Mathematics and programming problem solving
Anabela Gomes, Maria Emília Bigotte de Almeida, Lilian Carmo, António José Mendes · 2006
Programming is hard to learn to most novice students. Several reasons can be pointed out to this situation, going from the inherent difficulties of the subject to the lack of mathematical problem solving competences that students should have acquired before. This later factor is, in our view, extremely important and explains many student difficulties. In this paper we present some experiences carried out during the second semester of 2005/2006, where we tried to explore the relationships between mathematical problem solving competences and the lack of programming abilities shown by a group of students who failed their initial programming course.