“Cowboy” and “Cowgirl” Programming: The Effects of Precollege Programming Experiences on Success in College Computer Science
Chen Chen, Stuart Jeckel, Gerhard Sonnert, Philip Michael Sadler · International Journal of Computer Science Education in Schools · 2019
This study examines the relationship between students' pre-college experience with computers and their later success in introductory computer science classes in college. Data were drawn from a nationally representative sample of 10,197 students enrolled in computer science at 118 colleges and universities in the United States. We found that students taking introductory college computer science classes who had programmed on their own prior to college had a more positive attitude toward computer science, lower odds of dropping out, and earned higher grades, compared with students who had learned to program in a pre-college class, but had never programmed on own, or those who had never learned programming before college. Moreover, nearly half of the effect on final grades was mediated by a positive attitude toward computing.