Paper Info
Title
Examples that can do harm in learning programming
Abstract
Examples form an integral part of learning to program. In this paper we argue that the role of examples should go beyond merely illustrating concepts or principles and should "sell" concepts to new programmers. We identify four common pitfalls to avoid when designing examples for teaching programming. We show how examples that are too abstract or too complex can be harmful in explaining new concepts to students. We also show how some examples used to illustrate new concepts can undermine previously taught concepts by not applying these concepts consistently. Finally, we show how some examples can do harm by undermining the very concept they are introducing. The aim of this paper is to encourage educators to think critically about examples before using them.
Year
DOI
Venue
2004
10.1145/1028664.1028702
OOPSLA Companion
Keywords
Field
DocType
teaching programming,illustrating concept,common pitfall,new programmer,new concept,integral part,java,object oriented programming
Programming language,Object-oriented programming,Learning to program,Software engineering,Computer science,Harm,Learning programming,Artificial intelligence,Java
Conference
ISBN
Citations 
PageRank 
1-58113-833-4
10
0.93
References 
Authors
3
2
Name
Order
Citations
PageRank
Katherine Malan116212.77
Ken Halland2212.55