Children's perceptions of what counts as a programming language
Colleen M. Lewis, Sarah Esper, Victor Bhattacharyya, Noelle Fa-Kaji, Neftali Dominguez, Arielle Schlesinger · Journal of computing sciences in colleges · 2014
An educational programming language may be more accessible, less frustrating, and more rewarding for young students. However, if a student thinks that the educational language does not constitute actual computer programming, it is hard to build interest in the subject and confidence in their programming skills. We conducted a study in a summer enrichment program for academically high-achieving students entering the sixth grade. Students were interviewed about their perception of various computer programming environments and our analysis of their reasoning helps us to better understand students' tacit assumptions about computer programming. Half of the students were selected to complete a worksheet showing the connections between the programming language Scratch, Java, C++, and Python. Using linear regression we found that there were no statistically significant differences between students who did and did not complete this worksheet in terms of confidence and perception.