Data-structures students may prefer to learn algorithms using graphical methods
SIGCSE '87 Proceedings of the eighteenth SIGCSE technical symposium on Computer science education
Control flow and data structure documentation: two experiments
Communications of the ACM
Experimental investigations of the utility of detailed flowcharts in programming
Communications of the ACM
Software psychology: Human factors in computer and information systems (Winthrop computer systems series)
| Hi-index | 0.00 |
Recently studies [1, 2] have shown that about 75 to 89 percent of students in courses on data structures prefer to learn short, complex algorithms using a graphic method (structured flowcharts), while the remaining students prefer a verbal method (pseudocode). These studies have been comprehensive and properly controlled. Sixteen replications have been done at three universities and one college. A total of 571 students from 42 data-structures classes have participated. These studies only investigated the percentages of students preferring structured flowcharts over pseudocode. Knowing just these percentages is not enough. We need to know how strongly the students feel about their preferences. Thus, the primary reason for this new research is to measure the strength of that preference.This research investigates the strength of preference for a graphical method (structured flowcharts) or for a verbal method (pseudocode) when learning short, relatively complex algorithms. The research summarizes the data from four replications using 179 students of data structures and 12 data structures classes. A preference for flowcharts was hypothesized under nine conditions. Three measures of preference were used: (1) frequency of preference, (2) mean strength of preference, and (3) an index of preference. Using frequency of preference, all nine hypotheses were significant, p p p p