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Effects of Course-Long Use of a Program Visualization Tool

Erkki Kaila, Teemu Rajala, Mikko-Jussi Laakso, Tapio Salakoski, Effects of Course-Long Use of a Program Visualization Tool. Conferences in Research and Practice in Information Technology 103, 97–106, 2010.

Abstract:

We studied the course-long use of a program visualization tool called ViLLE in high school
in Finland. The study was conducted in three consecutive instances of the first
programming course. In the first two instances of the course, the students did not
utilize ViLLE – except for a short session – while in the last instance students did
ViLLE exercises throughout the whole course. The students who used ViLLE got
significantly better results from the course’s final exam. This supports our hypothesis that
program visualization can be an effective method in teaching programming, and indicates
that we should continue developing program visualization methods to further enhance
learning.

BibTeX entry:

@ARTICLE{inpKaRaLaSa10a,
  title = {Effects of Course-Long Use of a Program Visualization Tool},
  author = {Kaila, Erkki and Rajala, Teemu and Laakso, Mikko-Jussi and Salakoski, Tapio},
  journal = {Conferences in Research and Practice in Information Technology},
  volume = {103},
  publisher = {Australian Computer Society},
  pages = {97–106},
  year = {2010},
  keywords = {Programming education, program visualization, long-term effects of visualization, integrating visualization into a course},
}

Belongs to TUCS Research Unit(s): Learning and Reasoning Lab

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