The use of ALICE, a visual environment for teaching and learning object-oriented programming

Dwarika, Jeraline

dc.contributor.advisor	De Villiers, Mary Ruth.
dc.contributor.author	Dwarika, Jeraline
dc.date.accessioned	2014-04-23T06:56:57Z
dc.date.available	2014-04-23T06:56:57Z
dc.date.issued	2014-04-23
dc.identifier.citation	Dwarika, Jeraline (2014) The use of ALICE, a visual environment for teaching and learning object-oriented programming, University of South Africa, Pretoria, <http://hdl.handle.net/10500/13369>	en
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/10500/13369
dc.description.abstract	University students learning object-oriented programming (OOP) encounter many complexities. This study undertook empirical research aimed at analysing learners’ interactions with the Alice visual programming environment, which seeks to engage and motivate learners to grasp concepts of OOP, whilst creating animated movies and video games. A mixed-methods approach was employed, using questionnaire surveys and interviews to investigate learners’ experiences with Alice and their understanding of OOP. Findings indicated that learners lacked problem-solving abilities; were unable to grasp programming concepts on an abstract level and spent insufficient time practicing programming exercises. Alice proved to be an effective tool in helping to address these challenges and in improving learners’ grasp of OOP. Learners found Alice to have good usability. Furthermore, test and exam results revealed a statistically significant difference between performances of learners who had been taught Alice in comparison to similar learners who were not exposed to the Alice intervention.	en
dc.format.extent	1 online resource (xvii, 327 leaves) : ill. (some col.)
dc.language.iso	en	en
dc.subject	Alice	en
dc.subject	Object-oriented programming	en
dc.subject	Visual programming environments	en
dc.subject	Abstraction	en
dc.subject	Problem solving	en
dc.subject	Motivation	en
dc.subject	Visualisation	en
dc.subject	Animation authoring tools	en
dc.subject	Pedagogy	en
dc.subject	Data mining	en
dc.subject.ddc	005.117
dc.subject.lcsh	Alice (Computer program language)
dc.subject.lcsh	Object-oriented programming (Computer science) -- Study and teaching (Higher) -- Computer programs
dc.subject.lcsh	Three-dimensional display systems -- Computer programs
dc.subject.lcsh	Computer animation -- Computer programs
dc.title	The use of ALICE, a visual environment for teaching and learning object-oriented programming	en
dc.type	Dissertation	en
dc.description.department	Computing	en
dc.description.department	Information Systems
dc.description.degree	M. Sc. (Information systems)