Improving CS1 Programming Learning with Visual Execution Environments
Students in their first year of computer science (CS1) at universities typically struggle to grasp fundamental programming concepts. This paper discusses research carried out using a Java-based visual execution environment (VEE) to introduce fundamental programming concepts to CS1 students. The VEE...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2023-10-01
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| Series: | Information |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2078-2489/14/10/579 |
| _version_ | 1827720799681773568 |
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| author | Raquel Hijón-Neira Celeste Pizarro John French Pedro Paredes-Barragán Michael Duignan |
| author_facet | Raquel Hijón-Neira Celeste Pizarro John French Pedro Paredes-Barragán Michael Duignan |
| author_sort | Raquel Hijón-Neira |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Students in their first year of computer science (CS1) at universities typically struggle to grasp fundamental programming concepts. This paper discusses research carried out using a Java-based visual execution environment (VEE) to introduce fundamental programming concepts to CS1 students. The VEE guides beginner programmers through the fundamentals of programming, utilizing visual metaphors to explain and direct interactive tasks implemented in Java. The study’s goal was to determine if the use of the VEE in the instruction of a group of 63 CS1 students from four different groups enrolled in two academic institutions (based in Madrid, Spain and Galway, Ireland) results in an improvement in their grasp of fundamental programming concepts. The programming concepts covered included those typically found in an introductory programming course, e.g., input and output, conditionals, loops, functions, arrays, recursion, and files. A secondary goal of this research was to examine if the use of the VEE enhances students’ understanding of particular concepts more than others, i.e., whether there exists a topic-dependent benefit to the use of the VEE. The results of the study found that use of the VEE in the instruction of these students resulted in a significant improvement in their grasp of fundamental programming concepts compared with a control group who received instruction without the use of the VEE. The study also found a pronounced improvement in the students’ grasp of particular concepts (e.g., operators, conditionals, and loops), suggesting the presence of a topic-dependent benefit to the use of the VEE. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-10T21:10:28Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-0a637205b1cc438e80d740b11ec001ea |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2078-2489 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-10T21:10:28Z |
| publishDate | 2023-10-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Information |
| spelling | doaj.art-0a637205b1cc438e80d740b11ec001ea2023-11-19T16:48:28ZengMDPI AGInformation2078-24892023-10-01141057910.3390/info14100579Improving CS1 Programming Learning with Visual Execution EnvironmentsRaquel Hijón-Neira0Celeste Pizarro1John French2Pedro Paredes-Barragán3Michael Duignan4Computer Science Department, Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, 28032 Madrid, SpainApplied Mathematics Department, Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, Móstoles, 28933 Madrid, SpainDepartment of Computer Science & Applied Physics, Atlantic Technological University, H91 T8NW Galway, IrelandComputer Science Department, Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, 28032 Madrid, SpainDepartment of Computer Science & Applied Physics, Atlantic Technological University, H91 T8NW Galway, IrelandStudents in their first year of computer science (CS1) at universities typically struggle to grasp fundamental programming concepts. This paper discusses research carried out using a Java-based visual execution environment (VEE) to introduce fundamental programming concepts to CS1 students. The VEE guides beginner programmers through the fundamentals of programming, utilizing visual metaphors to explain and direct interactive tasks implemented in Java. The study’s goal was to determine if the use of the VEE in the instruction of a group of 63 CS1 students from four different groups enrolled in two academic institutions (based in Madrid, Spain and Galway, Ireland) results in an improvement in their grasp of fundamental programming concepts. The programming concepts covered included those typically found in an introductory programming course, e.g., input and output, conditionals, loops, functions, arrays, recursion, and files. A secondary goal of this research was to examine if the use of the VEE enhances students’ understanding of particular concepts more than others, i.e., whether there exists a topic-dependent benefit to the use of the VEE. The results of the study found that use of the VEE in the instruction of these students resulted in a significant improvement in their grasp of fundamental programming concepts compared with a control group who received instruction without the use of the VEE. The study also found a pronounced improvement in the students’ grasp of particular concepts (e.g., operators, conditionals, and loops), suggesting the presence of a topic-dependent benefit to the use of the VEE.https://www.mdpi.com/2078-2489/14/10/579programmingvisual execution environmentJavavisualizationcontextualization |
| spellingShingle | Raquel Hijón-Neira Celeste Pizarro John French Pedro Paredes-Barragán Michael Duignan Improving CS1 Programming Learning with Visual Execution Environments Information programming visual execution environment Java visualization contextualization |
| title | Improving CS1 Programming Learning with Visual Execution Environments |
| title_full | Improving CS1 Programming Learning with Visual Execution Environments |
| title_fullStr | Improving CS1 Programming Learning with Visual Execution Environments |
| title_full_unstemmed | Improving CS1 Programming Learning with Visual Execution Environments |
| title_short | Improving CS1 Programming Learning with Visual Execution Environments |
| title_sort | improving cs1 programming learning with visual execution environments |
| topic | programming visual execution environment Java visualization contextualization |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2078-2489/14/10/579 |
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