Learning theory in Computer Science 1: an experiment supporting the use of multiple languages
Tim DeClue, Jeff Kimball, J.T. Cain · Journal of computing sciences in colleges · 2012
A great deal of time and effort have been focused on answering the question of what approach is best for teaching Computer Science 1 (CS1). Clearly, the question has significance due to the consequences of teaching the course poorly-losing talented students, lowered levels of learning, less diversity among CS majors, even the possibility of losing faculty who dislike teaching a poorly designed course. This paper presents an innovative approach based in human learning theory which uses multiple languages (Java and Python) to teach fundamental concepts of writing algorithms to novices. An experiment was designed and conducted to judge the effectiveness of the approach, and the results are discussed.