Introductory programming courses typically focus on building generalizable programming knowledge by focusing on a language's syntax and semantics. Assignments often involve "code tracing" problems, where students perform close tracking of code's execution, typically in the context of 'toy' problems. "Reading-first" approaches…

Programming skills are a vital part of many disciplines but can be challenging to teach and learn. Thus, the programming courses are considered difficult and a major stumbling block. To overcome these challenges, students could benefit from extensive individual support such as tutoring, but there are simply not enough qualified tutors available to…

Novice programmers need well-designed instruction and assessment informed by research and critical perspectives to conquer the historical challenges associated with completing introductory computer programming courses successfully. These issues include high dropout and failure rates, the struggle to acquire and retain basic programming knowledge,…

Students completing undergraduate majors in chemistry are not typically required to undergo formal training in computer programming or coding. As a result, many chemistry students are graduating without skills in understanding, writing, or manipulating computer code. This skills gap places students at a disadvantage, considering the widespread and…

As students learn how to program, both their programming code and their understanding of it evolves over time. In this work, we present a general data-driven approach, named "Temporal-ASTNN" for modeling student learning progression in open-ended programming domains. Temporal-ASTNN combines a novel neural network model based on abstract…

In recent years, computer science has become a cornerstone of modern society. As a result, enrollment in undergraduate computer science programs has expanded rapidly. While the influx of talent into the field will undoubtedly lead to countless technological developments, this growth also brings new pedagogical challenges. Educational resources,…