What emotions do novices experience during their first computer programming learning session?

Nigel Bosch, Sidney D'Mello, Caitlin Mills

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contribution

Abstract

We conducted a study to track the emotions, their behavioral correlates, and relationship with performance when novice programmers learned the basics of computer programming in the Python language. Twenty-nine participants without prior programming experience completed the study, which consisted of a 25 minute scaffolding phase (with explanations and hints) and a 15 minute fadeout phase (no explanations or hints) with a computerized learning environment. Emotional states were tracked via retrospective self-reports in which learners viewed videos of their faces and computer screens recorded during the learning session and made judgments about their emotions at approximately 100 points. The results indicated that flow/engaged (23%), confusion (22%), frustration (14%), and boredom (12%) were the major emotions students experienced, while curiosity, happiness, anxiety, surprise, anger, disgust, fear, and sadness were comparatively rare. The emotions varied as a function of instructional scaffolds and were systematically linked to different student behaviors (idling, constructing code, running code). Boredom, flow/engaged, and confusion were also correlated with performance outcomes. Implications of our findings for affect-sensitive learning interventions are discussed.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Title of host publicationArtificial Intelligence in Education - 16th International Conference, AIED 2013, Proceedings
EditorsH Chad Lane, Kalina Yacef, Jack Mostow, Philip Irvin Pavlik
PublisherSpringer
Pages11-20
Number of pages10
ISBN (Print)9783642391118
DOIs
StatePublished - Jul 16 2013
Externally publishedYes
Event16th International Conference on Artificial Intelligence in Education, AIED 2013 - Memphis, TN, United States
Duration: Jul 9 2013Jul 13 2013

Publication series

NameLecture Notes in Computer Science (including subseries Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence and Lecture Notes in Bioinformatics)
Volume7926 LNAI
ISSN (Print)0302-9743
ISSN (Electronic)1611-3349

Other

Other16th International Conference on Artificial Intelligence in Education, AIED 2013
Country/TerritoryUnited States
CityMemphis, TN
Period7/9/137/13/13

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Theoretical Computer Science
  • General Computer Science

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'What emotions do novices experience during their first computer programming learning session?'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this