Background: Conventional reflective learning methodologies in programming education often lack structured guidance and individualised feedback, limiting their pedagogical effectiveness. Whilst computational thinking (CT) offers a systematic problem-solving framework with decomposition, pattern recognition, abstraction, and algorithm design, its…

Introduction: Computer Science Education does not have a universally defined set of concepts consistently covered in all introductory courses (CS1). One approach to understanding the concepts covered in CS1 is to ask educators. In 2004, Nell Dale did just this. She also collected their perceptions on challenging topics to teach. Dale mused how the…

Context: Introductory programming courses often face high dropout and failure rates, a challenge widely addressed in computing education research. Collaborative methods, such as group work and pair programming, have been proposed as potential solutions, as they are believed to enhance students' study motivation. Objective: This article provides a…

Learning environments for programming education need a comprehensive task set that guides students from basic programming concepts to complex challenges. For creating such a task set, it is beneficial to utilize the concept of a design space--a systematic mapping of design dimensions and choices along these dimensions. We propose an iterative…

Generative AI is a disruptive technology that has the potential to transform many aspects of how computer science is taught. Like previous innovations such as high-level programming languages and block-based programming languages, generative AI lowers the technical expertise necessary to create working programs, bringing the power of computation…

Code quality is a critical aspect of programming, as high-quality code is easier to maintain, and code maintenance constitutes the majority of software costs. Consequently, code quality should be emphasized in programming education. While previous research has identified numerous code quality defects commonly made by students, the current state…

Learning programming has become increasingly popular, with learners from diverse backgrounds and experiences requiring different support. Programming-process analysis helps to identify solver types and needs for assistance. The study examined students' behavior patterns in programming among beginners and non-beginners to identify solver types,…

The purpose of this study is to explore the influence of the microlearning instructional approach in an online introductory database programming classroom. The ultimate goal of this study is to inform educators and instructional designers on the design and development of microlearning content that maximizes student learning. Grounded within the…

Programming demands a variety of cognitive skills, and mastering these competencies is essential for success in computer science education. The importance of formative feedback is well acknowledged in programming education, and thus, a diverse range of techniques has been proposed to generate and enhance formative feedback for programming…

Background: Automatically graded programming assignments provide instant feedback to students and significantly reduce manual grading time for instructors. However, creating comprehensive suites of test cases for programming problems within automatic graders can be time-consuming and complex. The effort needed to define test suites may deter some…

This study explores student perceptions of learning to code by evaluating AI-generated Python code. In an experimental exercise given to students in an introductory Python course at a business university, students wrote their own solutions to a Python program and then compared their solutions with AI-generated code. They evaluated both solutions…

In this paper the "Memory Transfer Language" program visualization (MTL PV) technique is combined with "constructivism" ("conceptual contraposition and colloquy") and "reversibility" to evolve a new approach for instructional design for teaching and learning introductory programming. A sample of 1,364…

This study explores the potential of the large language model GPT-4 as an automated tool for qualitative data analysis by educational researchers, exploring which techniques are most successful for different types of constructs. Specifically, we assess three different prompt engineering strategies -- Zero-shot, Few-shot, and Fewshot with…

Scientific programming has become increasingly essential for manipulating, visualizing, and interpreting the large volumes of data acquired in earth science research. Yet few discipline-specific instructional approaches have been documented and assessed for their effectiveness in equipping geoscience undergraduate students with coding skills. Here…

Objectives: This study addresses the challenges faced by students repeating an introductory programming course (CS1) at an online university, where dropout and failure rates remain high. While programming education has been widely studied, targeted interventions for repeating students remain scarce. Our research aims to analyze the experiences of…