Reconsidering the Impact of CS1 on Novice Attitudes

Student success in an introductory programing course is crucial, both because it influences retention and because student attitudes and habits in a first course can have a lasting impact on student success in computer science as a field. In this paper we present results about student attitudes and habits before and after a CS1 class. Statistically significant attitude differences were found in three areas: students were less likely to report they were good at programming, more likely to agree they are challenged by programming problems they can\u27t understand immediately, and are less likely to report that computer science allows them to be creative. Statistically significant differences in female and first-quarter responses were also found