ANALYSIS OF COGNITIVE COMPLEXITY FACTORS FOR COMPUTING PROGRAMMING LANGUAGES LEARNING (CPLL)

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1 I J C E INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF COMPUTER ENGINEERING January-June 2011, Volume 3, Number 1, pp ANALYSIS OF COGNITIVE COMPLEXITY FACTORS FOR COMPUTING PROGRAMMING LANGUAGES LEARNING (CPLL) Muhammed Yousoof, and Mohd Sapiyan Abstract: Information and communication technology is the key word for the modern development. All the key enablers in the field are contributing their knowledge for the development of software or sharing their software development knowledge to their successors. The fundamental skills for the software development process are knowing the syntax, coding, domain application and mapping the requirement and the development of software. These skills are required the basics of coding learned by the developers from their academic subject while learning the Computer Programming Language (CPL). In this paper the challenges and difficulties of learning computer programming language from novice learner s view is discussed. The later part of this paper also focus on the relationship of this learning difficulties to that of the cognitive complexity factors. Keywords: CPL learning, connective complexity, Cognitive Load,Visualizaiton. 1. INTRODUCTION Teaching learning system enforced to meet the demands of the young learns at the college level in the Information Technology especially on Computer programming skills. The learning process cover the integration of logics, syntax, understanding of the execution sequence, format of the language, data processing and file format etc. In this process of learning computer languages depends on Learner's ability as well as the way in which they are learning the same. The learners intellectual ability play a vital role to map the process based on their surface knowledge of the subject. It has majorly three phases such understating the problem, determination of the solution and conversation of the same into the executable code. The basic computing concept is adapted to analysis the learning of the computer programming language in the next section of the paper. 2. BASICS OF COMPUTER LANGUAGE LEARNING PROCESS Learning theories are the bases which help teachers and educators to understand diverse factors of individual differentiation in: perceiving information; encoding information; transferring information; scanning the Faculty of Computer Science and Information Technology University of Malaya KualaLumpur, Malaysia myousoof@siswa.um.edu.my, pian@um.edu.my representation of the information; and working memory capacity. There are also individual differences in styles of remembering, thinking, and judging, and these individual variations, if not directly part of the personality, are at the very least intimately associated with various non-cognitive dimensions of personality [1]. Differences in the above factors are brought together to suggest that individuals have different cognitive styles and are different in intelligence, ability, personality, and achievement. It seems that our cognitive style influences our: intellectual abilities; skills; personalities; teaching and learning; and performance. According to Messick's [2] definition cognitive styles are characteristic modes of perceiving, remembering, thinking, problem solving, decision making that are reflective of information processing regularities that develop in congenial ways It is not easy to understand the difficulty faced by the learners as human learning process is complex and in our case the programming as a skill is also complex. The novice programmers need to acquire the many skills while learning computer programming language. It takes a time for the learners to become experts to build proper mental model or schema in the memory of the subject. The learners often miss of fail to understand the steps of programming or concepts since most of them approach coding as line by line sequence and fail to visualize in their mind, what happens and how things works in a program. The learners try to imitate their tutprs in writing

2 6 0 International Journal of Computer Engineering the program and they can write similar programs but often find it hard to implement same technique of program coding in another scenario. In general, programming is taught to learners by using the emphasis of syntax and most of the time learners don t find it difficult to understand and illustrate the syntax of the programming concept when writing the program. But they find difficult is that they could not understand when and how to implement this syntax when executing the program to make it as building blocks for the programs. This could be attributed due to the fact that basis of program learning is problem solving and method of execution such as sequence, control and object based approach. This basic problem occurs based on the mapping process of the learner memory and it mapping of the execution of the coding. Many learners often fail to develop mechanisms and explanations in the process of learning. Programming involves gaining knowledge and using appropriate skills to build the objects. Mechanisms turn the static program into dynamic representation showing causal relationships between statements and show how the program executes. The programming course is not only concerned about developing the skills of writing program codes but also the application of the program coding in various situations of problem solving using computers using procedural and control coding. But most of the time the learners find it hard to do this and there is a block in the transfer of knowledge of application of problem solving skills to write a complete program. In some cases the users are unable to combine the various constructs of programming to build an appropriate program. The above stated problems could be easily related to the Cognitive Load Theory [10]. Cognitive Load theory justifies the reason why experts outperform novice is due to lack of schemata formation and inability to process a lot of information due to limited capacity of the working memory There is also a lack of mathematical skills which forms a base to solve many real time problems. Personal factors like aptitude and motivation also play a role. But this is not a unique difficulty for programming, as it is commonly experienced for any learning. Learners often lack the skills necessary in the beginning stages of learning. Programming has a common problem like mathematics. Mathematics is often seen as difficult subject by many learners. Both mathematics and programming involve lot of abstraction and not very clear from learner s perspective. It needs to develop analytical skills to solve problems. The development of the skills is hindered due to the complexity and various terms used. But once the concept is understood it remains intact in the Long term memory. This can be applied to any new problems or scenarios. 3. RAPID SHIFT IN COMPUTING In the earlier days, programming was mostly procedural and students were first exposed to developing the logic of problem solving. This was supported by using flowcharts and pseudo codes. Mostly the programming languages at the time were BASIC and Pascal. The students after trying to grasp the logic slowly convert them to programs by writing codes. In late 90s the shift of programming was more towards to object oriented programming. When object oriented programming was introduced mostly the learners were taught the concepts. But the problem was the concepts were abstract and not clear to understand for the level of novice. Many programmers tend to face rising challenges when trying to learn the concepts. Later the concept of UML designing was introduced as a course to help understand the object oriented concepts. Element of interactivity is very high in programming as it is very complex. Some learners are exposed to procedural programming and then object oriented programming. This also causes a great difficulty to the learner. The choice of the programming language is also a factor that causes difficulty. 4. DIFFICULTIES FROM THE BASIS OF TEACHING PERSPECTIVE The difficulty is caused by the teaching methods involved in programming. Many learners find it difficult to cope with the traditional methods of teaching of programming since it addresses the entire group and does not take into consideration the individual difference between learners [7]. Learning styles of the learners are different from each learners and as it is not addressed properly mostly the learners find it difficult to program. Learning styles and abilities differs individually. There is no much scope for customization of instruction in learning programming. The key barrier in learning programming from the teaching perspective is there is no much scope for customization in the learning process and it is not personalized. The variety of teaching methods are not employed during the process of instruction and mostly it is monotonous. The students find it very difficult to develop interest with the current teaching methods however this adds as an added agony for the learning difficulties in learning programming.

3 Analysis of Cognitive Complexity Factors for Computing Programming Languages Learning (CPLL) LOGICAL MAPPING AND LEARNING CPL Learning process differs from person to person based on the tacit and explicit attributes of the learner. Learning system for the learner is build from the child hood to adopt the pedagogy. The higher levels of learning outcomes are inherited from the basic learning system. The basic learning system provides the object identification and the post level provides the application and information about the object. In the computer language learning process is part of logical, conversion of procedure, arithmetic process, symbolization and execution. The learning process involves the mapping process of conversion of known logic, syntax and the procedure into executable code inline to the objective of the program. The learning process is depicted in Fig. 1. has many restrictions due to the limited working memory (shown in the diagram below), lack of schema formation or automation in novice programmers and programming is quite difficult in nature. The CLT is described in Fig. 2. Fig. 2: Cognitive load problem has been addressed by mainly addressing the delivery and the adaptation of learning s pedagogy and tools. Ac per the theory of learning and cognitive approach, while learning a new concept that is integration of long term memory and working memory. The following diagram shows role of long term memory and the working memory. The cognitive factors are indistinguishable factors by the learners which influence the impact of learning. It was felt by many prior researchers that the proper instructional tools could help in reducing the cognitive load experienced during the learning process. The various cognitive factors are illustrated in Fig. 3. Fig. 1: The learning process involves logical mapping and processing of the known factors according to the learning situation. It will create an impact in the new learning s. Cognitive complex factors also play a vital role in the Computer programming language skills. As already discussed the computer programming language learning involves the integration of Syntax, Sequence, Conversion of Procedure to meet the objective of the program or requirement. This process based on theory of learning. The next part addresses the core of theory of learning and related to process of memory. 6. THEORY OF LEARNING According to the Cognitive Load theory of learning, learning takes place through the impulses from the sensory organs which is sent to the working memory for information processing. The working memory is limited in its capacity of processing information. This is the crucial barrier in the learning process. This crucial barrier becomes more tedious in the of learners of programming mainly due to the nature of learners and due to the nature of the programming itself. The stress experienced during the process of information processing to attain learning is termed as cognitive load. Cognitive load is complex to solve as it Fig. 3: As mentioned earlier, this proposed research is more focused on the aspect of learning difficulty from learner s perspective. In the following section co relate these difficulties to that cognitive load experienced by the learner. The cognitive load can be reduced using the tools. This paper proposed the model to overcome the learning difficulties via balancing the Cognitive load. The modern approach of computer aided learning process is adopted. The overview of CAI is explained in the next section.

4 6 2 International Journal of Computer Engineering 7. COMPUTER ASSISTED LEARNING (CAI) Using computers in teaching and learning process is not a new idea. The first attempt made to use computers for learning and teaching came in the form of CAI software. Early software was designed on the basis of frame by frame movement. Hence the students have no control of their learning since they are forced to allow the sequential mode of instruction provided. Normally learner use CAI as an alternative or additional source of instruction to the topic, not as an essential part of the learning. However, such software was not effective in helping the students to learn. The software is only useful to a small group of students due to its lack of adaptability. These weaknesses were later rectified and changes made in the design of CAI have made it more interactive. The following sections describe some of the common areas where ICT has the potential of achieving quality student centered education. 8. ROLE OF COMPUTER BASED SYSTEMS IN REDUCING OR MANAGING COGNITIVE LOAD Many efforts have been done to ensure that load is minimal during the process of learning. The cognitive load is classified as three types of load and certain loads could be reduced by providing a proper instructional format. The three types of load are intrinsic load in which the educators have no control as it is directly dependent on the subject s nature itself. In our case it naturally high as programming involves higher element of interactivity. The other two loads namely extraneous load and germane load are directly dependent on the instruction design. This load can be reduced by extending the unused part of the working memory by providing visual/aural instructional support. By extending this unused working with the help of proper instructional design formats such as presenting the information with a combination of visual and textual information, total cognitive load could be reduced. Total cognitive load is considered as the sum of intrinsic, extraneous and germane cognitive load. 9. VISUALIZATION As discussed before proper use of instructional format could help overcome the cognitive load experienced during the learning process. Many computer based systems which could visualize the program execution or program animation are developed keeping in mind that it could reduce the load. In the next section we introduce in general the idea of visualization before further on various visualization tools used to make program learning easier. Human beings are born with several senses and the most powerful of all the senses is vision. Visual capture and representation of data can help people understand things and concepts in a better way. Visualization plays a vital role in exploring complex data and to arrive at clear understanding on the complex data or information. Visualization is not a new concept. It has been in use for a long time and is used in different domains. This concept is also not new in the teaching domain. Teachers are often reminded of Visual aids to enhance and improve teaching to a great extent. Visualization has been applied in terms of computer software. The computer generated image of the jet plane in a wind tunnel and the rendering of the movement of subatomic particles during a chemical reaction are examples of visualization for scientific analysis. Although the visualization software s available for scientific analysis are quite generic in nature, they can be applied to specific problems. This can be done with a little effort on programming the software, and so the visualization software's could be customized. The main advantage of this type of Visualization software is that the researcher is able to grasp the data visually and which results in better insight of the data. In summary, some of the possible strategies that could reduce cognitive load in introductor computer programming courses are: partitioning of information into small segments, the simultaneous presentation of concepts and procedures in demonstrations presentation of heuristic approaches and strategies, independent of domain reference organization of presentation of non-recurrent skills into knowledge structures presentation-repeated example and practice-broad practice broad practice using partially-completed examples gradual withdrawal of supporting information from practice tasks decomposition of practice tasks into small steps then gradual integration into a complete skill goal-free problem solving careful integration of text and graphics visual and aural sources for learning 10. CONCLUSION To improve the instructional design, an element of visual picture could help and always it is emphasized in the early age of learning that learning by seeing or feeling

5 Analysis of Cognitive Complexity Factors for Computing Programming Languages Learning (CPLL) 6 3 pictures or images could be grasped easily in mind and remains intact in memory. Programming is very abstract and many learners often fail to see the underlying principles on how the program runs and why a particular code was written etc. Thus visualization of the programs could help in reducing the learning difficulty which is directly aimed at reducing the cognitive load experienced by the learner. As discussed in the various sections of this paper, we understand that Cognitive factors especially cognitive load play an important role in the learning process of Computer Programming for the novice programmers and the concepts of Computer programming are very abstract due to the rapid shift of programming paradigm. The difficulties in learning Computer Programming could be minimized by the use of visualization tools. On the basis of all the above facts our study will be inclined to develop a mechanism for monitoring the cognitive factors and help the students from overcoming the learning obstacles and facilitate effective learning of computer programming. REFERENCES [1] Kogan N., 1976, Cognitive Styles in Infancy and Early Childhood, New Jersey, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc. [2] Messick S., 1993, The Matter of Style: Manifestations of Personality in Cognition, Learning, and Teaching, Princeton, NJ, Educational Testing Service. [3] Osborne M., 2004, Constructive Alignment of Assessment Methods with Learning Outcomes, An Overview for the Assessment Workshop on 27th February Paper Presented at the Enhancing the Student Experience in Scottish Higher Education, Constructive Alignment of Learning Outcomes to Assessment Methods, Bridge of Allan. [4] Taber K.S., 2003, Examining Structure and Context -Questioning the Nature and purpose of Summative Assessment, School Science Review, 85, [5] Terrell S.T., 2002, The use of Cognitive Style as a Predictor of Membership in Middle and High School Programs for the Academically Gifted, Paper Presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association, New Orleans, Louisiana. [6] Struyven K., Dochy F. and Janssens S. 2002, Students Perceptions About Assessment in Higher Education: a Review, Education-line, educol/documents/ htm. [7] Boud D., 2004, Aligning Assessment with Long Term Learning Needs, Paper Presented at the Enhancing the Student Experience in Scottish Higher Education. Constructive Alignment of Learning Outcomes to Assessment Methods, Bridge of Allan, University of Stirling. [8] Corbett, A.T. and J.R. Anderson, Knowledge Tracing: Modeling the Acquisition of Procedural Knowledge, in User Modeling and User-Adapted Interaction pp [9] Fischer, G.H., Linear Logistic Test Models: Theory and Application, in Structural Models of Thinking and Learning, H. Spada and W.F. Kempf, Editors. 1977, Bern: Huber. pp [10] Sweller, J. 1988, Cognitive Load During Problem Solving: Effects on Learning, Cognitive Science 12 (2): [11] Sweller, J., Van Merriënboer, J., & Paas, F. 1998, Cognitive Architecture and Instructional Design, Educational Psychology Review. [12] Ben-Basset Levy et. al 2003, The Jeliot 2000 Program Animation System, Computers & Education 40, No. 1, pp [13] Michael K olling, Teaching Object Orientation with the Bluej Environment, Journal of Object-Oriented Programming, 12 (2) : 14-23, [14] Soloway, E. 1986, Learning to Program = Learning to Construct Mechanism and Explanations, Communications of ACM 29 (9). [15] Lahtinen, E., K. A. Mutka, et al. 2005, A Study of the Difficulties of Novice Programmers, ITiCSE 2005, Monte de Caparica, Portugal, ACM. [16] Jenkins, T. 2008, On the Difficulty of Learning to Program, 2008, from ~steve/localed/jenkins.html. [17] Lahtinen, E. and T. Ahoniemi 2001, Visualizations to Support Programming on Different Levels of Cognitive Development.