Active methodologies for teaching programming to computer science students

Abstract

The main objective of this study is to assess the impact on students of applying active teaching methodologies for programming in the Ingeniería Civil Informática degree program at the Universidad Viña del Mar (Chile). First year programming courses are found in nearly all engineering degree programs, especially in computer science. A questionnaire is applied to assess the relationship between students and course contents, at the beginning and at the end of the semester, by asking questions related to the first levels of Bloom's taxonomy. The results show that the application of active methodologies improves both course pass rates and the students’ abilities of remembering and understanding. However, there is no evidence to suggest that the ability to apply concepts is affected by active methodologies. It is concluded that active methodologies are effective when applied for teaching programming courses.