Supporting CS1 with a program beacon recognition tool
Ronald George Leppan, Charmain B. Cilliers, Marinda Taljaard · 2007
Reading and understanding algorithms is not an easy task and often neglected by educators in an introductory programming course. One proposed solution to this problem is the incorporation of a technological support tool to aid program comprehension in CS1. One such support tool (BeReT) is primarily designed to encourage a student to correctly identify beacons within provided program extracts. A between-groups experiment is described which compares the program comprehension of students that used BeReT to study various introductory algorithms, with students that relied solely on traditional lecturing materials. The use of an eye tracker was incorporated into the empirical study to provide additional data to measure the effect of BeReT. The results indicate that a technological support tool like BeReT can have a positive effect on student comprehension of introductory algorithms traditionally taught in CS1.