Effect of First Programming Language on College Students' Achievement in CS1: A Closer Look Into Graphical and Textual Languages

• In Event: 42.063 - Technology Integration in Mathematics and Computer Science Education

Abstract

Our research is a retrospective study of 10,000+ students enrolled in CS1 (introduction to computer programming) from 118 US college institutions. We employed a survey to collect such data as on the students’ background, academic achievement, programming experience prior to courses enrollment and a second survey to collect teachers final grade reports. After applying multiple matching techniques on a list of key factors, we asked if students who have learned graphical interface programming languages (e.g., Alice, Scratch) as a first programming language prior to college enrollment achieved higher final grade in CS1 than those who had first learned a textual programming language (e.g. C++, Java) as first language or than those who have not learned any programming at all.

Authors

• Chen Chen, Harvard University

• Paulina Haduong

• Karen A. Brennan, Harvard University

• Gerhard Sonnert, Harvard University

• Philip M. Sadler, Harvard University