Table of Links
II. Background and Related Work
A. Learning to Program: SCRATCH and Pair Programming
B. Gender in Programming Education and Pair Programming
III. Course Design
A. Introducing Young Learners to Pair Programming
B. Implementation of Pair Programming
IV. Method
A. Pre-Study and B. Data Collection
C. Dataset and D. Data Analysis
V. Results
VI. Conclusions and Future Work, Acknowledgments, and References
A. Learning to Program: SCRATCH and Pair Programming
CS and especially its subfield of SE are often perceived as abstract and male-dominated by society [6]–[9], [17]. Although learning to program can be difficult and frustrating [6], [18], it is important to introduce it already at a young age [3], [4]. The block-based programming environment SCRATCH offers an easy and playful introduction to programming for young learners: The use of blocks avoids the necessity to learn syntax, and the many figures (sprites) and backgrounds (stages) [19] offer ample creative potential.
A common approach in general to improve the programming process is to work in teams. For example, in professional software development PP is often used [13]. In PP, two developers work on a problem in a pair, using the roles of driver and navigator: While the driver is the person who types code, the navigator is responsible for strategic guidance and providing feedback. Research has shown that young learners are more successful when programming in pairs rather than alone. In particular, performance and programming knowledge has been found to be higher [4], [17], [20]–[23], fun and positive attitude increase [20], [22], and PP is beneficial for self-confidence and interest [24].
Besides the immediate advantages for learners, teachers also benefit from students helping each other, thus reducing the supervision effort [9], [25]. However, at the same time teachers have to ensure that the rules of PP are clearly communicated to avoid confusion [20], [26] and inhibiting learning success. A further question to consider is how to build pairs, since grouping is often key to success, and students should feel comfortable and have a good learning atmosphere that strengthens social aspects like communication and collaboration [12], [21].
Authors:
(1) Isabella Graßl, University of Passau, Passau, Germany ([email protected]);
(2) Gordon Fraser, University of Passau, Passau, Germany ([email protected]).
This paper is