Asian Social Science; Vol. 14, No. 11; 2018 ISSN 1911-2017 E-ISSN 1911-2025 Published by Canadian Center of Science and Education
Programming Skills and the Relation in Fostering Students’ Higher Order Thinking Ibrahim Abdullah Alshaye1, Nurul Farhana Jumaat1 & Zaidatun Tasir1 1
Department of Educational Sciences, Mathematics and Creative Multimedia, School of Education, Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Skudai, Johor, Malaysia Correspondence: Ibrahim Abdullah Alshaye, Department of Educational Sciences, Mathematics and Creative Multimedia, School of Education, Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310 Skudai, Johor, Malaysia. Tel: 966-55-322-6635. E-mail:
[email protected] Received: August 1, 2018 doi:10.5539/ass.v14n11p76
Accepted: September 1, 2018
Online Published: October 22, 2018
URL: https://doi.org/10.5539/ass.v14n11p76
Abstract Programming skills (PS) refer to coding and debugging that are required for those who write a program in any programming language. Coding can be described as the implementation aspect of programming, whereas debugging can broadly be defined as fixing any incorrect code that is found after running the programming test. Higher-order thinking skills (HOTs) refer to the top three levels of Bloom’s taxonomy which are Analysis, Synthesis, and Evaluation. This study aims to determine the relationship between PS and HOTs among secondary students. Many studies indicate that students who attend programming courses for first time have low levels of performance in PS. Coding and debugging skills reflect higher-order thinking levels. Therefore, an objective of this study was to investigate the effect of coding and debugging skills on their HOTs. The benefits of having PS among learners are that they are able to achieve HOTs. Indeed, these relationships may be explained by programmers need to apply all these HOTs throughout the three phases of the programming process. Students who have low levels of PS are able to achieve the analysis level, while students who have moderate levels of PS able to achieve the synthesis level, and finally, students with high levels of PS are able to achieve the evaluation level. Keywords: programming skills, coding, debugging, problem-solving, higher-order thinking 1. Introduction Learning programming skills is not an easy task for those who are attempting to learn programming for first time, as supported by many research studies (Mhashi & Alakeel, 2013). Novice students lack the knowledge and skills needed for programming, such as coding and debugging; these skills are essential to computer-related fields of study (Jawdah, 2015; McCracken et al., 2001; Mhashi & Alakeel, 2013; Taha, 2015). Most freshmen students taking programming courses face difficulties due to a lack of ability to analyse problems (Gondim, Ambrósio, & Costa, 2011; Ismail, 2005). The benefits of having programming skills among learners are that they are able to program and develop computer apps, as well as to achieve higher levels of thinking (Fessakis, Gouli, & Mavroudi, 2013). Many researches have been conducted for the purpose of investigating why novice students have difficulty when learning to program, especially in understanding programming mechanics, writing and debugging code, recognising the types of variable, and applying of programming techniques to different situations and problems (Alastal, 2009; Aljaberi, 2005; Alturki, 2016; Carbone, Hurst, Mitchell, & Gunstone, 2001; Eid, 2009; Ismail, 2005; Jawdah, 2015; McCracken et al., 2001; Mhashi & Alakeel, 2013; Mohammed, 2015; Soloway, Ehrlich, Bonar, & Greenspan, 1983; Taha, 2015; Thomas, Ratcliffe, Woodbury, & Jarman, 2002). For example, an early study by McCracken et al. (2001) showed that programming skill is a predictable outcome of a student's teaching in computer science, yet and many computer teachers report that novice students lack such skills. A universal anticipation is that novice students have to understand solving problems process in the field of computer science. From a set of related program-writing tasks, each student was expected to write a particular program. Due to the weak problem-solving capacity of most of the students, their performance in executing the task was poor and many were not able to even get close to the completion of the assigned task (Lopez, Whalley, Robbins, & Lister, 2008; McCracken et al., 2001). 76
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Fessakis eet al. (2013) stated that programming reequires higherr order thinkinng skills (HO OTs). Programming environmeents assist learrners to organiize, analyse, aand evaluate thheir ideas in a clear way during the proce ess of problem-soolving. The prresent study seeeks to determine the relationnship betweenn PS and HOTss among secon ndary students. 2. Literatu ure Review 2.1 Codingg and Debuggiing Skills Every persson has thoughhts, but a littlee can make theem take place. The ability too write code diivides persons who have thougghts from thosse who can m make their thouughts into a truuth. We shouldd encourage oour student to learn programm ming, because we w want them tto be a creatorr and thinker w who can bring thought to lifee. Coding is usually used as a synonym forr programminng, when the skill to write code is needded. It can bee described as the applicationn of programm ming. Furtherrmore, Codingg gives studennts confidencee that they caan be builderss and designers. Duncan, Bell,, and Tanimotoo (2014) statedd that the term ‘coding’ is wiidespread, thuss it would be useful u to use it innstead of ‘proogramming’. F Figure 1 shows a sample off source code for the Zakat Al Mal Calcu ulator project written in Visual Basic (VB).
Figurre 1. Source coode of Zakat A Al Mal Project Sourcce: Computer and Informatioon Technologyy 1 curricular ((MOE, 2017). In turn, deebugging is fixxing any incorrrect code thatt is found afteer running the programming test. Thereby,, it is necessary to debug the code in any appplication to vverify its runtiime behaviourr and to fix anny issues that occur o (Satheesh & Subashni, 2013). 2 ming is beneficcial and possibble to novice sttudents. Accorrding Hiltunen ((2016) has shoown that teaching programm to Duncann, Bell, and Taanimoto (20144), there are cchallenges of tteaching progrramming to nnovice studentss, for instance, iin the contextt, culture, teaccher training, learning toolss, confidence, skills and enngagement level of can help studdents to analyyse and assesss their ideas dduring the tim learning eenvironment. Programming P me of solving a problem (Fesssakis et al., 20013; Hiltunen,, 2016). Learnning to program m (coding) heelp novice stud dents make sense of exploree ideas and m make things, for work andd play. Furtheermore, it helps them to work collaboratiively and creattivity (Europeaan Comission, 2015). 2.2 Studennts’ Performance in Coding aand Debuggingg Skills Nowadayss, learning how w to program m will be beneeficial for studdents due to a large numbeer of software e and devices arround us in thhe world. It w will be help theem to use theese devices annd software fleexibly. In futu ure, it appear thaat the need foor programmerrs will increasse because off the fast grow wth of computting in commu unity (Boyer, Laangevin, & Gaaspar, 2008; D Duncan et al., 2014; Hiltuneen, 2016). Novvice students sspend little tim me in testing codde, then attemppt to settle theeir code with sm mall fixes; stuudents also havve difficulties w with various issues related to program connstruction (Diijkstra, 1989; Mhashi & A Alakeel, 2013). Whereas, sstudents can learn programm ming with the correct c way annd obtain the abbility to write their own proograms, when tthe skills in lo ogical thinking aare at a high leevel. This willl possibly lead to boosted ppotentiality inn employment market. (Hiltu unen, 2016). Arabia, many studies conduucted to invesstigate the perrformance of programming among secon ndary In Saudi A school stuudents, the resuults of these sstudies revealeed that generallly students suuffer low levels of programming 77
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skills, whiile the perform mance is dissim milar betweenn theoretical annd practical paarts. Students have the abiliity to follow andd understand thhe teacher whhile he or she iis explaining pprogramming llessons in theoory. However, they face difficculties while performing practical exercisees, such as beiing unable to w write program m code accordin ng to problem soolving steps (A Alamri, 2014; Alferm, 2011;; Alghamdi, 20014; Alhabashhi, 2015; Alsheeikhi, 2012). Figure 2 illustratee the students’ gap between pperformance inn theoretical annd practical paarts. As example, Alsheikhi (2012) conductedd a study on the effectivenesss of an educatiional softwaree program propposal to providde Saudi secon ndary school stuudents with proogramming skkills in VB. Hee observed thaat during the ccourse of his sstudies, it was very difficult foor the studentss to understandd programminng instructions and write com mputer program ms, no matter how easy they were. The stuudents at this sstage had the ability to folloow the teacheer while explaiining the comp puter lessons annd to understannd the lessonss, but when thhey were doinng programminng exercises iin laboratory, these students w were unable to write or even ddebug code, thhey suffered loow levels of prroblem-solvingg ability. There efore, the aim off this paper waas to investigatte the effect off coding and ddebugging skills on higher-order thinking skills (HOTs) am mong novice sttudents.
Figure 2. The studentts’ gap betweeen performancee in the theorettical part and ppractical part inn Computer an nd Informationn Technology 1 (CIT1) curriccular in Saudi A Arabia As a compputer teacher foor the Ministryy of Educationn in Saudi Arabbia, the researccher has foundd that the Comp puter and Inform mation Technoology 1 (CIT11) curriculum is based on sseveral basic sskills. Such ass, problem solving programm ming by (VB) iss one of the moost important bbasic skills in stage one of seecondary schoool in Saudi Arrabia. Problem ssolving containns several stepps: Analysis oof problem ellements, write an algorithm m, draw flowch harts, writing a pprogram by usse a programm ming languagee (coding), inteerpreting the pprogram into aassembly langu uage, and testingg the program and fixing its errors (debuggging) (MOE, 22017). These stteps require skkill enhanceme ent in both theoryy and practice. Table 1 illusttrate the syllabbus of CIT1 cuurricular in Sauudi Arabia. Table 1. Thhe syllabus off CIT1 curricullar Module 1
Module 2
Introducction to Prograamming
The concept of programmiing T The importancce of programm ming
Solving Programming P Problem
The goal oof learning Sollving Programm ming Problem Steeps to solve prrogramming prroblem Problem iidentification Writing aan algorithm Draw a flowchart
Visual Basic
The stages of writiing the program m by VB Data tyypes in VB Calculatioons and Logic VB Progrramming tools Proceduress and Functions
Module 3
Source: (M MOE, 2017)
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The Minisstry of Educatioon (MOE) in S Saudi Arabia rreported that C Computer and IInformation Teechnology 1 (C CIT1) is a compuulsory course for all majorss in secondaryy school that iis taught in thhe first year. C CIT1 involves both theoreticall and practical skills. The aim m of CIT1 is tto enable studeents to master the basic metthods and desig gn of programm ming and cultivvate their abilitty to analyse aand work throuugh problem soolving steps byy computer (M MOE, 2017). Tabble 2 illustratees solving proogramming prroblem steps; these steps m must be follow wed one by on ne to accomplishh the end goal. mming Problem m Steps that sttated by Minisstry of Educatioon (2017). Table 2. Soolving Program Steps Noo.
Solving Programming P Problem Stepss
1st
Problem identificationn by finding oout the type oof input data, and the proccessing and output requirem ment.
2nd
Writing an a algorithm: a set of steps w which can be uused to handle and solve the pproblem.
3
rd
Drawing a flowchart.
4th
puter Writing a computer proogram (Codingg) by writing ddown the stepss from the algoorithm in comp programm ming form.
5th
Translatiing the computter program coode to machinee language usiing a compilerr, as this is the only languagee that is directlyy understood bby the computeer.
6th
Testing and a Debuggingg. Locating annd correcting aany errors (buggs) and ensuriing that all datta are processedd properly.
Relationship beetween Studennts’ Higher-Orrder Thinking Skills and Thheir Performannce in Coding g and 2.3 The R Debuggingg Skills Programm ming constitutes an importantt competence ffor learning annd for the deveelopment of allgorithmic problem solving skkills, as well ass HOTs (Fessaakis et al., 20133). HOTs allow w students to aanalyse and crreate new bodiies of knowledgee from currennt knowledge tthat used todaay, and then too evaluate thiis lately know wledge. (Prayag ga & Coffey, 20008). Fessakiss et al. (20133) highlight thhat learning pprogramming skills can bee beneficial to o the enhancemeent of HOTs generally. Prrogramming llanguage instrruction is currrently used aas an instructtional environmeent to promote higher-order tthinking skillss (Palumbo, 19990). From a ppedagogical vieew, it is consid dered valuable inn the enhanceement of HOT Ts over the deevelopment off algorithmic pproblem-solvinng skills (DiS Sessa, 2000; Papeert, 1991). Bloom’s taaxonomy idenntifies six separrate levels of kknowledge within the cogniitive domain, nnamely knowle edge, comprehennsion, applicattion, analysis, synthesis, andd evaluation ((Refer to Figuure 3). This paaper focuses on n the higher-ordder thinking skkills (HOTs), w which include aanalysis, synthesis, and evaluuation.
Figure 3.. Bloom’s Taxxonomy (Bloom m, Engelhart, F Furst, Hill, & K Krathwohl, 19956) Anderson and Krathwohhl (2001) revissed Bloom's Taaxonomy as foollows: remem mbering, understanding, applying, Analysing, evaluating, and a creating. T The difference bbetween the orriginal and revvised versions of the taxonom my is 79
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that evaluaation is no longger the highestt level. A new category calleed ‘creating’ iss at the top. Thhe taxonomy iss also reworded from nouns to t verbs. How wever, the researcher in thiis paper was adopted the ooriginal versio on of Bloom’s T Taxonomy (19556), as studentts on programm ming courses need to syntheesize and impllement code before they can evvaluate it. 3. Recomm mendation Programm ming skills are vital for anyonne studying prrogramming courses. In thiss paper, prograamming skills refer to coding and debugging. Learners are required to have thesee skills to wrrite a program m (coding) in n any programm ming language,, which will ssubsequently be processed by a computter compiler. The compiler is a program w which translattes a program m written in oone programm ming language to an equivaalent program in a machine laanguage that a computer's processor underrstands. Thereeby, the debuggger is used to test program code. c The debuggger is a compuuter program tthat is used to find bugs/erroors in coding. IIt also allows tthe execution of o the program too be stopped, and a can help thhe programmerr to ensure thaat the program is behaving coorrectly and to help in identifyying bugs in thhe code. In turnn, the program mmer must fix any wrong codde that is founnd after running the programm ming test (debuggging). Problem-solving requirees the use of HOTs suchh as analysis, synthesis annd evaluation.. The role off the programm mer is to carry out the codinng process andd perform testting and mainntenance proceedures. During g this process, thhe programmeer needs to appply all HOTs among the thhree phases. Inn the first phaase, when we give students a programmingg problem, theey need to undderstand and aanalyse the prroblem: that iss, to determine the input data,, processing, and a outputs. Thhen, in the seccond phase, stuudents have too synthesize thhe solution (cod ding) and implem ment the code based on the fflowchart. In tthe last phase, they need to eevaluate the coode. The code must be verifiedd and validatedd (debugging). After the debbugger has tessted the prograam code, then he or she needs to correct any errors (Prayyaga & Coffeyy, 2008). The researcher reccommended thhat to take intoo account imp prove HOTs amoong secondaryy school studeents in order tto enhance prrogramming skkills which inncludes coding g and debuggingg skills. 4. Conclussion HOTs are an importantt way to imprrove students' learning abiliity (Wang, 20011). Benjaminn Bloom creatted a taxonomy that includes six different levels, namelyy Recall, Com mprehension, A Application, A Analysis, Synth hesis, and Evaluuation (Bloom m et al., 19566). These leveels are observvable actions that indicate that somethin ng is happeningg in the brain. In this papeer, the prograamming skills (coding and debugging) reflect higher-o order thinking leevels, which arre the top threee levels of Blooom’s taxonom my (analysis, syynthesis, evaluuation).
Figuree 4. The relatioonship betweenn PS and HOT Ts w have low levels of proggramming skillls are able to achieve the annalysis level, while w In this sennse, students who students w who have modderate levels of programmiing skills ablee to achieve the synthesis level, and fin nally, students w with high levelss of programm ming skills are aable to achievee the evaluatioon level (Refer to Figure 4). Acknowleedgments The authorrs would like to t thank Universiti Teknologgi Malaysia (U UTM) for the ffinancial support under Rese earch Universityy Grant (RUG Tier 2) vot no.. Q.J130000.26631.13J96. Referencees Alamri, S S. M. (2014). The Influential Role of Electronic Suupport Techniiques into Deeveloping skills of problem-solving of Object-Orieented program mming for Seecondary Stagge Female-Stuudents. Arab East Gradduate Studies colleges. c 80
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