Students' perception on the use of visual tilings to support their learning of programming concepts

Document Type

Conference Proceeding

Source of Publication

Proceedings of 2013 IEEE International Conference on Teaching, Assessment and Learning for Engineering, TALE 2013

Publication Date

12-1-2013

Abstract

In this research, we explore the use of visual tiling patterns (tilings for short) in the teaching of basic programming concepts to novice students. Tilings are made by connecting regular polygons side-by-side and their construction can be defined by the use of a simple set of commands. We believe tilings are a suitable context to situate the learning of elementary programming concepts for beginning programmers. The importance of placing commands in a proper sequence, of grouping a set of commands and using them repetitively, and of identifying logical errors can be demonstrated using tilings. We have created a prototype, which allows learners to create tilings based on a simple textual language, and used it within an introductory programming class at a Chinese university, where most students have minimal or no programming experience. After using the prototype in class, we conducted a class survey asking students about their perception of the usefulness of such the tool to support their learning. In this paper, we report the findings and our experiences using the tool. © 2013 IEEE.

ISBN

9781467363556

Publisher

IEEE

First Page

121

Last Page

126

Disciplines

Computer Sciences

Keywords

computer science education, CS0/CS1 teaching, introductory programming, spatial visualization, visual tiling patterns

Scopus ID

84892638183

Indexed in Scopus

yes

Open Access

no

Link to Full Text

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