The Teaching and Learning of Programming

Learning to program is now a requirement in adiverse range of university courses. Howeverresearch indicates that many students have greatdifficulty in learning this subject. This bookdescribes an in-depth study that investigated atechnology supported part-complete solution methodfor the learning of computer programming. One of theaims of the method was to help reduce the cognitiveload experienced by students. A "COde RestucturingTool", CORT, was developed to support this methodand to provide a suitable learning environment. Aseries of programming problems was also developedfor CORT and an experiment was undertaken withstudents who were studying introductory programming.Results from the study indicated that CORT imposed alow cognitive load on students; provided high levelsof cognitive support; strong scaffolding forlearning; and students engaged well with the systemand generally used a thoughtful and consideredstrategy to solving programming problems. Findingsindicated that the students who used CORT requiredsignificantly less time and less help than otherstudents who learnt under conventional methods.

Autorentext
Stuart has been a college and university lecturer for over 30years and has also spent time working in industry as an analystprogrammer. His main research interests include: the teachingand learning of programming; the teaching and learning ofsystems analysis and design; eLearning; personal knowledgemanagement; and web based development.

Klappentext
Learning to program is now a requirement in a diverse range of university courses. However research indicates that many students have great difficulty in learning this subject. This book describes an in-depth study that investigated a technology supported part-complete solution method for the learning of computer programming. One of the aims of the method was to help reduce the cognitive load experienced by students. A "COde Restucturing Tool", CORT, was developed to support this method and to provide a suitable learning environment. A series of programming problems was also developed for CORT and an experiment was undertaken with students who were studying introductory programming. Results from the study indicated that CORT imposed a low cognitive load on students; provided high levels of cognitive support; strong scaffolding for learning; and students engaged well with the system and generally used a thoughtful and considered strategy to solving programming problems. Findings indicated that the students who used CORT required significantly less time and less help than other students who learnt under conventional methods.