Introductory Programming Concepts Research Articles

Can Synchronous Code Editing and Awareness Tools Support Remote Tutoring? Effects on Learning and Teaching

One-on-one tutoring is effective for learning computer science since a tutor can work alongside a student and provide tailored feedback on their code. However, translating this type of instruction to a remote setting is challenging. Traditional methods such as screensharing lack key pedagogical functionality and most available tools are designed for collaboration rather than instruction. To identify tools that can support remote tutoring, we conducted an experiment to assess two resources: synchronous editing and awareness tools. In our study, an instructor teaches a learner introductory programming concepts remotely, collaborating through screensharing alone, a shared notebook with real-time collaborative editing, or a shared notebook with additional awareness tools overlaid. To embed the awareness tools, we designed a Chrome extension that enables real-time sharing of gaze and cursor data. Our results show that synchronous editing combined with awareness tools significantly improved learning. The awareness tools also helped tutors better communicate with the student, track their understanding, and establish a sense of presence. As a final contribution, we also assessed the efficacy of gaze-sharing using a webcam eye-tracker. While the accuracy was not as precise as a dedicated sensor, instructors described instances when the gaze was useful for gauging student attention and establishing presence. We discuss implications for remote tutoring in computer science and scaling awareness technology.

Pelatihan Kecerdasan Artifisial (KA) kepada Guru SD di Kabupaten Blora Jawa Tengah untuk Peningkatan Kemampuan di Bidang Digital

In this era of digitalization, the Government is trying from an early age to introduce programming concepts and Artificial Intelligence, which in the future can be used to support the learning process of elementary school education. This training aims to provide new knowledge about how coding programs are included in the subject matter of elementary school children. The teachers are given lessons on basic things suitable to be applied in class and immediately put into practice their projects. With this method, teachers learn to adapt to the new model, where the material will be taught to students in class. Activities are carried out offline at the Arra Cepu Hotel. Stages of Training through Presentations, Videos, and Quizzes. In this activity, the teachers gain knowledge and skills in coding programs for beginners; pre-test and post-test will be used as a measure to assess it. In the future, teachers will experiment with coding lessons with students. An early introduction to programming and artificial intelligence for elementary school teachers is expected to positively impact students, mainly in their ease of receiving and understanding a lesson.

Learning While Playing: Introducing Programming Concepts to Children in Minecraft

Children’s interest in playing popular video games could be utilized for learning and educational purposes. The entertaining and interactive learning environments of digital games can facilitate the learning of a variety of challenging subjects. This paper presents the Creative Programmer, which is a Minecraft modification (Mod) that takes an advantage of the popularity of Minecraft game among children to teach them basic computer programming concepts. This mod targets children aged between (5- 15). The effectiveness of this Mod was tested using a pre and post quizzes. The results indicate that children who did not have any previous knowledge of programming answered most of the test questions correctly, while the performance level of children who were familiar with programming improved in the post-quiz compared to the pre-quiz. Moreover, it has been observed that the familiarity of the Minecraft environment made learning more enjoyable and enhanced the knowledge gaining process.

A Guided Scratch Visual Execution Environment to Introduce Programming Concepts to CS1 Students

First-year computer science (CS1) university students traditionally have difficulties understanding how to program. This paper describes research introducing CS1 students to programming concepts using a Scratch programming language guided visual execution environment (VEE). The concepts addressed are those from an introductory programming course (sequences, variables, operators, conditionals, loops, and events and parallelism). The VEE guides novice students through programming concepts, explaining and guiding interactive exercises executed in Scratch by using metaphors and serious games. The objective of this study is, firstly, to investigate if a cohort of 124 CS1 students, from three distinct groups, studying at the same university, are able to improve their programming skills guided by the VEE. Secondly, is the improvement different for various programming concepts? All the CS1 students were taught the module by the same tutor in four 2-h sessions (8 h), and a qualitative research approach was adopted. The results show students significantly improved their programming knowledge, and this improvement is significant for all the programming concepts, although greater for certain concepts such as operators, conditionals, and loops than others. It also shows that students lacked initial knowledge of events and parallelism, though most had used Scratch during their high school years. The sequence concept was the most popular concept known to them. A collateral finding in this study is how the students’ previous knowledge and learning gaps affected grades they required to access and begin study at the university level.

A Real-world Approach to Motivate Students on the First Class of a Computer Science Course

A common belief among students is that computing is a boring subject that lacks a connection to the real world. The first class (one 80-minute session) in an introductory computer science course may be an appropriate instance to combat such a belief. Previous studies have used coursewide interventions, e.g., games and physical/tangible devices to improve students’ motivation. However, although other approaches help motivate students, they may lack real-world context or have a high cost of deployment. This article proposes a novel real-world based approach to introduce programming concepts in the first class of the introductory computer science course. This approach, called Protobject based, is applicable to courses with over 100 students, has a low deployment entry barrier, requires low investment, and may be used creatively to implement different experiences. Furthermore, the Protobject-based approach has an equivalent motivational effect—at least in the short-term—to a Game-based approach even if it is entirely focused on the real world. The low requirements of the approach make it especially suitable for an 80-minute first class in an introductory computer science course. The Protobject-based approach has been preliminarily validated and compared to a pure game-based approach with a study with 376 participants, and we present the analysis of motivation questionnaires, a pre-test and post-test, and a homework assignment given to the students. We posit that more research into initiatives such as this one—that can show students how computer science can impact the real world around them—is warranted.

Making block-based programming accessible to people with cognitive disabilities

Block-based programming languages are a popular way to introduce programming concepts to novice learners. However, block-based languages have inaccessible representations, which can create cognitive difficulties in manipulating blocks, assembling programs, and interpreting code. In my dissertation, I plan to address these problems by developing techniques to make programming accessible using a touch screen device. I will evaluate my designs through usability studies with adults with cognitive disabilities, special educators, and caregivers. My research aims to provide empirical findings on accessible representations and alternative interaction techniques in block-based languages.

The Effects of a Visual Execution Environment and Makey Makey on Primary School Children Learning Introductory Programming Concepts

The interest of children in learning to program computers has increased dramatically in recent years with the adaptation of new programming languages such as Scratch or game-based approaches. That being so, it is still unclear how best to teach programming concepts to young children. There is a gap in the literature on how to introduce basic programming concepts to children at the primary school level, while taking factors such as the grade level and approach used into account. This paper explores the best approach for introducing basic programming concepts to school children in the 4th, 5th and 6th grades as well as the effects of the approaches on students’ learning gains (per concept). The concepts addressed here are those used in a traditional Introduction to Programming course, such as programs, memory and variables, inputs and outputs, conditionals and loops. The paper presents the resulting improvements achieved by the 4th, 5th and 6th graders in a multigroup pretest-posttest design, with a control group (the use of a blackboard as an unplugged approach) and two experimental groups (the use of a visual execution environment (VEE) with a mouse and the use of the VEE with Makey Makey). We present the results exploring the interaction between the grade and approach factors for the 144 children (9-12 years old) enrolled in primary education. The results provide statistically significant data indicating how the children succeeded in learning basic programming concepts according to their grade, the type of approach used, and the programming concept under study.

Evaluating a game-development approach to teach introductory programming concepts in secondary education

Owing to the development of multimedia and computer technologies, many scholars have attempted to employ digital learning content to improve students' learning motivation and learning achievement in CS courses. In this pedagogical design, students interact and create their own content related to curricular areas with several advantages, such as motivation, fun, commitment, and enthusiasm, showing improvements related to computational thinking and computational practices. The purpose of the present study is to evaluate the combined use of App Inventor and a game-development approach in school lessons, as an example of constructionist learning in an introductory programming course for novices. This study was conducted in a public secondary school in Greece. It used a quasi-experimental control group design. The results of the study showed that the combined use of App Inventor programming environment and a game development approach has a positive effect on students' basic programming skills achievements and motivation in a CS course.

Evaluating a game-development approach to teach introductory programming concepts in Secondary Education

Owing to the development of multimedia and computer technologies, many scholars have attempted to employ digital learning content to improve students' learning motivation and learning achievement in CS courses. In this pedagogical design, students interact and create their own content related to curricular areas with several advantages, such as motivation, fun, commitment, and enthusiasm, showing improvements related to computational thinking and computational practices. The purpose of the present study is to evaluate the combined use of App Inventor and a game-development approach in school lessons, as an example of constructionist learning in an introductory programming course for novices. This study was conducted in a public secondary school in Greece. It used a quasi-experimental control group design. The results of the study showed that the combined use of App Inventor programming environment and a game development approach has a positive effect on students' basic programming skills achievements and motivation in a CS course.

Concepts before coding: non-programming interactives to advance learning of introductory programming concepts in middle school

ABSTRACT Background and Context: Learners struggle with conceptual understanding of introductory programming concepts such as variables, expressions, and loops. Objective: We examine whether and how designed activities for conceptual exploration support preliminary engagement with and learning of foundational and often hard-to-grasp programming concepts for students in grades 6–8. Method: Drawing on principles from dynamic mathematics, we developed a suite of non-programming digital and unplugged activities embedded in a curriculum before students engage in Scratch block-based programming. We conducted empirical research in three middle school classrooms in diverse urban US schools and examined student performance through mixed qualitative and quantitative methods. Findings: Learning gains were significant and not predicted by grade, gender or prior academic preparation. Free-choice projects of students showed statistically greater (correct) use of key concepts compared to those not in the study. Implications: Our work demonstrates the promise of novel approaches such as interactive non-programming activities for deeper understanding of programming concepts.

The Impact of using 3D Interactive Animation Tool in Teaching Computer Programming at the Senior High School Level

A quasi experiment with interview was adopted to study the aptness of using 3D animations as an instructional method to introduce programming concepts to students at the Senior High School level. This research work was conducted with 100 students of Akroso Senior High School in the Birim central municipality of the eastern region of Ghana who were generally programming novice. Programming concepts considered included programming environments, loops, functions sequential and conditional execution of programs. A paired t-test carried out on the results of the performance test presents a p-value of 0.008 indicative of a numerically significant difference between the mean marks of participants during the experiments that used 3D animation method as against the experiments that used the text base method. Results from the interview showed that the instructional method used had impact on the performance of the learners. The use of 3D animation method presented programming concepts in a form that the learners can understand, motivates them to pursue programming related courses at a higher level and also impacts positively on their performance.

Improving programming skills in engineering education through problem-based game projects with Scratch

Nowadays, programming skills are receiving widespread attention for different age groups alongside occupational education programs to better prepare individuals for their future careers. However, introducing programming concepts in an appropriate manner is a challenge in higher education. The main assumption of this study is that enhancing the classical introduction to programming courses through real-life problem-based game development with Scratch programming environment potentially improves the learners' programming skills and motivation. Accordingly, in this study, during one academic semester period, the Introduction to Programming course for engineering students is enriched up to a certain level through real-life game development projects with Scratch. The students are followed within a four-year period starting from freshman until their graduation. The progress of the students who have taken the Introduction to Programming course in enriched or classical form in the fourth year Senior-project course are evaluated. The results show that by slightly improving the course curriculum through real-life game development projects in the Scratch environment, students’ performance on the graduation projects improved significantly. As a conclusion, game-based learning, problem-based learning, visual programming and projects are technologies that can potentially help learners to perform better in the introduction to programming course, in turn affecting their performances in projects.

Web Environment for Programming and Control of a Mobile Robot in a Remote Laboratory

Remote robotics laboratories have been successfully used for engineering education. However, few of them use mobile robots to to teach computer science. This article describes a mobile robot Control and Programming Environment (CPE) and its pedagogical applications. The system comprises a remote laboratory for robotics, an online programming tool, and a virtual learning environment. It allows experiments with a mobile robot to be carried out, tested and validated remotely, using a simple graphic interface via web browser, without additional software installation on the user's computer. Students can control and manipulate the robot with simple commands without worrying about hardware details or use C/C++ programming language to develop complex programs. The robot has been built with inexpensive components and has sensors that enable its use in several experiments. CPE can be used in contextualized teaching in various subjects of computer science, both in class and at distance. A practical application of the whole system using CPE, introducing programming concepts, is also described in this paper. The initial assessment of the environment as an educational tool shows high levels of interest among our students, an improvement in their academic scores, and potential for application in the context of computing education, when properly introduced as a learning tool.

Writing In-Code Comments to Self-Explain in Computational Science and Engineering Education

This article presents two case studies aimed at exploring the use of self-explanations in the context of computational science and engineering (CSE) education. The self-explanations were elicited as students’ in-code comments of a set of worked-examples, and the cases involved two different approaches to CSE education: glass box and black box. The glass-box approach corresponds to a programming course for materials science and engineering students that focuses on introducing programming concepts while solving disciplinary problems. The black-box approach involves the introduction of Python-based computational tools within a thermodynamics course to represent disciplinary phenomena. Two semesters of data collection for each case study allowed us to identify the effect of using in-code comments as a self-explanation strategy on students’ engagement with the worked-examples and students’ perceptions of these activities within each context. The results suggest that the use of in-code comments as a self-explanation strategy increased students’ awareness of the worked-examples while engaging with them. The students’ perceived uses of the in-code commenting activities include: understanding the example, making a connection between the programming code and the disciplinary problem, and becoming familiar with the programming language syntax, among others.

Introducing programming through acoustics and audio at Belmont University

A course in computer programming has been offered within the department of Audio Engineering Technology at Belmont University to provide an introduction to audio and physics students interested in learning about programming. This course is based on a foundation of acoustics and audio concepts, without requiring previous programming experience. The pedagogical approach has been to expose students to the application of programming within their discipline of interest as a motivation for further exploration. Topics in the course introduce programming concepts for specific signal processing methods. Programming concepts include: variables, operators, data types, as well as basic control structures like loops, conditional statements and functions. While learning programming concepts, students perform various signal processing methods such as: changing a signal’s amplitude, signal synthesis, stereo panning functions, mid-side processing, amplitude fades, amplitude modulation, soft/hard clipping, rectification, bit reduction, echo effects, convolution, algorithmic reverberation, expander/compressor dynamic-range processing, and various spectral filters. Course lessons for a “flipped classroom” are freely and publically available at http://www.hackaudio.com/. Since the initial offering of this course, the number of students in the audio engineering program who double-major or minor in computer science has quadrupled.

The Impact of Different Teaching Approaches and Languages on Student Learning of Introductory Programming Concepts

Learning to program, especially in the object-oriented paradigm, is a difficult undertaking for many students. As a result, computing educators have tried a variety of instructional methods to assist beginning programmers. These include developing approaches geared specifically toward novices and experimenting with different introductory programming languages. However, determining the effectiveness of these interventions poses a problem. The research presented here developed an instrument to assess student learning of fundamental and object-oriented programming concepts, then used that instrument to investigate the impact of different teaching approaches and languages on university students’ ability to learn those concepts. Extensive data analysis showed that the instrument performed well overall. Reliability of the assessment tool was statistically satisfactory and content validity was supported by intrinsic characteristics, question response analysis, and expert review. Preliminary support for construct validity was provided through exploratory factor analysis. Three components that at least partly represented the construct “understanding of fundamental programming concepts” were identified: methods and functions, mathematical and logical expressions, and control structures. Analysis revealed significant differences in student performance based on instructional language and approach. The analyses showed differences on the overall score and questions involving assignment, mathematical and logical expressions, and code completion. Instructional language and approach did not appear to affect student performance on questions addressing object-oriented concepts.

Achieving digital literacy through game development: an authentic learning experience

Purpose – This paper aims to argue that the process of making an original game develops digital literacy skills and provides an authentic learning experience as students create, publish and deploy interactive games. Teaching students to create computer games has become common in both K-12 and tertiary education to introducing programming concepts, increase student engagement and recruit majors and minors in technology fields. This study describes a project where first-year college students in an introductory technology concepts course use a visual game creation tool to develop original games to play on their computers and mobile devices. Design/methodology/approach – The author created a game development exercise which was implemented in three different sections of an introductory technology course. Students who participated were surveyed about their experiences. In addition, the author considers information technology (IT) skills and aspects of authentic learning which are achieved through this assignment. Findings – Initial findings suggest that students found the gaming assignment offers an opportunity for students with no prior programming skills to create software within a controlled and supportive environment. It allows them to demonstrate their understanding of coding principles, including identifying objects and interactions, and that creating software requires a developer to specify exact instructions for the computer to follow. Research limitations/implications – This study is limited to results from one semester and a small number of students participating. In addition, student frustration with the complicated process of publishing games online may have influenced student attitudes toward the assignment. Practical implications – Challenges of implementing this study on a larger scale are discussed. Social implications – Creating games encourages collaborative learning through trial and error, and students who share their games with friends to play on their devices achieve a sense of pride. Originality/value – While most studies of game development emphasize the programming skills that are developed through creating computer games, this paper looks at a larger scope of digital literacy and IT skills achieved, as well as opportunities to perform tasks often completed by IT professionals.

Smartphones, Studio-Based Learning, and Scaffolding

This article describes how smartphones, studio-based learning, and extensive scaffolding were used in combination in the teaching of a freshman Introduction to Programming course. To reduce cognitive overload, a phased approach was followed in introducing programming concepts and development environments, beginning with the visual programming environment Scratch and culminating with Java development for Android smartphones. Studio-based learning, a pedagogical approach long established in the fields of architecture and design education, was used as the basis for a collaborative social constructivist—and constructionist—approach to learning. Smartphones offered students the potential to develop applications for a context that is both immediate and clearly relevant to the ways in which they utilize and interact with technology. The research was carried out over three full academic years and included 53 student participants. An exploratory case study methodology was used to investigate the efficacy of the approach in helping to overcome the barriers faced by novice programmers. The findings indicate that the approach has merit. The students were motivated and engaged by the learning experience and were able to develop sophisticated applications that incorporated images, sound, arrays, and event handling. There is evidence that aspects of the studio-based learning approach, such as the scope that it gave students to innovate and the open feedback during student presentations, provided a learning environment that was motivating. Overall, the combination of smartphones, studio-based learning, and appropriate scaffolding offers an effective way to teach introductory programming courses.

Programming assistance tools to support the learning of IT programming in South African secondary schools

Novice programmers struggle to understand introductory programming concepts and this difficulty, associated with learning to program, contributes mainly to the lack of interest in the field of Computer Science at tertiary level. Programming assistance tools have been used to assist novice programmers extensively at education institutions. A programming assistance tool (PAT) is a software program that can be used by novice programmers to learn how to program and/or improve their understanding of programming concepts.This research proposes that novice programmers, specifically Information Technology (IT) scholars in South African secondary schools, could be supported by PATs. The main objective of this research was to determine whether the use of a PAT impacted IT scholars' understanding of programming concepts and their motivation towards programming in general. Criteria for the selection of PATs were derived from the programming difficulties identified in literature and from surveys to IT teachers and scholars. The selection criteria were grouped into programming knowledge and programming skills categories. Existing PATs were evaluated using the selection criteria and three PATs, namely, RoboMind, Scratch and B#, were selected for evaluation in this research study. A convenience sample of schools participated in the study. The three PATs provided different approaches while being able to support the Delphi programming language used in schools that participated in the study.The findings of this research indicated that, although scholars perceived the PATs to be useful in the explanation of certain of the programming concepts, there was no conclusive evidence that IT scholars who used a PAT had a significantly better understanding of programming concepts and motivation towards programming than scholars who did not use a PAT. Participant feedback was used to identify the strengths and shortcomings of the three PATs and to provide recommendations for the development of future PATs specifically designed to support IT scholars.

Assessing the Impact of Meta-Cognitive Training on Students' Understanding of Introductory Programming Concepts

Students' difficulties in learning computer programming are well documented in the literature and have been studied from different perspectives by the researchers. However, studies that have been conducted from the meta-cognition perspective are rare in the context of programming education. The current study aimed to (i) investigate the effects of a specific metacognitive training on students' programming achievement, retention of programming knowledge, and meta-cognitive awareness; and (ii) explore students' experiences and opinions related to the meta-cognitive training. There were 51 participants (28 male and 23 female) who are 2nd-year students from a public university. In the current study, a mixed methods design, specifically embedded experimental model, was utilized. The experimental group was instructed using the meta-cognitive training, and the control group was taught using traditional instruction. An achievement test, a meta-cognitive awareness inventory, and semi-structured interviews were used to collect data. The results of the study indicated that the intervention based on meta-cognition caused significantly better acquisition of introductory programming concepts. Although there was no significant difference between experimental and control groups in terms of meta-cognitive awareness, qualitative data implied some differences related to students' problem-solving ways and meta-cognitive strategies. Results of retention and post tests revealed that scores of students in experimental and control groups declined at close rates. Moreover, most of the students in the experimental group reported positive feelings toward meta-cognitive instruction. Thus, it might be said that meta-cognitive training was an effective tool to improve students' understanding of introductory programming topics as indicated by post-test scores.