scholarly journals Comparison of Traditional and ADRI Based Teaching Approaches in an Introductory Programming Course

10.28945/3793 ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 16 ◽  
pp. 267-283 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sohail Iqbal Malik ◽  
Jo Coldwell-Neilson

Aim/Purpose: This study introduced a new teaching and learning approach based on an ADRI (Approach, Deployment, Result, Improvement) model in an introductory programming (IP) course. The effectiveness of the new teaching and learning process was determined by collecting feedback from the IP instructors and by analyzing the final exam grades of the course. Background: Learning to program is considered a difficult and challenging task for a considerable number of novice programmers. As a result, high failure and dropout rates are often reported in IP courses. Different studies have been conducted to investigate the issue. One of the reasons for this challenge is the multiple skills that students have to master in order to be able to build programs. These skills include programming knowledge and problem-solving strategies and being able to pay equal attention to these required skills in the IP course. Methodology: A focus group was conducted to obtain feedback from the IP instructors about the ADRI approach. The performance of the students who had completed the IP course before ADRI was compared with those who used the ADRI approach by undertaking a comparative analysis of their final exam grades. Contribution: The study demonstrates that the new teaching and learning approach based on the ADRI model encourages students to pay equal attention to programming knowledge and problem-solving strategies, discouraging programming shortcuts and reducing high attrition rates (failure and dropout) in the IP course. Findings: The results of the focus group show that the instructors preferred the ADRI approach compared to the traditional approach. The final exam grades show that the students performed better in semesters which offered the ADRI approach as compared to those semesters without this approach. Future Research: Future research will explore the ADRI approach in other fields of computer science studies, such as database and data structure, to determine if its impact has a wider application than just teaching introductory programming.

A teaching approach plays an important role in teaching and learning process of an introductory programming (IP) course. The teaching approach should focus on different programming skills required by novice programmers. In this study, we introduced the teaching and learning approach based on an ADRI (Approach, Deployment, Result, Improvement) approach in the IP course which focuses on both programming knowledge (syntax and semantics) and problem solving strategies. We compared the teaching and learning approach of the IP course with the five levels of SOLO taxonomy. We assessed the students’ performance by using different assessment tasks based on the four stages of the ADRI approach. Results show that the current teaching and learning approach of the IP course addressed all the five levels of SOLO taxonomy. The students’ performance in the Approach and Result stages (82%) are good, and the performance in the Improvement (71%) and Deployment (69%) stages are satisfactory. Overall, the ADRI approach provides positive impact on the teaching and learning process of the IP course.


Author(s):  
Sohail Iqbal Malik

Learning to program requires the development of multiple skills including critical thinking, problem-solving, as well as learning the syntax and semantics of the programming language. For novices, to acquire all these skills is considered a challenging and difficult task. They have to focus on both problem-solving strategies and the syntax and semantics of the programming language to acquire these skills. In this study, this article compares the current teaching and learning approach of an introductory programming (IP) course with the six categories of Bloom's taxonomy. The assurance of learning (AOL) process was incorporated in the IP course to assess students' learning outcomes on the basis of achiever (high, medium and low) and performance (very good, good enough and not good enough) categories. The results showed that the current teaching and learning approach of the IP course addressed all the six categories of Bloom's taxonomy. Most of the students (63%) fall under the medium achiever category. Moreover, 50% students learning outcomes come under ‘not good enough' performance category.


Author(s):  
Sohail Iqbal Malik ◽  
Ragad M. Tawafak ◽  
Mohanaad Shakir

A teaching approach plays an important role in teaching and learning process of an introductory programming (IP) course. The teaching approach should focus on different programming skills required by novice programmers. In this study, we introduced the teaching and learning approach based on an ADRI (Approach, Deployment, Result, Improvement) approach in the IP course which focuses on both programming knowledge (syntax and semantics) and problem solving strategies. We compared the teaching and learning approach of the IP course with the five levels of SOLO taxonomy. We assessed the students’ performance by using different assessment tasks based on the four stages of the ADRI approach. Results show that the current teaching and learning approach of the IP course addressed all the five levels of SOLO taxonomy. The students’ performance in the Approach and Result stages (82%) are good, and the performance in the Improvement (71%) and Deployment (69%) stages are satisfactory. Overall, the ADRI approach provides positive impact on the teaching and learning process of the IP course.


Author(s):  
Sohail Iqbal Malik ◽  
Mohanaad Shakir ◽  
Abdalla Eldow ◽  
Mohammed Waseem Ashfaque

Computer programming is considered as a difficult area of study for novices. One of the reasons is the main focus of the curriculum presented in an introductory programming (IP) course which emphasizes more on the programming knowledge (syntax and semantic) of the programming language. This study introduced a new teaching curriculum in the IP course which focuses on different skills required by the novices. We compared the IP course materials based on the traditional and new approaches against five categories. The result shows that the new approach encourages both the programming knowledge and problem solving strategies, and promotes deep learning. Furthermore, it discourages programming shortcut (Problem statement → Code), and support three-step approach (Problem statement → Solution Plans → Code) in solving a problem statement. The new approach also promotes algorithmic thinking in the IP course by paying equal attention on the problem solving strategies.


Author(s):  
Sohail Iqbal Malik

Learning to program requires the development of multiple skills including critical thinking, problem-solving, as well as learning the syntax and semantics of the programming language. For novices, to acquire all these skills is considered a challenging and difficult task. They have to focus on both problem-solving strategies and the syntax and semantics of the programming language to acquire these skills. In this study, this article compares the current teaching and learning approach of an introductory programming (IP) course with the six categories of Bloom's taxonomy. The assurance of learning (AOL) process was incorporated in the IP course to assess students' learning outcomes on the basis of achiever (high, medium and low) and performance (very good, good enough and not good enough) categories. The results showed that the current teaching and learning approach of the IP course addressed all the six categories of Bloom's taxonomy. Most of the students (63%) fall under the medium achiever category. Moreover, 50% students learning outcomes come under ‘not good enough' performance category.


A teaching approach plays an important role in teaching and learning process of an introductory programming (IP) course. The teaching approach should focus on different programming skills required by novice programmers. In this study, we introduced the teaching and learning approach based on an ADRI (Approach, Deployment, Result, Improvement) approach in the IP course which focuses on both programming knowledge (syntax and semantics) and problem solving strategies. We compared the teaching and learning approach of the IP course with the five levels of SOLO taxonomy. We assessed the students’ performance by using different assessment tasks based on the four stages of the ADRI approach. Results show that the current teaching and learning approach of the IP course addressed all the five levels of SOLO taxonomy. The students’ performance in the Approach and Result stages (82%) are good, and the performance in the Improvement (71%) and Deployment (69%) stages are satisfactory. Overall, the ADRI approach provides positive impact on the teaching and learning process of the IP course.


2017 ◽  
Vol 55 (6) ◽  
pp. 789-819 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sohail Iqbal Malik ◽  
Jo Coldwell-Neilson

High failure and dropout rates are reported in introductory programming (IP) courses in different studies despite extensive research attempting to address the issue. In this study, we introduced an ADRI (Approach, Deployment, Result, Improvement) approach in the teaching and learning process of an IP course to improve learning and success rates. All three entities of the didactic triangle (student, instructor, and content) were involved in the research to better understand and execute the proposed approach. The IP course materials were redesigned based on the ADRI approach, and an editor was developed to promote the new approach and encourage students to complete the various stages required in the approach. Two surveys were conducted, and final exam grades over four semesters were compared with determine the impact of including the ADRI approach in the course. We concluded that the ADRI approach provides a positive impact on outcomes that the students achieved during the course. It engages students in practicing their programming skills and provides a new presentation style for examples and exercises which discourages students from taking programming shortcuts. It not only helps to reduce the failure and, significantly, the dropout rates from the IP course but also impacts positively on all students who passed the IP course.


Author(s):  
Luiz Otavio Rodrigues Mendes ◽  
Ana Lucia Pereira ◽  
Marcelo Carlos de Proença

ResumoA resolução de problemas, quando trabalhada com o problema como ponto de partida, tem apresentado profícuas possibilidades no ensino superior. No entanto, quais as possíveis fragilidades quando se trabalha com esta abordagem nesta perspectiva? À vista disso, este artigo apresenta o resultado de uma pesquisa que tem como objetivo desvelar as fragilidades que se evidenciam a partir do desenvolvimento da abordagem de resolução de problemas, em que se tem o problema como ponto de partida na formação inicial de professores de Matemática, apresentadas em teses e dissertações. A partir de uma revisão sistemática da literatura, encontramos 12 pesquisas que constituíram o corpus de dados, para serem analisadas seguindo as técnicas de Análise de Conteúdo, de onde foi possível identificarmos quatro categorias. Os principais resultados revelam que as fragilidades se relacionam com: I) dificuldades quanto à falta de conhecimento sobre o conteúdo matemático da educação básica pelos licenciandos; II) dificuldades apresentadas pelos licenciandos em comunicar suas ideias a respeito do conteúdo matemático trabalhado; III) dificuldade no entendimento dos problemas pelos estudantes; e, IV) dificuldades relativas ao tempo, referentes à realização das atividades pelos licenciandos e ao desenvolvimento da abordagem de ensino. Tais apontamentos podem contribuir com pesquisas futuras que desejem traçar este caminho, aprimorando-as e contribuindo com o processo de ensino e aprendizagem da Matemática.Palavras-chave: Solução de problemas, Formação inicial de professores, Matemática.AbstractWhen working with the problem as a starting point, problem-solving has presented fruitful possibilities in Higher Education. However, what are the possible weaknesses when working with this approach from this perspective? In view of this, this article presents the result of research that aims to unveil the fragilities that are evident from the development of the problem-solving approach, in which the problem is taken as a starting point in the initial training of mathematics teachers, presented in theses and dissertations. From a systematic review of the literature, we found 12 surveys that constituted the corpus of data, to be analyzed following the Content Analysis techniques, from which it was possible to identify four categories. The main results reveal that the weaknesses are related to I) difficulties related to the students’ lack of knowledge about the mathematical content of basic education; II) students’ difficulties to communicate their ideas about the mathematical content worked; III) students’ difficulty in understanding the problems; and, IV) difficulties related to time, concerning the students’ activity performance and the development of the teaching approach. Such notes can contribute to future research that wishes to follow this path, improving them and contributing to the process of teaching and learning Mathematics.Keywords: Problem-solving, Initial teacher education, Mathematics.ResumenLa resolución de problemas cuando se trabaja con el problema como punto de partida, ha presentado posibilidades fructíferas en la educación superior. Sin embargo, ¿cuáles son las posibles debilidades de entender y trabajar con este enfoque en esta perspectiva? En vista de esto, este artículo presenta el resultado de una investigación que tiene como objetivo develar las debilidades que se evidencian a partir del desarrollo del enfoque de resolución de problemas, en el que el problema se toma como punto de partida en la formación inicial de docentes de Matemáticas, presentadas en tesis y disertaciones. A partir de una revisión sistemática de la literatura, se encontraron 12 investigaciones que constituían el corpus de datos, para ser analizadas siguiendo las técnicas de Análisis de Contenido de manera cualitativa. Los principales resultados revelan que las debilidades están relacionadas con I) dificultades relacionadas con la falta de conocimiento sobre el contenido matemático de la Educación Básica por parte de los estudiantes de docencia, II) dificultades presentadas por los estudiantes de docencia para comunicar sus ideas sobre el contenido matemático trabajado, III) dificultad presentada por los alumnos para comprender problemas y IV) dificultad relacionada con el tiempo para desarrollar actividades y aplicar el enfoque. Tales notas pueden contribuir a futuras investigaciones que deseen trazar este camino, mejorarlas y contribuir al proceso de enseñanza y aprendizaje de las Matemáticas.Palabras clave: Resolución de problemas, Formación inicial de profesores, Matemáticas


Author(s):  
Ismael Osuna Galan ◽  
Alejandro Miguel Rosas-Mendoza

Mathematical applications have a presence in an engineering environment; in the particular case of mathematical models. A pedagogic theoretical framework that supports various teaching-learning techniques is constructionism; one of these techniques is called Project Based Learning which provides several advantages. This chapter aims to show the experiences during the course of Mathematical Modeling in a context of project-based learning. It will show that students develop general skills of engineering which includes developing the faculties of memory, reasoning and problem solving, teamwork and initiative and of readiness to take risks. Also presents some of the advantages and issues for consideration in relation to its effectiveness as a teaching and learning method.


Author(s):  
Sohail Iqbal Malik ◽  
Mostafa Al-Emran ◽  
Roy Mathew ◽  
Ragad M Tawafak ◽  
Ghaliya Alfarsi

Learning to code is considered as a difficult and challenging task for a significant number of novice programmers in programming education. Novice programmers have to acquire different skills such as problem solving, program design, comprehension, and debugging at the same time. On the other hand, most introductory programming courses focus more on syntax of the programming language. In this study, we developed and introduced a ‘PROBSOL’ application in three different learning systems (E-learning, M-learning and Game-based learning) to enhance the problem solving skills of novice programmers in an introductory programming (IP) course. A survey was conducted with the IP students to determine their perception about all the three applications in the IP course. Gender differences were determined by comparing both female and male students’ responses for each question in the survey. The results of comparison show that male students were more satisfied with all the three applications compared to female students. Both female and male students perceived that all the three applications are user-friendly, enabled them to accomplish tasks more quickly, and enhanced their learning productivity. Overall, both male and female students appreciated all the three applications in the teaching and learning process of the IP course. This study implies that instructors can also use all the three applications as an additional teaching tool in the teaching and learning process of programming education.


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