research-article

Translation from Problem to Code in Seven Steps

Authors:

Andrew D. Hilton,

Genevieve M. Lipp,

Susan H. RodgerAuthors Info & Claims

CompEd '19: Proceedings of the ACM Conference on Global Computing Education

Pages 78 - 84

https://doi.org/10.1145/3300115.3309508

Published: 09 May 2019 Publication History

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Abstract

Students in introductory programming courses struggle with how to turn a problem statement into code. We introduce a teaching technique, "The Seven Steps," that provides structure and guidance on how to approach a problem. The first four steps focus on devising an algorithm in English, then the remaining steps are to translate that algorithm to code, test the algorithm, and debug failed test cases. This approach not only gives students a way to solve problems, but also ideas for what to do if they get stuck during the process. Furthermore, it provides a way for instructors to work examples in class that focus on the process of devising the code - instructors can show how to come up with the code, rather than just showing an example. We describe our experience with this technique in several introductory programming courses - both in the classroom and online.

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Cited By

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Wetzel SStäter RLudwig M(2024)Incremental development with an AR coding environmentProceedings of the 19th WiPSCE Conference on Primary and Secondary Computing Education Research10.1145/3677619.3677640(1-2)Online publication date: 16-Sep-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3677619.3677640
Ko SStephens-Martinez K(2024)The Trees in the Forest: Characterizing Computing Students' Individual Help-Seeking ApproachesProceedings of the 2024 ACM Conference on International Computing Education Research - Volume 110.1145/3632620.3671099(343-358)Online publication date: 12-Aug-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3632620.3671099
Pechorina YAnderson KDenny P(2023)Metacodenition: Scaffolding the Problem-Solving Process for Novice ProgrammersProceedings of the 25th Australasian Computing Education Conference10.1145/3576123.3576130(59-68)Online publication date: 30-Jan-2023
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3576123.3576130
Show More Cited By

Index Terms

Translation from Problem to Code in Seven Steps
1. Social and professional topics
  1. Professional topics
    1. Computing education
      1. Computing education programs
        Computer science education
        CS1

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Information & Contributors

Information

Published In

CompEd '19: Proceedings of the ACM Conference on Global Computing Education

May 2019

260 pages

ISBN:9781450362597

DOI:10.1145/3300115

General Chairs:
Ming Zhang
Peking University, China
,
Bo Yang
Linyi University, China
,
Program Chairs:
Steve Cooper
University of Nebraska-Lincoln, USA
,
Andrew Luxton-Reilly
University of Auckland, New Zealand

Permission to make digital or hard copies of all or part of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. Copyrights for components of this work owned by others than ACM must be honored. Abstracting with credit is permitted. To copy otherwise, or republish, to post on servers or to redistribute to lists, requires prior specific permission and/or a fee. Request permissions from [email protected]

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Association for Computing Machinery

New York, NY, United States

Publication History

Published: 09 May 2019

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CompEd '19

Sponsor:

SIGCSE

CompEd '19: ACM Global Computing Education Conference 2019

May 9 - 19, 2019

Chengdu,Sichuan, China

Acceptance Rates

CompEd '19 Paper Acceptance Rate 33 of 100 submissions, 33%;

Overall Acceptance Rate 33 of 100 submissions, 33%

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CompEd '25

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sigcse

ACM Global Computing Education Conference 2025

October 21 - 25, 2025

Gaborone , Botswana

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Cited By

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Wetzel SStäter RLudwig M(2024)Incremental development with an AR coding environmentProceedings of the 19th WiPSCE Conference on Primary and Secondary Computing Education Research10.1145/3677619.3677640(1-2)Online publication date: 16-Sep-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3677619.3677640
Ko SStephens-Martinez K(2024)The Trees in the Forest: Characterizing Computing Students' Individual Help-Seeking ApproachesProceedings of the 2024 ACM Conference on International Computing Education Research - Volume 110.1145/3632620.3671099(343-358)Online publication date: 12-Aug-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3632620.3671099
Pechorina YAnderson KDenny P(2023)Metacodenition: Scaffolding the Problem-Solving Process for Novice ProgrammersProceedings of the 25th Australasian Computing Education Conference10.1145/3576123.3576130(59-68)Online publication date: 30-Jan-2023
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3576123.3576130
Hellas ALeinonen JSarsa SKoutcheme CKujanpää LSorva J(2023)Exploring the Responses of Large Language Models to Beginner Programmers’ Help RequestsProceedings of the 2023 ACM Conference on International Computing Education Research - Volume 110.1145/3568813.3600139(93-105)Online publication date: 7-Aug-2023
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3568813.3600139
Ko SStephens-Martinez KDoyle MStephenson BDorn BSoh LBattestilli L(2023)What Drives Students to Office Hours: Individual Differences and SimilaritiesProceedings of the 54th ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education V. 110.1145/3545945.3569777(959-965)Online publication date: 2-Mar-2023
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3545945.3569777
Silva LMendes AGomes AFortes G(2023)Investigating Programming Students Problem Comprehension Ability and its Association With Learning PerformanceIEEE Transactions on Education10.1109/TE.2022.320490666:2(156-162)Online publication date: Apr-2023
https://doi.org/10.1109/TE.2022.3204906
Suryadevara SStephens-Martinez K(2022)UPIC a Problem-Solving Framework: Understand, Plan, Implement, and Correctness/DebuggingProceedings of the 2022 ACM Conference on International Computing Education Research - Volume 210.1145/3501709.3544286(50-51)Online publication date: 7-Aug-2022
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3501709.3544286

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