Copy the page URI to the clipboard
Piwek, Paul; Wermelinger, Michel; Laney, Robin and Walker, Richard
(2019).
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1145/3294016.3294024
URL: https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3294016.3294024?cid...
Abstract
This paper introduces the approach to teaching problem-solving and text-based programming that has been adopted in a large, post-18, undergraduate, key introductory module (L4 FHEQ) on Computing and Information Technology at the Open University (UK). We describe how students are equipped with programming, but foremost problem-solving skills. Key ingredients of the approach are interleaving of skills, explicit worked examples of decomposition, formulation of algorithms (with the help of patterns for recurring problems) and translation to code. Preliminary results are encouraging: students’ average course work scores increase as they progress through the course.