Related papers: An Investigation Into Secondary School Students' D…
When Computer Science (CS) students try to use or extend open-source software (OSS) projects, they often encounter the common challenge of OSS failing to build on their local machines. Even though OSS often provides ready-to-build packages,…
Programming is a craft which often demands that learners engage in a significantly high level of individual practice and experimentation in order to acquire basic competencies. However, practice behaviours can be undermined during the early…
This study examines how AI code assistants shape novice programmers experiences during a two-part exam in an introductory programming course. In the first part, students completed a programming task with access to AI support; in the second,…
As programmers write code, they often edit and retry multiple times, creating rich "interaction traces" that reveal how they approach coding tasks and provide clues about their level of skill development. For novice programmers in…
We describe a method of automatic feedback provision for students learning programming and computational methods in Python. We have implemented, used and refined this system since 2009 for growing student numbers, and summarise the design…
Motivated by experience in programming and in the teaching of programming, we make another assault on the longstanding problem of debugging. Having explored why debuggers are not used as widely as one might expect, especially in functional…
This full paper in the research track evaluates the usage of data logged from cybersecurity exercises in order to predict students who are potentially at risk of performing poorly. Hands-on exercises are essential for learning since they…
With the recent advances in AI programming assistants such as GitHub Copilot, programming is not limited to classical programming languages anymore--programming tasks can also be expressed and solved by end-users in natural text. Despite…
Recent releases of open-source research codes and solvers for numerically solving partial differential equations in Python present a great opportunity for educators to integrate these codes into the classroom in a variety of ways. The ease…
Producing high-quality code is essential as it makes a codebase more maintainable, reducing the cost and effort associated with a project. However, students learning to program are often given short, automatically graded programming tasks…
The context of this work is specification, detection and ultimately removal of detectable harmful patterns in source code that are associated with defects in design and implementation of software. In particular, we investigate five code…
Introductory programming courses aim to teach students to write code independently. However, transitioning from studying worked examples to generating their own code is often difficult and frustrating for students, especially those with…
Identifying and resolving logic errors can be one of the most frustrating challenges for novices programmers. Unlike syntax errors, for which a compiler or interpreter can issue a message, logic errors can be subtle. In certain conditions,…
Technology enables a more sustainable and universally accessible educational model. However, technology has brought a paradox into students' lives: it helps them engage in learning activities, but it is also a source of distraction. During…
Computational Thinking (CT) has been investigated from different perspectives. This research aims to investigate how secondary school girls perceive CT practices -- the problem-solving practices that students apply while they are engaged in…
This paper reports on the outcomes of a survey implemented in secondary schools. The survey identified the types of access and use of computers by students. It was found that the students had significant access to computers but they were…
Code debugging is a crucial task in software engineering, which attracts increasing attention. While remarkable success has been made in the era of large language models (LLMs), current research still focuses on the simple no-library or…
This work-in-progress research paper explores the efficacy of a small-scale microelectronics debugging education intervention utilizing quasi-experimental design in an introductory microelectronics course for third-year electrical and…
Productive Failure (PF) is a learning approach where students initially tackle novel problems targeting concepts they have not yet learned, followed by a consolidation phase where these concepts are taught. Recent application in STEM…
Background: Academic search engines (i.e., digital libraries and indexers) play an increasingly important role in systematic reviews however these engines do not seem to effectively support such reviews, e.g., researchers confront usability…