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Intuitions and anecdotes are fine, but there is actual research on visual programming languages, as well as on computer science education. Visualizations, anim

Intuitions and anecdotes are fine, but there is actual research on visual programming languages, as well as on computer science education. Visualizations, animations, and metaphors do help beginners learning programming and understand programming concepts. Scratch is currently probably the most well known tool for beginning students to use for programming (used with kindergartners all the way up to college freshmen).

JoeAltmaier 14y ago
Some people are helped by visual metaphors. Others learn by hearing; other by reading. And then there was that thread about some people never, ever 'getting it' and being as hopeless after a semester class as the first day. I've even met folks who, after years of computer classes, still hadn't figured out that code is executed in sequence.
- edtechdev 14y ago
  Actually a lot of research over the past few decades has shown there is not really evidence for 'learning styles' - that one person might be a visual learner, and another an auditory learning, and so forth. Learning isn't just about sensing (hearing, viewing), anyway, it is more about action. What are the students actually doing, and what can students do with a particular tool. Actually everything we perceive is tied to what we do (see: enactivism, embodied cognition, ecological psychology). Many students aren't 'getting' programming in CS classes partly because it is not taught well (if instructors switched from lectures to active learning techniques, student retention and learning might double or triple, based on research in other domains), partly because the tools themselves are not designed especially well or are not designed with beginners in mind (including python and java), partly because it is often taught devoid of any context (see, situated learning and situated cognition), partly because of low student self-efficacy (what you mentioned - thinking they just can't learn this stuff), and tons of other reasons.
  - JoeAltmaier 14y ago
    Oh come on - I personally know people who've hired readers in college because they absorb more efficiently through hearing it spoken aloud. Others despise pictures - they want written descriptions. Some the other way around. Rationalize it any way you want - they learn faster and better one way than another, measurably. And about bad teaching: the whole class gets it, but a few. The teacher is clearly not addressing their needs, but they are also clearly not doing it 'wrong' - many do understand just fine.

JoeAltmaier 14y ago

Some people are helped by visual metaphors. Others learn by hearing; other by reading. And then there was that thread about some people never, ever 'getting it' and being as hopeless after a semester class as the first day. I've even met folks who, after years of computer classes, still hadn't figured out that code is executed in sequence.

edtechdev 14y ago
Actually a lot of research over the past few decades has shown there is not really evidence for 'learning styles' - that one person might be a visual learner, and another an auditory learning, and so forth. Learning isn't just about sensing (hearing, viewing), anyway, it is more about action. What are the students actually doing, and what can students do with a particular tool. Actually everything we perceive is tied to what we do (see: enactivism, embodied cognition, ecological psychology). Many students aren't 'getting' programming in CS classes partly because it is not taught well (if instructors switched from lectures to active learning techniques, student retention and learning might double or triple, based on research in other domains), partly because the tools themselves are not designed especially well or are not designed with beginners in mind (including python and java), partly because it is often taught devoid of any context (see, situated learning and situated cognition), partly because of low student self-efficacy (what you mentioned - thinking they just can't learn this stuff), and tons of other reasons.
- JoeAltmaier 14y ago
  Oh come on - I personally know people who've hired readers in college because they absorb more efficiently through hearing it spoken aloud. Others despise pictures - they want written descriptions. Some the other way around. Rationalize it any way you want - they learn faster and better one way than another, measurably. And about bad teaching: the whole class gets it, but a few. The teacher is clearly not addressing their needs, but they are also clearly not doing it 'wrong' - many do understand just fine.