The Influence of Problem Solving Abilities on Students' Performance on Different Assessment Tasks in CS1

Abstract

Previous research has suggested that cognitive tests, including instruments seeking to measure problem solving, are significant predictors of students' programming performance. This paper seeks to expand upon this previous research by using a more theoretically grounded approach to measuring problem solving as a means of predicting performance in an introductory undergraduate programming course. Programming course performance has typically been measured by overall course grades; however, in this paper we used a more fine-grained approach to measuring student programming performance. Specifically, we utilized different types of course assignments (projects and tests) to measure programming outcomes. Results from this study indicate that problem solving ability significantly correlates with performance on programming assignments, but does not correlate with performance on multiple-choice exams.