It has become an important and challenging issue to foster students' concepts and skills of computer programming. Scholars believe that programming training could promote students' higher order thinking perfor...
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It has become an important and challenging issue to foster students' concepts and skills of computer programming. Scholars believe that programming training could promote students' higher order thinking performance;however, many school teachers have reported the difficulty of teaching programming courses. Although several previous studies have attempted to develop friendly user interfaces to ease students' loads, teaching programming courses remains a big challenge for most school teachers. In this study, an online peer assessment-based system was developed to cope with this problem. The students could use the peer-assessment function to provide comments to peers, and review the feedback and scores from peers during the learning activity. A quasi experiment was conducted on four classes of 166 ninth graders of a junior high school located in southern Taiwan to examine the impacts of the developed system. Two classes of students were assigned to the experimental group, learning with an online peer assessment-based teaching strategy, while the other two classes were the control group, learning with the conventional teaching strategy. The experimental results showed that the students in the experimental group had better programming knowledge and skills as well as more positive learning attitudes and critical thinking awareness than those in the control group, revealing the benefits of the proposed approach.
Previous research conducted by the author investigated the socio-political backgrounds of South African female students studying computer-related university programmes and found that socio-political factors, in partic...
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ISBN:
(纸本)9781605588209
Previous research conducted by the author investigated the socio-political backgrounds of South African female students studying computer-related university programmes and found that socio-political factors, in particular the role of a dominant female household head and aggressive governmental affirmative action, had had a significant effect on the girls' levels of confidence and subsequently on their decision to study computer-related courses. Based on this insight, the researcher undertook to look further into gender diversity with respect to self-perceived general computer confidence and self-perceived ability to program it computer. An investigation into gender differences in students studying computer programming courses at her university has now been followed by an investigation into students from very similar disadvantaged socio-economic backgrounds from two other sub-Saharan universities in Namibia and Tanzania. The results of the survey confirm that there were more gender similarities than differences in these students' general computer self-efficacy and their confidence in their programming ability. However, there were significant differences in the female and male students' perceptions of computing gender stereotyping.
computer games are quickly gaining momentum by enabling new approaches to teaching and learning experience for programming courses in K-12 curriculum. However, it remains unclear if the game interface and elements cre...
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computer games are quickly gaining momentum by enabling new approaches to teaching and learning experience for programming courses in K-12 curriculum. However, it remains unclear if the game interface and elements created by using three-dimensional (3D) virtual worlds combined with visual programming languages or a visual programming environment can affect students' learning performance. This quasi-experimental study presents evidence about how a game can assist boys and girls to gain a greater understanding on skills related to CT for developing, implementing and transforming their solution plans into code based on their computational problem-solving strategies. A total of fifty (n = 50) high school students who volunteered to participate in this study divided into a control group (n = 25) and an experimental (n = 25) group that used Scratch and OpenSim with the Scratch4SL palette, respectively to propose their solutions for the same problem-solving tasks via a simulation game. The study findings indicate substantial differences and important points of view about students' learning performance by assessing their computational problem-solving strategies. Students from the experimental group performed significantly better both in measures of problem-solving and algorithmic thinking. Mean scores on post-questionnaires from the experimental group revealed improvements higher than their control group counterparts in two aspects. First, students of the former group created more complete computational instructions with rules to be specified and delivered the learning goals. Second, students of the same group proposed and applied more correct computational concepts and practices in code. Finally, this study discusses the implications for designing learning experiences using OpenSim with Scratch4SL.
The usefulness of online and hybrid delivery methods in education has long been realized and with the advancement of computer and communication technologies and the Web based authoring tools, their effectiveness have ...
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ISBN:
(纸本)9781479984541
The usefulness of online and hybrid delivery methods in education has long been realized and with the advancement of computer and communication technologies and the Web based authoring tools, their effectiveness have been further extended. We are at a point that online and hybrid course offerings for undergraduates are quickly becoming an integrated and regular part of engineering departments' course offerings. Many institutions are offering online courses, as part of their regular schedule. In this paper, based on our experience that started with hybrid delivery and ultimately extended to a full online offering, we will present a set of recommended steps that can be used as a guide by those who are interested in designing an online introductory computer-programming course. We will then present a set of observations that we feel needs to be considered and discussed by the research community. The paper will include examples of students' comments, which were received in teaching evaluations, for hybrid and online offerings.
This paper analyses certain human thought processes associated with computer programming and observes some limitations, inherent in the human mind, that affect the writing of good computer programs. The thought proces...
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This paper analyses certain human thought processes associated with computer programming and observes some limitations, inherent in the human mind, that affect the writing of good computer programs. The thought processes associated with computer programming fall into two major categories: those associated with the nature of problem solving; and those associated with man/computer communication using conventional programming languages. The questions raised in this paper bring to light the psychological and physiological implications of such programming tools and procedures as structured programming, code walkthroughs and top-down design in support of their use.
Learning to program is increasingly important. Yet, it is becoming clear that most students struggle when learning to program (McCracken et al., 2001). This is leading to a divide where some people can program but man...
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Learning to program is increasingly important. Yet, it is becoming clear that most students struggle when learning to program (McCracken et al., 2001). This is leading to a divide where some people can program but many others can’t. Prior research has traced poor student outcomes to their early experiences learning programming. Still, little is known about how different programming tasks might impact the processes involved in learning programming. In this dissertation, I extend prior research on students’ experiences when learning computer programming and build on this research by testing the causal influences of different learning tasks on students’ emotions, motivation, and learning. In a randomized experiment, I manipulated the instructional tasks used to introduce programming and investigated students’ emotional trajectories, motivation, and learning outcomes. Participants randomly assigned to predict the outcome of pre-provided code showed more positive emotional trajectories, increased motivation, and greater learning compared to students randomly assigned to modify or produce their own code.
For many years there have not been enough computer science graduates to fill open positions. One of the chief barriers to the formation of computer science graduates is that many students are unsuccessful in the intro...
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For many years there have not been enough computer science graduates to fill open positions. One of the chief barriers to the formation of computer science graduates is that many students are unsuccessful in the introductory programming course. Unsuccessful students often change their major field of study or terminate their collegiate studies. A chief concern is therefore to minimize the DFW rate (grade of D or F, or withdrawal from a course). Student characteristics have been extensively studied to explain, and sometimes justify, the high DFW rate in introductory programming courses. Pairs programming, flipped classrooms, choice of programming language, and a variety of other modifications and novel methods have been devised in efforts to reduce the DFW rate. The collective conclusion has been that there is no silver bullet that has been demonstrated to be universally effective. This quasi-experimental study incorporates four learning theories that inform the design and delivery of an introductory programming course: Neo-Piagetian Theory, Cognitive Apprenticeship Theory, Cognitive Load Theory, and Self-Efficacy Theory. The objective was to (1) design a course from the top-down that integrates several pedagogical elements in a holistic way, and (2) deliver it to a group of nascent programming students. The Holistic Course Delivery was implemented in three class sections of an introductory programming course at a midwestern university in which a total of 96 students were enrolled. The Holistic Course Delivery had a significantly lower DFW rate compared to both historic DFW rates at the institution and established international norms and students indicated they felt prepared for subsequent computer science coursework.
This article describes the basic principles of computer programming, graphics and sound. The terminology used in programming is discussed. Graphics and sound aspects are discussed due to their increasing importance in...
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This article describes the basic principles of computer programming, graphics and sound. The terminology used in programming is discussed. Graphics and sound aspects are discussed due to their increasing importance in computer applications.
This paper explores the use of system dynamics to develop a model of learning to program via distance education. Based on a study which combined a qualitative study of students and instructors in computer programming ...
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This paper explores the use of system dynamics to develop a model of learning to program via distance education. Based on a study which combined a qualitative study of students and instructors in computer programming courses taught through distance education with a meta-ethnographic analysis of the literature of learning to program and distance education, the study identifies and describes 51 variables (17 cognitive, 21 pedagogical and 13 practical) and presents a model which demonstrates how these variables might interact.
Although the computer programming education in elementary schools has become imminent, the authors have dispatched students to support programming education, but it is difficult to sufficiently respond to requests. Ho...
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