Multilingual investigation of theory-based intervention for program comprehension

This thesis is the continuation of an experiment called “Eye-movement Modeling Examples in Source Code Comprehension: A Classroom Study”. This first experiment studies how effective is showing novice programmers how experts read code with a video with the expert’s gaze guided by a verbal explanation. Therefore, this thesis studies, using a similar experiment, whether only verbal explanation and visual stimuli without the expert’s gaze could be also helpful for the programming novices.Grado en Ingeniería Informática de Servicios y Aplicacione

Purpose-first Programming: A Programming Learning Approach for Learners Who Care Most About What Code Achieves

Introductory programming courses typically focus on building generalizable programming knowledge by focusing on a language’s syntax and semantics. Assignments often involve “code tracing” problems, where students perform close tracking of code’s execution, typically in the context of ‘toy’ problems. “Reading-first” approaches propose that code tracing should be taught early to novice programmers, even before they have the opportunity to write code. However, many learners do not perform code tracing, even in situations when it is helpful for other students. To learn more, I talked to novice programmers about their decisions to trace and not trace code. Through these studies, I identified both cognitive and affective factors related to learners’ motivation to trace. My research found that tracing activities can create a “perfect storm” for discouraging learners from completing them: they require high cognitive load, leading to a low expectation of success, while also being disconnected from meaningful code, resulting in low value for the task. These findings suggest that a new learning approach, where novices quickly and easily create or understand useful code without the need for deep knowledge of semantics, may lead to higher engagement. Many learners may not care about exactly how a programming language works, but they do care about what code can achieve for them. I drew on cognitive science and theories of motivation to describe a “purpose-first” programming pedagogy that supports novices in learning common code patterns in a particular domain. I developed a proof-of-concept ”purpose-first” programming curriculum using this method and evaluated it with non-major novice programmers who had a variety of future goals. Participants were able to complete scaffolded code writing, debugging, and explanation activities in a new domain (web scraping with BeautifulSoup) after a half hour of instruction. An analysis of the participants’ thinkalouds provided evidence the learners were thinking in terms of the patterns and goals that they learned with in the purpose-first curriculum. Overall, I found that these novices were motivated to continue learning with purpose-first programming. I found that these novices felt successful during purpose-first programming because they could understand and complete tasks. Novices perceived a lower cognitive load on purpose-first programming activities than many other typical learning activities, because, in their view, plans helped them apply knowledge and focus only on the most relevant information. Participants felt that what they were learning was applicable, and that the curriculum provided conceptual, high-level knowledge. For some participants, particularly conversational programmers who didn’t plan to program in their careers, this information was sufficient for their needs. Other participants felt that purpose-first programming was a starting point, from which they could move forward to gain a deeper understanding of how code works.PHDInformationUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/167912/1/kicunn_1.pd

Die Zukunft des MINT-Lernens – Band 1

Dieser Open-Access-Sammelband stellt Perspektiven auf digitalen MINT-Unterricht und die Lehrkräftebildung der Zukunft dar. Auf Grundlage aktueller Forschungsergebnisse beantwortet er aktuelle Fragestellungen, etwa: Welche Kompetenzen und welche Lerninhalte werden für die Herausforderungen von morgen benötigt und welchen Beitrag können die MINT-Fächer dazu leisten? Inwiefern kann die Digitalisierung bei einem Lernen für die Zukunft unterstützen bzw. ist sie notwendiger Bildungsinhalt für zukünftiges Handeln? Welche digitalen Technologien, digitalen Werkzeuge und digitalen Lernumgebungen können bei der Entwicklung von 21st Century Skills bei Lernenden beitragen? Wie müssen sie ausgestaltet sein, um beim Lernen und Problemlösen unterstützend zu wirken und die Lernenden zum kritischen Denken (Critical Thinking) anzuregen? Wie kann eine Diagnostik mit digitalen Methoden aussehen? Was folgt aus all dem für die MINT-Lehrkräftebildung? Der vorliegende erste Band ist Teil eines zweibändigen Sammelwerks; die beiden Bände sind weitgehend unabhängig voneinander lesbar und unterscheiden sich in ihrem inhaltlichen Fokus: Während Band 1 grundsätzliche Perspektiven beleuchtet, fokussiert Band 2 eher auf konkrete digitale Tools und Methoden für die Unterrichtspraxis. Die Beiträge wurden im Rahmen des Projekts „Die Zukunft des MINT-Lernens – Denkfabrik für Unterricht mit digitalen Technologien“, gefördert durch die Deutsche Telekom Stiftung, entwickelt. Sie decken verschiedene (assoziierte) Projekte des Entwicklungskonsortiums der beteiligten Hochschulstandorte ab und bieten zukunftsweisendes Wissen zum Thema