Improving Learning Efficacy in Basic Programming Practice Based on Three-Stage Thinking

Basic Programming Practice (BPP), as an introductory course for computer science majors, aims to enable students to have basic programming skills and lay a foundation for subsequent advanced course learning. This article draws on the concept of “using qi and cultivating both inside and outside” in traditional Chinese martial arts and highlights the importance of “thinking style” as an internal factor, developing a Three-stage Thinking (TT) methodology to foster students' learning efficacy in programming practice. In detail, TT consists of (1) orderly and logical thinking, (2) mathematical and computational thinking, as well as (3) linear and systematic thinking. Accordingly, we design specific and novel teaching methods to guide students to conduct the thinking practice following TT in programming. Extensive teaching experience has proved that the TT has effectively improved students' programming entry efficiency and design ability. Follow-up survey data tracking over half a decade shows that this method strongly supports students in programming learning. Thus, we highly recommend using TT methodology in BPP-related courses to unleash students' potential.