Motivation and Engagement with PBL in an Introductory Programming Course

This Research to Practice Full Paper analyzes the impact of using a problem-based learning (PBL) approach on student motivation and engagement in an introductory programming course (CS1). Learning programming is a difficult task, and CS1 courses have experienced high dropout and failure rates. Some authors associate this to students' lack of motivation and recommend the use of active learning methods to stimulate their motivation and engagement. Educators have been interested in using the PBL approach, an active instructional method based on problem solving, for its motivational potential. In this context, we surveyed students with the ARCS IMMS and UWES-S questionnaires to respectively measure their levels of motivation and engagement in a CS1 course. Results show that, on the categories of motivation, the PBL approach relates to students' attention and relevance. It also relates to confidence and satisfaction, either positively or negatively, depending on course planning. The approach, on the other hand, does not have much relation with the categories of engagement. Finally, we also found that there must be careful problem design and planning in order to positively relate to student motivation and engagement.