Conference proceeding
Distractions in programming environments
Proceedings Fifteenth Australasian Computing Education Conference (ACE2013), pp.23-30
Proceedings Fifteenth Australasian Computing Education Conference (ACE2013) (Adelaide, SA, 29/01/2013 - 01/02/2013)
2013
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Abstract
A workshop for teaching introductory programming using Lego Mindstorms NXT presented students with either a ‘complete’ or ‘subset’ form of user interface, both of which are pre-packaged with the application. The learning activities presented to all students only made use of the functionality contained within the subset interface and students presented with the complete interface only made use of the functionality associated with the subset version. Despite no reference to, or use being made of, the extended functionality of the complete interface, students undertaking activities in this mode reported higher levels of difficulty associated with learning programming and performed poorly on a test of programming concepts compared to students presented with the subset form of the interface. Results are explained in terms of Cognitive Load Theory, in particular, redundancy of information. Implications to the selection of programming languages and environments for teaching introductory programming are discussed.
Details
- Title
- Distractions in programming environments
- Creators
- Raina Mason (Author) - Southern Cross UniversityGraham Cooper (Author) - Southern Cross University
- Publication Details
- Proceedings Fifteenth Australasian Computing Education Conference (ACE2013), pp.23-30
- Conference
- Proceedings Fifteenth Australasian Computing Education Conference (ACE2013) (Adelaide, SA, 29/01/2013 - 01/02/2013)
- Publisher
- Australian Computer Society, Inc.; Darlinghurst, NSW
- Number of pages
- 23-30
- Identifiers
- 1508; 991012821843802368
- Academic Unit
- Information Technology; Faculty of Science and Engineering; School of Business and Tourism; Faculty of Business, Law and Arts
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Conference proceeding