Most difficult topics in CS1

Abstract

In the spring of 2004, a survey was posted on the Internet concerning the content of the first course in computing (CS1) and email messages were sent to approximately 3,500 instructors asking them to participate in the survey. Three hundred fifty one faculty members responded. The responses to one survey item form the basis of this paper: "In your experience, what is the most difficult topic to teach in CS1?" This paper describes the demographics of the respondents and present a content analysis of the responses to this item. The analysis indicates that the difficult topics fall into four categories: problem solving and design, general programming topics, object-oriented constructs, and student maturity (or lack thereof). The paper presents the specific topics within each category along with sample comments.