A diagnosis of beginning programmers' misconceptions of BASIC programming statements
Communications of the ACM
Constructivism in computer science education
Journal of Computers in Mathematics and Science Teaching
SIGCSE '03 Proceedings of the 34th SIGCSE technical symposium on Computer science education
What do novice programmers know about recursion
CHI '83 Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
Communications of the ACM
The mystery of "b := (b = false)"
Proceedings of the 39th SIGCSE technical symposium on Computer science education
Using cognitive conflict and visualisation to improve mental models held by novice programmers
Proceedings of the 39th SIGCSE technical symposium on Computer science education
ITiCSE '09 Proceedings of the 14th annual ACM SIGCSE conference on Innovation and technology in computer science education
BNCOD 26 Proceedings of the 26th British National Conference on Databases: Dataspace: The Final Frontier
Identifying student misconceptions of programming
Proceedings of the 41st ACM technical symposium on Computer science education
ECOOP'07 Proceedings of the 2007 conference on Object-oriented technology
Introductory programming and the didactic triangle
Proceedings of the Twelfth Australasian Conference on Computing Education - Volume 103
Experience report: a multi-classroom report on the value of peer instruction
Proceedings of the 16th annual joint conference on Innovation and technology in computer science education
Peer instruction: do students really learn from peer discussion in computing?
Proceedings of the seventh international workshop on Computing education research
Using the context of algorithmic art to change attitudes in introductory programming
Journal of Computing Sciences in Colleges
Proceedings of the 43rd ACM technical symposium on Computer Science Education
Improving student learning outcomes with pair programming
Proceedings of the ninth annual international conference on International computing education research
Mining data from the AP CS a exam: patterns, non-patterns, and replication failure
Proceedings of the ninth annual international ACM conference on International computing education research
Developing a pre- and post-course concept inventory to gauge operating systems learning
Proceedings of the 45th ACM technical symposium on Computer science education
Managing Cognitive Load in Introductory Programming Courses: A Cognitive Aware Scaffolding Tool
Journal of Integrated Design & Process Science
Hi-index | 0.00 |
This paper describes an investigation into the viability of mental models used by novice programmers at the end of a first year Java programming course. The qualitative findings identify the range of mental models of value and reference assignment held by the participants. The quantitative analysis reveals that approximately one third of students held non-viable mental models of value assignment and only 17% of students held a viable mental model of reference assignment. Further, in terms of a comparison between the participants' mental models and their performance in in-course assessments and final examination, it was found that students with viable mental models performed significantly better than those with non-viable models. These findings are used to propose a more "constructivist" approach to teaching programming based on the integration of "cognitive conflict" and program visualisation.