Learning to program = learning to construct mechanisms and explanations

By Elliot Soloway. 1986

How researchers see this paper

The researchers whose trusted networks rank it highest, strongest advocate first. Every researcher gets a different order.

Citations in the corpus

Deep learning in neural networks: An overview (2014, neutral): “1979: convolution + weight replication + subsampling (Neocognitron).....................................................................................................”
The Robots Are Coming: Exploring the Implications of OpenAI Codex on Introductory Programming (2022, methodology): “This is a unique variant of Soloway’s Rainfall Problem [39] which has been used in a number of studies of programming ability over the past 30+ years and which has developed a reputation for being surprisingly difficult for introductory-level (CS1 [3]) students [32] with multiple studies confirming ”
Bringing "High-level" Down to Earth: Gaining Clarity in Conversational Programmer Learning Goals (2022, background): “The goals associated with programming plans are another type of behavior [19].”
Introductory programming: a systematic literature review (2018, methodology): “[160], and a version of Soloway’s rainfall problem [624] has been used and evaluated as an exam question by”
Students’ Misconceptions and Other Difficulties in Introductory Programming (2017, background): “Another strategic challenge for students is to merge blocks of code that should be applied together (de Raadt 2008; Ginat et al. 2013; Muller et al. 2007; Spohrer and Soloway 1986).”
Automatic Generation of Programming Exercises and Code Explanations Using Large Language Models (2022, background): “They describe line-by-line walkthroughs of code as ‘close tracking’, which mirrors to some extent the ‘mental simulations’ that Soloway argues should be taught explicitly to students [79].”
Programming Is Hard - Or at Least It Used to Be: Educational Opportunities and Challenges of AI Code Generation (2022, background): “In addition, it comfortably solved various definitions of the classic Rainfall Problem [39], including one novel variation that had never been published.”
A multi-national study of reading and tracing skills in novice programmers (2004, background): “Some have advocated that students should be taught schema explicitly [Soloway, 1986; Clancy and Linn, 1999].”
A survey of literature on the teaching of introductory programming (2007, background): “The reliance on expert solutions links to the schema/plan idea of Soloway [86].”
Further evidence of a relationship between explaining, tracing and writing skills in introductory programming (2009, background): “For example, Perkins et al. (1989) discussed the importance and role of tracing as a debugging skill, and Soloway (1986) advocated the explicit teaching of “mental simulation” to students.”