| Abstract: | Variation in high school students' achievement in Pascal programming courses was examined as a function of individual differences in self-reported engagement in autonomous problem-solving activities and of differences in course characteristics. Also examined were relationships between course characteristics and extent of engagement in different problem-solving activities. A total of 107 students in eight introductory courses and 79 students in seven Advanced Placement (AP) courses completed questionnaires about their problem-solving activities and about characteristics of their courses as well as a criterion test requiring the reformulation of code in an existing program. Results of regression analyses indicated that student differences in problem-solving activities account for variance in criterion performance, especially in AP courses. In addition, overall, certain course characteristics were related to differences in engagement in selected problem-solving activities. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved) |
