Cognitive, Affective, and Dispositional Components of Learning Programming
Alex Lishinski · 2016
Programming is a complex cognitive skill that develops over an extended period of time. The development of programming ability is the product of a number of different cognitive, affective, and dispositional factors. Furthermore, programming ability itself is a complex learning outcome that cannot be measured simply. Prior research on the individual factors that are associated with success in programming is extensive, but detailed pictures of the interactions over time of the many factors involved are rare to non-existent. My dissertation research focuses on building such a detailed picture of the factors that contribute to students developing programming ability. If these processes were better understood by CS education researchers, then interventions to improve student learning in introductory programming contexts could be more theoretically informed and effectively applied.