Programming environment for teaching introductory programming for secondary school

Abstract

Programming subject was become one of the syllabus in Malaysia national school start from 2017. To introduce youth to programming, suitable programming environment to teach introductory programming should be determined. Many initiatives are proceeding to bring powerful ideas of computing into classroom around the world. A popular strategy being employed in this effort is the use of block-based programming environment. This environment found to be effective among younger learners. Their suitability in high school context is an open question. The existing tools was analysed to identify the suitable environment to teach introductory programming in high school. An experiment involving 30 participants was conducted to get their perception on three different programming environments; text-based, block-based and hybrid. Findings from the study reveal that participants in hybrid group scoring highest in content assessment and reporting higher level in enjoyment and engagement to traditional programming structure. After the completion of literature and exploratory research, a bidirectional hybrid programming environment was developed. This environment combines features of block-based and text-based interface to provides the platform and engagement of block-based tools with the power and authenticity of textbased introductory environment. A traditional hybrid programming creates a gap between block-based and text-based programming. It was be used to run in evaluation workshop involving of 13 students aged 16 - 17 years old. The evaluation of enhanced programming environment was determined by using triangulation of data; students’ perception and result from their assessment using an enhanced hybrid programming environment. Participants have positive perception on confidence and understanding of programming concept. Besides, they agreed that bidirectional hybrid programming environment offered a more effective way of introductory programming subject compared to existing environment they are using in classroom. Suggestions for future work are outlined and intended that this research will assist the development and use a bidirectional hybrid environment in teaching introductory programming.