A Qualitative Study of Emotions Experienced by First-year Engineering Students during Programming Tasks

In introductory computer programming courses, students experience a range of emotions. Students often experience anxiety and frustration when they encounter difficulties in writing programs. Continued frustration can discourage students from pursuing engineering and computing careers. Although prior research has shown how emotions affect students’ motivation and learning, little is known about students’ emotions in programming courses. In this qualitative study of first-year engineering students taking an introductory programming course, we examined the emotions that these students experienced during programming tasks and the reasons for experiencing those emotions. Our study was grounded in the control-value theory of achievement emotions. Each research participant came to two laboratory sessions: a programming session and a retrospective think-aloud interview session. In the programming session, each participant worked individually on programming problems. We collected screen capture, biometrics, and survey responses. In the interview session, each participant watched a video of their actions during the programming session. After every 2 minutes of viewing, the participants reported the emotions that they had experienced during this 2-minute period. We performed a thematic analysis of the interview data. Our results indicate that the participants experienced frustration most frequently. Sometimes they experienced multiple emotions. For example, one participant felt annoyed because she had made a mistake, but she felt joy and pride when she fixed the mistake. To promote student learning, educators should take students’ emotions into account in the design of curriculum and pedagogy for introductory programming courses

"It's Weird That it Knows What I Want": Usability and Interactions with Copilot for Novice Programmers

Recent developments in deep learning have resulted in code-generation models that produce source code from natural language and code-based prompts with high accuracy. This is likely to have profound effects in the classroom, where novices learning to code can now use free tools to automatically suggest solutions to programming exercises and assignments. However, little is currently known about how novices interact with these tools in practice. We present the first study that observes students at the introductory level using one such code auto-generating tool, Github Copilot, on a typical introductory programming (CS1) assignment. Through observations and interviews we explore student perceptions of the benefits and pitfalls of this technology for learning, present new observed interaction patterns, and discuss cognitive and metacognitive difficulties faced by students. We consider design implications of these findings, specifically in terms of how tools like Copilot can better support and scaffold the novice programming experience.Comment: 26 pages, 2 figures, TOCH

науковий журнал

Право і Безпека: наук. журн. / Харк. нац. ун-т внутр. справ; голов. ред. В. В. Сокуренко. – Харків, 2021. – № 3 (82). – 223 с. – ISSN 2617-2933 (Online). – DOI: https://doi.org/10.32631/pb.2021.3.«Право і безпека» – це науковий журнал із відкритим доступом, метою якого є поширення результатів наукових досліджень як теоретичного, так і практичного характеру в галузях права та безпеки. Завданнями видання є сприяння дослідникам у здійсненні наукової діяльності, поширення новітніх наукових знань, оприлюднення досліджень з актуальних питань права і юридичної психології, протидії злочинності, забезпечення національної безпеки та прав людини, захисту інтелектуальної власності, кібербезпеки, реформування законодавства тощо.It an open access scientific journal whose purpose is to disseminate research results of both theoretical and practical nature in the fields of law and security. The objectives of the publication are to assist researchers in conducting scientific activities, disseminating the latest scientific knowledge, publishing research on topical issues of law and legal psychology, combating crime, ensuring national security and human rights, protecting intellectual property, cybersecurity, reforming legislation and more.Научный журнал с открытым доступом, целью которого является распространение результатов научных исследований как теоретического, так и практического характера в области права и безопасности. Задачами издания является содействие исследователям в осуществлении научной деятельности, распространение новейших научных знаний, обнародование исследований по актуальным вопросам права и юридической психологии, противодействие преступности, обеспечению национальной безопасности и прав человека, защите интеллектуальной собственности, кибербезопасности, реформированию законодательства и т.д