Abstract
Learning to program is a difficult process for many students anywhere in the world. Our experience indicates that the greatest difficulties start when the concept of loops is introduced. Since this is a difficult concept to learn, we think of an activity that, in our perspective, could lead to a better understanding of that concept. To do this, we created a visual representation of the loop control structure, through cards. In order to collect some indicators on the effectiveness of this methodology, we carried out an experiment using 2 groups. In one group the concept of the loop was explained in the traditional way and in the other a new methodology was applied. At the end, tests were performed on paper with exercises on loops and linked loops. An activity was also carried out using a Brain Computer Interface, the Mindwave device, in which students had to answer a set of questions about loops and linked loops. The results indicate that the students who were submitted to the new card methodology obtained better results, indicating that the methodology had some effectiveness.
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The authors would like to thank all students that participated in the experiment.
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Gomes, A., Teixeira, A.R., Mendes, A.J. (2021). A New Methodology to Learn Loops: Validation through Brain Computer Interaction. In: Schmorrow, D.D., Fidopiastis, C.M. (eds) Augmented Cognition. HCII 2021. Lecture Notes in Computer Science(), vol 12776. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-78114-9_3
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