Nonprogrammers learned a computer programming language and took a transfer posttest. Subjects who were given pretraining with a model of the computer before learning performed better on novel transfer and worse on near transfer relative to no-pretraining subjects. (Author/DEP)

This discussion of the kind of knowledge acquired by a novice learning BASIC programming and how this knowledge may be most efficiently acquired suggests that people who do programming acquire three basic skills that are not obvious either in instruction or in traditional performance: (1) the ability to analyze each statement into a type of…

This 5-section report summarizes the results of a project concerned with how novices learn to become creative educational computer users. Based on a cognitive analysis of elementary programming statements in BASIC and calculator language into conceptual units, the project builds on previous research on learning BASIC programming. A general…

Some 120 undergraduate students participated in experiments to learn how novice computer programers learn to interact with the computer. Two instructional booklets were used: A "rule" booklet consisted of definitions and examples of seven modified FORTRAN statements and appropriate grammar rules; the "model" booklet was…

This three-part volume provides a summary, for use by practitioners, of a project concerned with how novices learn to become creative educational computer users. The first chapter examines techniques for increasing the novice's understanding of computers and computer programming, and specifically analyzes the potential usefulness of five…