Novice Programming Strategies

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Abstract

This paper identifies novice programmer activities and their implications for the programming outcome. We investigate strategies, cognitive processes and behavior within interacting phases of programming: 1) understanding and design, 2) coding, and 3) debugging and testing. We envision that stronger novice programmers behave differently from weaker novice programmers during the programming process. We develop a questionnaire-based tool, the programming strategy questionnaire (PSQ), which we use to identify the activities novices employ during their development of a program, and we link the strategies to learning outcomes. Finally, we discuss how educators can use our findings to improve the education of novice programmers.
Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationProceedings of the 2018 SIGED International Conference on Information Systems Education and Research
EditorsAsli Y. Akbulut
Number of pages16
Place of PublicationAtlanta, GA
PublisherAssociation for Information Systems. AIS Electronic Library (AISeL)
Publication date2018
Article numberPaper 5
ISBN (Print)9780692043110
Publication statusPublished - 2018
Event2018 SIGED International Conference on Information Systems Education and Research - San Francisco, United States
Duration: 12 Dec 201813 Dec 2018
http://ais-siged.org/

Conference

Conference2018 SIGED International Conference on Information Systems Education and Research
Country/TerritoryUnited States
CitySan Francisco
Period12/12/201813/12/2018
Internet address

Keywords

  • Novice programmers
  • Programming strategies
  • Programming activities
  • Debugging strategies
  • Program understanding
  • Programming pedagogy

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