Refining the Teaching of Programming

This paper considers issues around the teaching of programming, a critical yet challenging part of the computing education at all levels. This paper begins by outlining some of the key concerns around computing education-from secondary school, through further education, and in higher education. The paper describes some of the practical problems with teaching programming, through two case studies that identify some of the difficulties in learning to program. The case studies outline some approaches to supporting and scaffolding the learning of programming, with programming tutors and more specialized programming environments. The paper considers ways in which novice programmer behaviour can be tracked by appropriate technologies, e.g. via tools such as source control, or through additions to a development environment). Whilst this is within the context of English education, many issues are common elsewhere, and the paper provides some suggestions on addressing these problems. The paper concludes with some suggestions on way to adapt and use these approaches in the teaching of programming