The Macintosh microcomputer was selected by Drexel University as part of a program that requires all freshman to have access to a personal computer. Because of a lack of good courseware for the chosen microcomputer, especially in electrical engineering, Drexel has provided faculty release time, several development systems, computer assisted…

This manual is the student's main source of information about the BASIC Instructional Program (BIP), a "hands-on laboratory" that teaches elementary programming in the BASIC language, and the BASIC language itself. The manual is organized as a reference document for students with no previous programming experience. Three major sections…

This manual is the student's main source of information about the BASIC Instructional Program (BIP), a "hands-on laboratory" that teaches elementary programming in the BASIC language, which has been converted into MAINSAIL, a language designed for portability on a broad class of computers. The manual is organized as a reference document…

A study of 115 female and 87 male college students in an introductory computer science course surveyed student attitudes in relation to gender, experience, and parental encouragement and determined that females were less interested in computers and less confident than males and that males were more experienced. After the one semester course,…

The ways in which women tend to be disadvantaged in computing courses are examined. The apparent technology-centeredness of computing, the emphasis accorded mathematics as well as narrow problem solving skills and the undervaluing of broadly based problem solving and communication skills are discussed. (Author/MLW)

Presents a model that suggests the cognitive style and personality traits that are likely to affect programming stages and empirically investigates 1 portion of that model with 192 college students. Correlations between results from the Group Embedded Figures Test and design and coding tasks are discussed. (LRW)

Presents research conducted with a group of non-computer science majors to determine the effects of prior computing experience on success in college computer science courses. Specific relationships between prior experience factors and gender were studied, and the results indicate that pre-college computing can have an important role in achieving…

Pair-programming has been found to be very beneficial in educational settings. Students who pair in their introductory programming course are more confident, have greater course completion and pass rates, and are more likely to persist in computer-related majors. Although pairing helps all students, we believe that it is particularly beneficial…

This paper summarizes the results of an investigation into whether women and men have different (concrete and abstract) styles of programming, and whether the standard computing curriculum is therefore biased against women. The theory underpinning the hypothesis is critically reviewed in practical programming contexts. A concrete means of testing…

This case provides a real-world semester long project-oriented case study for students enrolled in an electronic commerce course that has a significant development component. The case provides the technical framework in the form of functional requirements for students to design and build a fully functional transaction processing e-commerce Web…

Eighty college students with no computer programing experience were the subjects of a study to determine the effects of the use of advanced organizers and subject control of instruction on performance. Students either received a logical or a scrambled sequence of instructional frames on computer programing, were either allowed to alter the order…

Study found that field independent students scored significantly higher in instructional computer courses than field dependent students. The impact of computers in education requires planners of preservice and inservice training programs to design appropriate materials and training strategies to maximize academic success of students in…

Recursion is a central concept in computer science, yet it is difficult for beginners to comprehend. Israeli high-school students learn recursion in the framework of a special modular program in computer science (Gal-Ezer & Harel, 1999). Some of them are introduced to the concept of recursion in two different paradigms: the procedural…

Realizing the importance of teaching efficiency at early stages of the program of study in computer science (CS) on one hand, and the difficulties encountered when introducing this concept on the other, we advocate a different didactic approach in the introductory CS course (CS1). This paper describes the approach as it is used at the Open…

The development of new communication technologies and their applications has opened a broad spectrum of options to promote learning, of which a significant one is CMC--Computer-Mediated Communication. Yet, students use this medium to a relatively small extent. Our premise is that the use of these technologies depends on the level of skills and…