6533b823fe1ef96bd127e9a1

RESEARCH PRODUCT

Programming languages and dynamic instructional tools: Addressing students’ knowledge base

subject

description

The chapter presents an instructional computer environment to be used in introductory Pascal programming classes. Traditional programming courses do not foster the kind of knowledge structures that are the trademark of expert programmers. These knowledge structures or programming templates provide programmers with a ready-to-use library of routines from which they draw when writing a new program. Developed as a hypertext tool, TAP (Template Assisted Programming) is an instructional environment to teach programming that emphasizes the development and use of such a library of routines by presenting students with a multiple representation of programming knowledge. In TAP students can (a) switch easily from the functional structure of the program to the language implementation, (b) consult reference libraries of templates and programming examples, (c) import templates directly into their programs, and (d) develop their own data base of templates. In order to get feedback on how students are doing with the system, a path-tracking device has been implemented in TAP that provides a trace of a student’s interaction with the program.