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Kick-Start Activation to Novice Programming --- A Visualization-Based Approach

Published: 01 January 2009 Publication History

Abstract

In the beginning of learning programming students have misconceptions of what programming is. We have used a kick-start activation in the beginning of an introductory programming course (CS1) to set the record straight. A kick-start activation means introducing the deep structure of programming before the surface structure by making the students solve a certain type of problem in the first lecture. The problem is related to a realistic computer program, simple enough for everyone to understand and allow students to participate in debugging. A visualization-based approach helps making the example more concrete for students. In this article we present the concept kick-start activation and one concrete example. To support the example, we have also developed a visualization using the visualization tool JHAVE. We got positive feedback on the example and suggest further development of kick-start activations in order to make the beginning of learning programming more motivating for students.

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Cited By

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  • (2018)Introductory programming: a systematic literature reviewProceedings Companion of the 23rd Annual ACM Conference on Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education10.1145/3293881.3295779(55-106)Online publication date: 2-Jul-2018

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Elsevier Science Publishers B. V.

Netherlands

Publication History

Published: 01 January 2009

Author Tags

  1. Kick-start activation
  2. Novice programmers
  3. Teaching programming
  4. Visualizations

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  • (2018)Introductory programming: a systematic literature reviewProceedings Companion of the 23rd Annual ACM Conference on Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education10.1145/3293881.3295779(55-106)Online publication date: 2-Jul-2018

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