Exploring Design Characteristics of Worked Examples to Support Programming and Algorithm Design

In this paper we present an iterative research process to integrate worked examples for introductory programming learning activities. Learning how to program involves many cognitive processes that may result in a high cognitive load. The use of worked examples has been described as a relevant approach to reduce student cognitive load in complex tasks. Learning materials were designed based on instructional principles of worked examples and were used for a freshman programming course. Moreover, the learning materials were refined after each iteration based on student feedback. The results showed that novice students benefited more than experienced students when exposed to the worked examples. In addition, encouraging students to carry out an elaborated self-explanation of their coded solutions may be a relevant learning strategy when implementing worked examples pedagogy.