During the past two decades, "event-driven programming" (EDP) has emerged as a central and almost ubiquitous concept in modern software development: Graphical user interfaces are self-evident in most mobile and web-based applications, as well as in many embedded systems, and they are most often based on reacting to events. To facilitate…

Background and Context: Students learning the C programming language struggle to debug, and to understand the runtime behaviour of, their programs. Objective: We examine a tool that combines several novice-focused error detection, program visualization, and debugging techniques, to investigate which features students use in real study sessions,…

This paper reports on CodeOrama, a visualization tool that displays the entire source code in a two-dimensional representation created to support the representation of a complex code in block-based programming environments, like Scratch, by using a two-dimension table. CodeOrama can be used by the students for the development of their programs as…

Project-based learning (PBL) engages students deeply with course concepts and empowers them to drive their own learning through the development of solutions to real-world challenges. By taking ownership of and completing a project that they designed, students develop and demonstrate creativity, critical thinking, and collaboration skills. This…

Educational data mining involves the application of data mining techniques to student activity. However, in the context of computer programming, many data mining techniques can not be applied because they require vector-shaped input, whereas computer programs have the form of syntax trees. In this paper, we present ast2vec, a neural network that…

Software modeling is an integral practice for software engineers, especially as the complexity of software solutions increases. Unified Modeling Language (UML) is the industry standard for software modeling. however, it is often used incorrectly and misunderstood by novice software designers. This study is centered around understanding patterns of…

The capability of computer programming language logic is one of the basics of technical education. How to improve students "interest in program logic design and help overcome students" fears of coding has become vital for educators. Cultivating practical talents with information technology application and basic programming development…

Integrating computational thinking (CT) into STEM disciplines requires secondary teachers to develop their pedagogical content knowledge of computing and content integration. Experienced teachers who choose to integrate CT in their secondary STEM courses may struggle in the same ways as novice teachers as they learn about programming and its…

Computational Thinking (CT) has been formally incorporated into the National Curriculum of Thailand since 2017, where Scratch, a block-based visual programming language, has been widely adopted as CT learning environment for primary-level students. However, conducting hands-on coding activities in a classroom has caused substantial challenges…

This autoethnographic paper is part of a special issue trying to answer the question "How to design or choose languages for programming novices?" I will describe how my programming language Hedy was created, how the initial design goals were formed, how my perspectives on learning and teaching changed along the way, and how Hedy changed…

Serious games or educational games have attracted the interest of instructors and researchers for several years. In the field of education, serious games are being used for motivating students, attracting their interest in cognitively demanding fields and making the teaching and learning process more fun. Moreover, learning through implementing…

Computer Programming is believed to have effect on creativity, reasoning, analytic and mathematical skills. This cognitive development is at a cost from both ends of students and teachers of computer programming. Its abstractive nature makes it difficult to teach and learn hence, the enormous hours spent in teaching, learning and developing…

Is there a pattern in how students solve Parsons puzzles? Is there a difference between the puzzle-solving strategies of C++ and Java students? We used Markov transition matrix to answer these questions. We analyzed the solutions of introductory programming students solving Parsons puzzles involving if-else statements and while loops in C++ and…

For most beginners, learning computer programming is a complex undertaking. Demotivation and learned helplessness have been widely reported. In addition to the subject's complexity, low in-class involvement has been linked to poor student performance. This work introduces a novel instructional technique called Student-Driven Probe Instruction…

Educators who teach programming subjects are often wondering "which programming language should I teach first?" The debate behind this question has a long history and coming up with a definite answer to this question would be farfetched. Nonetheless, several efforts can be identified in the literature wherein pros and cons of mainstream…