"COMPUTERS IN HUMAN BEHAVIOR"
Improving students' understanding of basic programming concepts through visual programming
language: The role of self-effica
LUIS FERNANDO PEÑA PUENTES
The use of the VPL language is the
basis fundamental of this article which
has as a purpose to show a study in the
which was an induction done to people
that were not science students of the
This design was used in a simple of 180
students participating in courses general
in a university south of Taiwan.
Taking into account the different studies
that show that learning from
programming presents a series of
difficulties you have at the time of learn
specific concepts, which focuses that
the problem lies in the self-efficacy of
students and not in loan teaching, in
turn other studies propose that in a
learning environment that the VPL is
managed can reduce indeed the
difficulty of the students when it comes
to learning new Languages.
One advantage of using the VPL is that
it can prevent participants from making
mistakes of syntax in programming,
also in learning the sciences and
mathematics, allowing the gap, the
previous investigation can be
diminished or fill in.
The basic programming concepts are
considered an essential part as they
allow be clear about the management of
the structure and basic concepts, some
studies include nests, sequences and
Computing, taking into account the
different levels of self-efficiency. They
are I teach the basics as they are the
sequence, condition and loop.
loop, conditions are determined by the
base of "if-then-else".
Taking into account several studies the
article mentions that there is a certain
amount of students who have
difficulties in learning some concepts
some of them are in the structure of
programming, just like. There are
different concepts to study, many of
students are frustrated when "ERROR"
appears, this generates that students
who have good management of design
complicates the understanding and
proper handling of the syntax.
Many related studies show that the
proper handling of the VPL allows
improve the quality of learning of
students since it manages a structure of
block and modify the teachings that
have remained in the present. This
article does not just mention the VPL
language but also the language
Bimodal, these languages have their
pros and contras and a textual language
is not conducive to conditions, but the
textual codes allow to display or show
viewers a greater amount of data.
This article proposes a cycle of learning
in which you can use to design practical
courses; the cycle consists of the
following steps:
1. Identify and define the context
2. Background research
3. Development of personal ideas and
group
4. Build artifacts
5. Comments
Note: it is not necessary to follow the
foot of the letter since this cycle can
skip a step specifically to support that
idea is attached the following image:
Source: article about computers in
human behavior
If we take a look at teaching this is
carried out through explanations of a
teacher towards the students passively.
Knowing then that self-efficiency plays
an important role, since the individual
he trusts in his ability to complete tasks,
with this self-efficacy the individuals
can implement this ability on the
internet or ICT, generating better
performance in the capacity of
understanding of knowledge about
computers and the network. Previous
studies have revealed that self-efficacy
improves the programming learning.
Self-efficacy and the basic concepts of
programming are correlated so positive,
considering this, it is important to
mention that for students have a better
effectiveness it you need a stimulation
which generates that the student has a
better knowledge about programming.
In conclusion the students who were
part of this experiment narrated in the
present article acquired a better
understanding of the basics of
programming from teaching the VPL
language. The implementation of a
learning environment based on the
design allows students to learn through
practice the application of language of
programming in situations real and feel
a sense of achievement.
To be able to implement a study in
Uniagraria of this magnitude, it would
take gather a population that presents
difficulties in programming, with the
obtained data, workshops is held where
involve the VPL language and explain
how it would be used in both the class
of algorithms like in real life. After the
workshops were completed, the
developing of is population,
periodically, taking into account that
you must have a motivation so that the
development is generated
spontaneously.