Investigating Programming Students Problem Comprehension Ability and its Association With Learning Performance

Contribution: Students’ problem-understanding abilities and their relationship with programming learning were investigated using a methodology little explored in the existing literature. Background: Problem comprehension is an ability used during software development. Current research points to conflicting results on students’ ability to interpret problems, which calls for further research. In addition, the influence of this skill in programming learning also deserves additional studies. Research Questions: The following research questions were developed: RQ1) Can introductory programming students correctly interpret the statement of programming questions? RQ2) Is the student’s problem comprehension ability associated with creating correct programs? Methodology: Forty-eight students enrolled in an online introductory programming course participated in the investigation. Students’ problem-understanding externalizations were analyzed, and statistical tests were performed to assess the association of this ability with programming learning performance. Findings: Most students externalized a satisfactory degree of problem-understanding competency. The cases in which students’ misinterpreted the problem were associated with creating faulty software. However, a closer analysis suggests that there are other factors that must also be considered.