Students' early attitudes and possible misconceptions about programming

David C. Moffatt

    Research output: Contribution to conferencePaper

    Abstract

    Programming can be unpopular with some university students of computing, who may then go on to graduate without good programming skills. This unpopularity threatens student recruitment into the core computing courses and professions, and may weaken the economy. It may be that negative attitudes harm the students interest and confidence in programming, making for an unsatisfying learning experience. In this pilot study, student attitudes towards programming, and possible changes in attitude, were investigated by means of a survey on a universitys introductory programming course. Results indicate that some students have negative attitudes toward programming, and programmers; and this applies to school pupils as well. A minority of the students questioned retained their frustration and dislike of programming throughout the course, but others came to love it in the end. Interpretation of the results leads to speculation regarding the quality of the teaching of programming, both at school and at university.

    Original languageEnglish
    Publication statusPublished - 1 Jan 2010
    Event22nd Annual Workshop of the Psychology of Programming Interest Group - Leganés, Spain
    Duration: 19 Sept 201021 Sept 2010

    Conference

    Conference22nd Annual Workshop of the Psychology of Programming Interest Group
    Country/TerritorySpain
    CityLeganés
    Period19/09/1021/09/10

    Keywords

    • programming
    • higher education
    • computer science students

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