Work in progress: programming knowledge - does it affect success in the course "introduction to computer science using Java"

At the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, the course "Introduction to Computer Science" (CSI) is taught using the programming language Java. In Israeli secondary schools, computer science is not a required subject, but those who do study it learn a procedural programming language at an advanced level. Some students who study computer science at the university level have thus previously been exposed to the field. Our research examined whether prior knowledge of programming languages contributed to the success of students in their first university programming course. The research included an examination of the correlation between prior knowledge and their success in the course. We queried students both about their familiarity with various programming languages, as well as about a variety of programming concepts. A partial analysis of the results shows that there is a positive correlation between having previously learned procedural languages (such as Pascal and C) and success in the course.