Employing subgoals in computer programming education

Abstract

The rapid integration of technology into our professional and personal lives has left many education systems ill-equipped to deal with the influx of people seeking computing education. To improve computing education, we are applying techniques that have been developed for other procedural fields. The present study applied such a technique, subgoal labeled worked examples, to explore whether it would improve programming instruction. The first two experiments, conducted in a laboratory, suggest that the intervention improves undergraduate learners’ problem-solving performance and affects how learners approach problem-solving. The third experiment demonstrates that the intervention has similar, and perhaps stronger, effects in an online learning environment with in-service K-12 teachers who want to become qualified to teach computing courses. By implementing this subgoal intervention as a tool for educators to teach themselves and their students, education systems could improve computing education and better prepare learners for an increasingly technical world.

Keywords:

• Subgoal learning
• online learning
• computing education
• worked examples
• professional development

Acknowledgement

The authors would like to thank Barbara Ericson for her consultation and Frank Durso for critiques on earlier versions of the manuscript. The authors would also like to thank Joe Dagosta, Catherine Hwang, Hannah Fletcher, and Andrea Crews.