Cognitive Models and Intelligent Environments for Learning Programming

At present, there is a general consensus on the nature of

learning programming, but there are different opinions on

what forms an effective environment for it. It is generally

recognized that the development of a mental model is a

formidable task for the student and that learning

programming is a complex activity that depends heavily on

metacognitive skills.

This book, based on a NATO workshop, presents both pure

cognitive models and experimental learning environments, and

discusses what characteristics can make a learning model

effective, especially in relation to the learning

environment (natural or computerized). The papers cover

cognitive models related to different aspects of

programming, classes of learners, and types of environment,

and are organized in three groups: theoretical and empirical

studies on understanding programming, environments for

learning programming, and learning programming in school

environments.

Comprehension, design, construction, testing, debugging, and

verification are recognized as interdependent skills, which

require complicated analysis and may develop independently,

and indifferent orders, in novices. This book shows that

there is unlikely to be asingle path from novice to expert

and that the structure of the final product (the program)

may not constrain the process by which it comes into being

as much as some would advocate.