CS1 students speak: advice for students by students

We collected advice on how to succeed at learning to program from 164 CS1 students at 3 institutions during a "saying is believing"intervention designed to encourage a growth mindset. More students gave general advice (63%) than programming-specific (23%) or attitudinal advice (34%), despite being prompted to encourage future students to develop a growth mindset toward programming. Advice categories and quotes offer educators insights into student beliefs and practices and suggest a framework for considering how best to advise students. We discuss the implications of students offering advice to other students and provide a handout of representative advice intended for distribution to students in introductory programming courses. Categories and Subject Descriptors K.3.2 [Computer and Information Science Education]: Computer Science Education General Terms Human Factors Keywords advice, attitudes, mindsets, self-theories, success factors

• Type: Conference
• Year: 2009
• Where: SIGCSE
• Authors: Beth Simon, Brian Hanks, Carol Zander, Laurie Murphy, Renée McCauley
• Keywords: Attitudinal Advice, Education, Factors Keywords Advice, SIGCSE 2009, Students Offering Advice