Worked-out examples in a computer science introductory module
Isabel Cristina A. A. Moura · Portuguese National Funding Agency for Science, Research and Technology (RCAAP Project by FCT) · 2012
Active learning engages students in Computer Science (CS) classroom activities. However, instructing novice undergraduates to solve programming problems primarily by making them generate the solutions puts a heavy load on these students’ working memory, preventing them from learning CS fundamentals. This appears to have happened in the 2009 edition of a CS introductory module at the University of Minho, given its high failure rates. Studying CS worked-out examples directs novice undergraduates’ attention to learning the essential of relations between problem-solving moves, diminishing their working memory load. This pilot study describes how worked-out examples have been successfully applied to the 2010 edition of that same CS introductory module, reducing its failure rates. The study portrays the changes in this module from a program-generation to a program-completion approach. The results in terms of success, failure, and dropout of a more program-completion approach are given and analyzed.