Does story programming prepare for coding?

Abstract

In this research study, we investigate the impact of using the Story Programming approach to teach CS concepts on student performance in a subsequent C++ class. In particular, we compare how students receiving little or no coding to learn and apply these concepts perform in comparison to students who learn these concepts only in the context of coding. While past research has shown that exposure to programming is not a predictor of success in such courses, these studies are based on a 15-week versus 10-week course and do not control for the CS concepts and programming to which the students have been exposed. Consequently, we hypothesize that students from the Story Programming approach will perform worse in the following C++ class. Surprisingly, we find that this is not true: Students from the Story Programming approach with little to no coding do not significantly differ from their peers receiving a traditional code-focused approach.