORPURGO ◽  
Bernadette SPIELER
Keyword(s):  
Programming Languages ◽  
Computer Programming ◽  
Programming Education

Although programming is often seen as a key element of constructionist approaches, the research on learning to program through a constructionist strategy is somewhat limited, mostly focusing on how to bring the abstract and formal nature of programming languages into “concrete”, possibly tangible objects, graspable even by children with limited abstraction power. We survey the literature in programming education and analyse some programming languages designed to help novices from a constructionist perspective.

Pedagogical Explanation Methods of Teaching Matrix Programming Operations: Effects on Students’ Achievements in IPCs

2015 ◽  
Vol 1 (3) ◽  
pp. 69
Author(s):  
Arjan Skuka
Keyword(s):  
Programming Languages ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Computer Programming ◽  
General Level ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Group Model ◽  
Computer Engineering ◽  
Success Rates ◽  
Engineering Department ◽  
Students Success

Despite the fact that introductory programming courses (IPCs) are taught at universities for more than thirty years, students still find computer programming very difficult to learn. Programming pedagogy deals with the methods and principles of teaching and learning computer programming. The programming pedagogical approaches that have been proposed to increase the efficiency of teaching and learning computer programming mostly focus on the tools, paradigms, programming languages and environments used in IPCs. To increase significantly the students’ success rates in IPCs, these approaches should be complemented with pedagogical explanation (PE) methods. This research is focused on a PE method of teaching sequential search of a matrix row (SSMR). The research was designed as experimental study with pretest-posttest control group model, involving students of Computer Engineering department Izmir University. While the experimental group was subjected to a pedagogical explanation method, a traditional explanation method was applied in the control group. To collect the research data, an achievement pretest, posttest and a questionnaire were developed and applied. The research findings showed the effectiveness of teaching SSMR by using a PE method. This method positively influenced students’ level of topic comprehension, which consequently improved their achievements. In order for students to understand better the other matrix programming operations, similar PE methods should be developed and used in IPCs. On a more general level, the results of this research suggested that PE methods should be developed and used for other topics that students usually find difficult to understand in IPCs. Using these methods can be a very important factor in significantly increasing students’ success in IPCs.

An Experiment on the Short-Term Effects of Engagement and Representation in Program Animation

2008 ◽  
Vol 39 (4) ◽  
pp. 395-430 ◽  
Author(s):  
Seppo Nevalainen ◽  
Jorma Sajaniemi
Keyword(s):  
Computer Programming ◽  
Visual Representation ◽  
Research Literature ◽  
Current Experiment ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Programming Education ◽  
Series Of Experiments ◽  
Visualization Tools ◽  
Short Term Effects

When visualization tools utilized in computer programming education have been evaluated empirically, the results have remained controversial. To address this problem, we have developed a model of short-term effects of program animation, and used it in a series of experiments. In the current experiment, we varied visual representation of an animation tool and the type of students' engagement. Results of the current experiment analyzed together with the results from the earlier experiments provided support for the hypothesis that what a student does plays a more central role in the usefulness of a visualization than representation used by the tool. Moreover, the levels of engagement as they are generally used in the research literature seem not to be the best possible indicators of the effectiveness of a visualization.

Using Game Frameworks to Teach Computer Programming

2017 ◽  
pp. 221-236
Author(s):  
Alberto Simões
Keyword(s):  
Programming Languages ◽  
Computer Games ◽  
Computer Programming ◽  
Object Oriented Programming ◽  
Multidimensional Arrays ◽  
Computer Scientists ◽  
Common Framework ◽  
The Common ◽  
Algebraic Operations ◽  
Art Game

Teaching computer programming is an important task in the formation of computer scientists. Being a subject taught in the first years of student degrees, need to properly motivate students, so they try, at home, to learn by themselves, complementing that way their classes. This chapter proposes an approach to computer programming teaching based on the construction of videogames, using state of the art game frameworks. The author will show how the task of writing a game using a common framework deals with the basic programming concepts that are usually taught on a first course on computer programming, namely on object oriented programming languages like C# or Java: algebraic operations with variables, methods declaration, objects definition, objects hierarchy and multidimensional arrays. As it will be shown, even the common order of concepts presentation during the course can be kept, although applying them to computer games instead of the usually requested exercises.

scholarly journals Employing subgoals in computer programming education

2016 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 44-67 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lauren E. Margulieux ◽  
Richard Catrambone ◽  
Mark Guzdial
Keyword(s):  
Computer Programming ◽  
Programming Education
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