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.

REFERENCES

• 1: Anthony, D.L.G. Patterns for Classroom Education, in Proceedings of PLoP '95 (Illinois, USA, September 1995).
• 2: Per-Gunnar Johansson, Programming by example (poster): an instructional approach allowing introductory students to quickly grasp the power and excitement of programming, ACM SIGCSE Bulletin, v.30 n.3, p.284, Sept. 1998
• 3: L. R. Neal, A system for example-based programming, Proceedings of the SIGCHI conference on Human factors in computing systems: Wings for the mind, p.63-68, March 1989
• 4: Conrad Weisert, Pseudo object-oriented programming considered harmful, ACM SIGPLAN Notices, v.37 n.4, April 2002 [doi>10.1145/510857.510865]

INDEX TERMS

Primary Classification:
  K. Computing Milieux
  K.3 COMPUTERS AND EDUCATION
      K.3.2 Computer and Information Science Education
          Subjects: Computer science education

Keywords:
Java, examples, object-oriented programming, teaching programming