Python for Teaching Introductory Programming: A Quantitative Evaluation
Author
Jayal, Ambikesh
Lauria, Stasha
Tucker, Allan
Swift, Stephen
Date
2011-02Acceptance date
2011
Type
Article
Publisher
Taylor and Francis
ISSN
1473-7507
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
This paper compares two different approaches of teaching introductory programming by quantitatively analysing the student assessments in a real classroom. The first approach is to emphasise the principles of object-oriented programming and design using Java from the very beginning. The second approach is to first teach the basic programming concepts (loops, branch, and use of libraries) using Python and then move on to oriented programming using Java. Each approach was adopted for one academic year (2008–09 and 2009–10) with first year undergraduate students. Quantitative analysis of the student assessments from the first semester of each year was then carried out. The results of this analysis are presented in this paper. These results suggest that the later approach leads to enhanced learning of introductory programming concepts by students.
Journal/conference proceeding
Innovation in Teaching and Learning in Information and Computer Sciences;
Citation
Jayal, A., Lauria, S., Tucker, A. and Swift, S. (2011) 'Python for teaching introductory programming: A quantitative evaluation', Innovation in Teaching and Learning in Information and Computer Sciences, 10(1), pp.86-90. DOI: 10.11120/ital.2011.10010086.
URI
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.11120/ital.2011.10010086?needAccess=truehttp://hdl.handle.net/10369/10364
Description
Article published in Innovation in Teaching and Learning in Information and Computer Sciences online on 15 December 2015, available open access at: https://doi.org/10.11120/ital.2011.10010086.
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