Teaching Programming in the Higher Education not for Engineering Students

Abstract

The algorithmic thinking is important in all professions, not just in the engineering work. My experiences show that the creating of the algorithmic thinking by the girls in secondary grammar school and in the higher education needs more time and other teaching methods. The numbers of the girls in not-engineering program is higher than in the engineering programs. I evolved a different (game-based) method to teach programming and to help them to acquire the algorithmic thinking easier for my not-engineering students. I thought programming for Economic information technology students with two colleagues. My colleagues used the conventional teaching methods that they use with engineering students in teaching programming and I used my evolved way and we had the same time to teach the learning material. At the end of the semester I separated the paper results of students by different teaching methods and compared. My starting hypothesis was that the group that I used my evolved teaching methods would achieve better results in the papers. Significance level was 5% through the analysis. Significant divergence in knowledge of students who took part on my lectures and the students who followed the conventional way was found. The students could get a one mark better paper results when they followed my method to learn programming and pass the test in higher percent. We can say my evolved teaching method is productive, and the students get better result when writing papers. At the beginning of the second semester more than 70% of students chose my course to learn the next level of programming.