Background: The pedagogy of computational thinking has gained extensive traction across numerous nations globally, with a particular emphasis on nurturing computational thinking in the formative years of early childhood. Nevertheless, the efficacy of diverse instructional approaches in the domain of programming education, with regards to fostering…

For most beginners, learning computer programming is a complex undertaking. Demotivation and learned helplessness have been widely reported. In addition to the subject's complexity, low in-class involvement has been linked to poor student performance. This work introduces a novel instructional technique called Student-Driven Probe Instruction…

The teaching and learning of programming has proven to be a challenge for students of computer courses, since it presents challenges and requires complex skills for the good development of students. The traditional teaching model is not able to motivate students and arouse their interest in the topic. The tool proposed herein, the REA-LP, aims to…

Large language models (LLMs), such as Codex, hold great promise in enhancing programming education by automatically generating feedback for students. We investigate using LLMs to generate feedback for fixing syntax errors in Python programs, a key scenario in introductory programming. More concretely, given a student's buggy program, our goal is…

Prior programming knowledge of students has a major impact on introductory programming courses. Those with prior experience often seem to breeze through the course. Those without prior experience see others breeze through the course and disengage from the material or drop out. The purpose of this study is to demonstrate that novice student…

Educators across disciplines are implementing lessons and activities that integrate computing concepts into their curriculum to broaden participation in computing. Out of myriad important introductory computing skills, it is unknown which--and to what extent--these concepts are included in these integrated experiences, especially when compared to…

Artificial intelligence (AI) has taken the forefront in discussions of the future of media and education. Although there are valid concerns, AI has the potential to be useful in learning new skills, particularly those related to computer programming. This case study depicts the ways AI was introduced to assist in teaching coding, specifically in a…

The increased trend of incorporating computer programming in the basic education system across countries requires the training of new educators. However, the current effort to increase the number of teachers teaching programming is through professional development programs for computer science (CS) teachers and from other content areas. Meanwhile,…

The ability of large language models (LLMs) to generate code has raised concerns in computer science education, as students may use tools like ChatGPT for programming assignments. While much research has focused on higher education, especially for languages like Java and Python, little attention has been given to K-12 settings, particularly for…

Explain-in-Plain-English (EiPE) questions are used by some researchers and educators to assess code reading skills. EiPE questions require students to briefly explain (in plain English) the purpose of a given piece of code, without restating what the code does line-by-line. The premise is that novices who can explain the purpose of a piece of code…

In the wake of the present inclusion of programming in mathematics education, which is a feature of curricular revisions in many countries, we have analysed newly inserted programming activities in mathematics textbooks. The aim was to investigate how such activities relate to and potentially affect students' opportunities to learn mathematics.…

Understanding the emotions experienced by programming students, particularly concerning gender and education level, is increasingly critical. However, only limited research has used text data to examine these differences within the context of programming education and emotions. This study aims to determine programming students' emotions and any…

Teaching and learning programming, and especially Object-Oriented Programming (OOP), is a complicated and challenging task. Students have to comprehend various OOP concepts and utilize them for designing object-oriented programs. Various types of educational programming environments, such as microworlds and educational games, have been devised for…

We conducted a systematic literature review on automated grading and feedback tools for programming education. We analysed 121 research papers from 2017 to 2021 inclusive and categorised them based on skills assessed, approach, language paradigm, degree of automation, and evaluation techniques. Most papers assess the correctness of assignments in…

Recently, creativity has been acknowledged for its importance in improving computer science learning and attitudes. However, very little is known about how to integrate creativity in preservice teacher computing education. Toward this end, we developed a creativity-enhancement intervention in an online Creative Computing instructional module to…