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Wed 13 Oct 2021 13:00 - 13:10 - Improving Programming Education Chair(s): Scott Fleming

Recently the `gradual programming’ approach was introduced, which proposes to lower the syntax barrier by starting with a very simple language, and gradually adding both concepts and refining syntax. Hedy is the first language to implement a gradual approach, and this paper presents the first user study on Hedy with 39 children between age 11 and age 14 who followed online lessons for six weeks. Based on lesson observations and a written survey filled out by the participants, we aim to understand the impact of using a gradual language. Our findings show that children appreciate the gradual nature of Hedy, find Hedy easy to learn and especially appreciate the power to control the difficulty of Hedy themselves. They also like and frequently use built-in education features like example code snippets. Challenges of a gradual approach are the fact that commands sometimes change, and remembering commands and specific syntax remain a challenge. According to the participants, improvements could be made by making Hedy less sensitive to syntax errors, by improving error messages and by localizing keywords to the native language of children.

Wed 13 Oct

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13:00 - 13:50
Improving Programming EducationResearch Papers
Chair(s): Scott Fleming University of Memphis
13:00
10m
Paper
Gradual Programming in Hedy: A first user studyFull paper
Research Papers
Marleen Gilsing Leiden University, Felienne Hermans Leiden University
13:10
10m
Paper
Snapdown: A Text-Based Snapshot Diagram Language for Programming EducationFull paper
Research Papers
13:20
10m
Paper
Removing the Walls Around Visual Educational Programming EnvironmentsFull paper
Research Papers
Brian Broll Vanderbilt University, Akos Ledeczi Vanderbilt University, Gordon Stein Vanderbilt University, Devin Cruz Jean Vanderbilt University, Corey Brady Vanderbilt University, Shuchi Grover Looking Glass Ventures / Stanford University, Veronica Catete North Carolina State University, Tiffany Barnes North Carolina State University
13:30
10m
Paper
Identifying Student Misunderstandings About Singly Linked Lists in the C Programming LanguageFull paper
Research Papers
Eman Almadhoun Oregon State University, Jennifer Parham-Mocello Oregon State University
13:40
10m
Short-paper
TextCode: A Tool to Support Problem Solving Among Novice ProgrammersShort paper
Research Papers
Fulvio Corno Politecnico di Torino, Luigi De Russis Politecnico di Torino, Juan Pablo Sáenz Politecnico di Torino