Effects of course-long use of a program visualization tool

Authors:
Erkki Kaila;Teemu Rajala;Mikko-Jussi Laakso;Tapio Salakoski
Affiliations:
University of Turku, Turun yliopisto, Finland;University of Turku, Turun yliopisto, Finland;University of Turku, Turun yliopisto, Finland;University of Turku, Turun yliopisto, Finland
Venue:
Proceedings of the Twelfth Australasian Conference on Computing Education - Volume 103
Year:
2010

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Abstract

We studied the course-long use of a program visualization tool called ViLLE in high school in Finland. The study was conducted in three consecutive instances of the first programming course. In the first two instances of the course, the students did not utilize ViLLE -- except for a short session -- while in the last instance students did ViLLE exercises throughout the whole course. The students who used ViLLE got significantly better results from the course's final exam. This supports our hypothesis that program visualization can be an effective method in teaching programming, and indicates that we should continue developing program visualization methods to further enhance learning.