Syntax Exercises and Their Effect on Computational Thinking

Abstract

Job opportunities and the need for programmers are increasing. Companies are looking for new hires who have the ability to learn how to learn, who have computational thinking skills. Student dropout rate in computer science is the highest among college majors. Educators are striving to find a way to teach efficiently and effectively the technical and the problem solving skills students need. In this paper we will be studying the effects of syntax exercises on a subject's ability to think computationally and precisely. We tested our process on professionals and students. Half of the professionals were in the computer science field and half of our students did syntax exercises. The other half of professionals and students had no exposure to syntax to compare. Our purpose is to find if teaching students syntax exercises are still relevant and can teach both technical and computational thinking skills.