Computer Programming Research Paper

Computer programming is defined as telling a computer what to do through a special set of instructions which are then interpreted by the computer to perform some task(s). A computer goes through a set of steps whose purpose is to achieve something. These steps are instructed to the computer by computer programs. Essentially, computer programming is the process by which these programs are designed and implemented. [1.]

Learning to program is difficult for many students. Although several factors that affect learning to program have been identified over the years, we are still far from a full understanding of why some students learn to program easily and quickly while others flounder. [2.]

Programming fundamentals are hard skills to learn, especially for novices, for several reasons. Students encounter some unexpected epistemological obstacles, like learning looping constructs, conditionals, or assembling programs out of base components: “Data structure and algorithms are often difficult issues, since capturing the dynamic nature of abstract algorithms is not a straightforward task”. Learning how to program assumes lectures, classes, and practice sessions. To be able to program, students

1. http://landofcode.com/programming-intro/summary.php
2. http://www.ppig.org/papers/16th-wiedenbeck.pdf
need to know programming skills and concepts, but to learn those skills and concepts they have to practice programming. [3.]
The lack of prior computing experience does not seem to be a problem however, the lack of problem-solving skills is. Another difficulty faced by programming students is the need to imagine and comprehend many abstract terms that do not have equivalents in real life. Programming concepts tend to be difficult to grasp. Consequently, many computing students claim to ‘hate programming’ as they struggle to comprehend even the most basic of programming concepts. [4.]

3. http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ijcgt/2009/470590/#B27
4. http://proceedings.informingscience.org/InSITE2007/IISITv4p277-289Mili310.pdf Title: Factors Affecting the Performance of the High School Senior Students of St. Peter’s College of Ormoc in Computer Programming A.Y. 2012-2013 1.1 Statement of the Problem:

The main problem of this study is to determine the factors affecting the performance of the High School Senior students of St. Peter’s College of Ormoc in Computer Programming A.Y. 2012-2013. Specifically, this attempts to answer the following questions: 1. What are the factors affecting the performance of the High School Senior students of St. Peter’s College of Ormoc in Computer Programming A.Y. 2012-2013 in relation to a) administration and supervision b) teacher factor and c) student factor? 2. What is the most pressing factor affecting the performance of the High School Senior students of St. Peter’s College of Ormoc in Computer Programming A.Y. 2012-2013 in relation to administration and supervision, teacher factor and student factor? 3. Is there any significant difference among the factors affecting the performance of the High School Senior students of St. Peter’s College of Ormoc in Computer Programming A.Y. 2012-2013 in relation to administration and supervision, teacher factor and student factor?

1.2 Objectives: The main purpose of this study is to determine the factors affecting the performance of the High School Senior students of St. Peter’s College of Ormoc in Computer Programming A.Y. 2012-2013. Specifically, it attempts to answer the following objectives: 1. To identify the factors affecting the performance of the High School Senior students of St. Peter’s College of Ormoc in Computer Programming A.Y. 2012-2013 in relation to administration and supervision, teacher factor and student factor. 2. To find out the most pressing factor affecting the performance of the High School Senior students of St. Peter’s College of Ormoc in Computer Programming A.Y. 2012-2013 in relation to administration and supervision, teacher factor and student factor. 3. To determine the significant difference among the factors affecting the performance of the High School Senior students of St. Peter’s College of Ormoc in Computer Programming A.Y. 2012-2013 in relation to administration and supervision, teacher factor and student factor.

1.3 Hypotheses:
Null Hypothesis (H1): There is no significant difference among the factors affecting the performance of the High School Senior students of St. Peter’s College of Ormoc in Computer Programming A.Y. 2012-2013 in relation to administration and supervision, teacher factor and student factor. Alternative Hypothesis (H2): There is a significant difference among the factors affecting the performance of the High School Senior students of St. Peter’s College of Ormoc in Computer Programming A.Y. 2012-2013 in relation to administration and supervision, teacher factor and student factor.

1.4 Theoretical Framework
Figure 1
Computer Programming Performance
High School Senior Students of St. Peter’s College of Ormoc A.Y. 2012-2013

Independent Variable Dependent Variable Explain:
The diagram in Figure 1 presents the relationship between the High School Senior Students of St. Peter’s College of Ormoc A.Y. 2012-2013 and their performance in Computer Programming. Hence, it explains to us how the dependent and independent variables justify the study. More so, it interprets how the factors affect the performance of the High School Senior students of St. Peter’s College of Ormoc performance in Computer Programming A.Y. 2012-2013.

1.5 Assumptions:
1. Favorable attitudes of the High School Senior Students of St. Peter’s College of Ormoc A.Y. 2012-2013 towards computer programming should be developed for achievement in the subject to improve. 2. Student achievement in computer programming education requires teachers to have a firm understanding of the subject domain and the epistemology as well as an equally meticulous understanding of different kinds of instructional activities that better shape the progress of the students’ learning. 3. The computer programming curriculum containing specific subject-matter and instructional design principles are needed to develop logical and analytical skills of the students.

1.6 Significance of the Study:
This study is very important to the following:
School Administrators will use the results of this study as baseline data to improve the subject programs for school advancement. TLE IV Teachers are provided with some eye-openers to create and innovate relevant teaching materials, and to use varied and appropriate strategies to improve their instruction. Students are given insights for the improvement of their performance and achievements. Parents will be informed on the factors associated to the performance of their children.

1.7 Scope and Limitations of the Study:
This study is limited to the High School Senior Students of St. Peter’s College of Ormoc during the Academic Year 2012-2013.
Determining the factors affecting Computer Programming Performance of High School Senior Students was the focus of this research. The information needed will be gathered using the questionnaire supplemented by observation, interview and the analysis of school directives. All information and conclusions drawn from this study were obtained only to this particular group of students.

1.9 General Organization and Coverage of the Study

Chapter 1 of this study dealt with the problem and its background, statement of the problem, theoretical framework, assumptions, hypothesis, significance of the study, scope and limitations of the study, and general organization and coverage of the study. Chapter 2 gave the review of related literature, related readings, and related studies. Chapter 3 described the methodology, research design, determination of sample size, sampling design and techniques, the subjects, the research instruments, validation of the research instruments, data gathering procedure, data processing method, and statistical treatment used in the study. Chapter 4 presented the results, analysis and interpretation of the factors affecting the performance of the high school senior students of St. Peter’s College of Ormoc in computer programming A.Y. 2012-2013. Chapter 5 contained the summary, the conclusions, and the recommendations based on the findings of the study.

CHAPTER II
Review of Related Literature
2.1 Related Readings
Programming has been described by many authors as the new Latin of the school syllabus, a kind of mental whetstone for developing minds. As such, it was assumed that students would develop their general problem-solving skills through learning programming. However, reports from teachers of programming and results from some empirical studies now suggest that the teaching of programming has created significant difficulties for high-school and university students, and has failed to catalyze the development of higher order thinking skills.

There are no laws, constitutions, acts and other readings found which are implemented regarding the topic.

2.2 Related Literature
John Anderson and Edward Skwarecki’s “The Automated Tutoring of Introductory Computer Programming” demonstrates that intelligent computer-assisted instruction (ICAI) technology can be a more effective way of teaching introductory

http://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=214913
programming courses—for certain populations. Specifically, the authors discuss the pedagogical effectiveness of a Lisp tutor developed at Carnegie-Mellon University. Elliot Soloway’s “Learning to Program = Learning to Construct Mechanisms and Explanations” challenges conventional wisdom by taking a fresh look at assumptions about the art of programming. Soloway advocates a more explicit approach to the teaching of problem-solving skills, which is based on the actual skills experienced programmers use in addressing real tasks.

“Boxer: A Reconstructible Computational Medium,” by Andrea A. diSessa and Harold Abelson, proposes a radically new kind of computational medium—one that would be highly tailorable, and able to accommodate a wide range of users, from a seven-year-old to an experienced nonprofessional. The authors suggest that students’ difficulties may have more to do with the nature of programming than with teaching per se. They describe their current project, Boxer, which is an attempt to provide an environment for a wide spectrum of human activities. The central notion of Boxer is the metaphor of nested “boxes” organized in a hierarchy that gives novices access to explicit and detailed information about the computer environment, but allows proficient programmers to work at the highly abstract and implicit level that is natural to them.

http://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=214913
2.3 Related Study
One study of novice programmers showed that many novices had very fuzzy notions about a programming language—substantial misunderstandings had occurred with regard to virtually every construct in the language. Second, task decomposition and program coding are not as neatly decoupled as we might think. A simple example: If arrays are not available in the target programming language, then a plan that assumes this capability would be badly flawed. A thorough knowledge of the facilities provided by the programming language is needed even at the stage of formulating the task plan. Debugging a program is similarly complex and demands a variety of skills, including an ability to coordinate information derived from sources such as error messages, the program plan, the program specification, and the actual code.

http://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=214913
Chapter III
Methodology
3.1 Research Design
For this research, the chosen research design is the descriptive, particularly, descriptive-survey. The researchers conducted this type of research design in order to cast out a survey about the factors affecting the performance of the high school senior students of St. Peter’s College of Ormoc in Computer Programming A.Y. 2012-2013. The researchers prepared some questionnaires to the population of senior students in order to obtain their response towards this problem. 3.2 Determination of the sample size

Sample survey was used because of the large total population, thus, in determining the sample size, the given formula to be used is:
Ss = NV + [ Se2 ( 1 – P ) ]
NSe + [ V2p ( 1 – P ) ]
WhereSs = Sample Size
N (total number of population) = 205 (senior high school student population)
V (standard value) = 2.58
Se (sampling error) = 0.01and,
P (largest possible proportion) = 0.50

Substituting for the values and solving for the sample size, we’ll have:
Ss = 205 (2.58) + [(0.01)2 (1 – 0.50)]
205(0.01) + [(2.58)2(0.50) (1 – 0.50)]
=528.9 + [0.00005]
2.05 + [1.6641]
=142
Thus, the sample size is 142 from 205, the total number of population. 3.3 Sampling Design and Technique Nonscientific sampling was the chosen sampling design for the research. Thus, there is no equal chance of each member of the population to be included in the sample. Those who are included in the sample are chosen randomly.

3.4 Subjects
Descriptive-survey was used in this study and nonscientific sampling was applied. There is no equal chance of each member of the population to be included in the sample. The population for the High School Senior Students of St. Peter’s College of Ormoc A.Y. 2012-2013 is comprised four sections namely: St. Thomas, St. John, St. Therese, and St. Alphonsus. Percentage of the population of each section to the total population was computed and was used in computing for an equal distribution of subject. Table 3.1 shows the distribution of the subjects. 3.5 The Research Instruments

The instruments being used in the research are the questions prepared by the researchers and are going to be distributed among the High School Senior Students of St. Peter’s College of Ormoc at 7:10 am, 11th of February, 2013. On that same day, the retrieval of questionnaires will answer the questions concerning the problem. 3.6 Validation of the Instruments

The first draft of the questionnaire was submitted to the researcher’s adviser for corrections and suggestions. Several changes were made. Some items which were not considered relevant to the study were discarded. The revised form was then again submitted to the researcher’s adviser until no errors were detected and no corrections were made thus, making our research instrument valid.

3.7 Data Gathering Procedure
Having found the questionnaire valid, the researcher then sought the adviser’s approval to conduct the study. After the approval, the researchers provided enough copies to the questionnaires through photocopying it. Then, the questionnaires were administered. It was administered in the 11th day of February 2013. 3.8 Data Processing Method

Data gathered from answered questionnaires were checked, classified, tabulated and analyzed according to the research design described in this chapter. Quantitative analysis was applied to arrive at scientific analysis and interpretation of results. The researchers categorized it by section. Data matrix based on dummy tables was used to organize, summarize and analyze the data on how the variables differ with each other. 3.9 Statistical Treatment

Total no. of recipients
Total no. of respondents

The statistical tools used in the interpretation of data and the testing of the hypotheses of the proposed study included the computation of the percentage. This will be used to determine the average responses of subjects in each item for the three factors namely student factor, teacher factor, and administration factor.