Useful Activities for Improving the Attitudes and Characteristic of Student Groups in Programming Course

Abstract

In a programming course, lectures were given using a slideshow, and syntax and example programs from a textbook were explained. Afterward, students received worksheets with example programs and problems for practicing syntactic elements, and the professor explained the worksheets. The students then performed an exercise where they created a program based on example programs as an assignment. They were instructed to finish as much of their program as possible during class and to submit their program file and a report file over an e-learning site. They could learn either in class or through lecture slides uploaded to an e-learning site. Students' attitudes were assessed before and after the course. The attitudes and activities were analyzed with cluster analysis. Useful activities for improving the attitudes in a programming course were found by chi-square analysis of cross-tabulation of attitude and activity clusters. Principal component analysis of attitudes was conducted. Students were classified based on principal components of attitude scores. Characteristic of student groups is explained. The findings are reported in this paper.