Developing and Documenting Problem-Solving Strategies for Computer Programming Before Code Writing

The purpose of this research-to-practice work-in-progress paper is to help students formalize the development and documentation of problem-solving strategies for computer programming, before attempting code writing, in a first course on Java programming. This approach could be beneficial: 1) for instructors to gain insight on students' problem-solving mental processes and to improve the evaluation of students' programming skills; 2) for students to develop an awareness of the process of developing problem-solving strategies, so they can reflect on their progress through the process of writing computer programs. We have adapted general problem-solving strategies developed in different areas of engineering and computer science to teaching computer programming. The process of developing and documenting computer programming strategies includes the following steps: 1) understanding the problem; 2) identifying/recalling similar problems; 3) developing strategies to solve the problem; 4) implementing a prototype as a computer program.