On the influence of creativity in basic programming learning at a first-year Engineering course

Teaching fundamentals of programming is a complex task that involves the students’ acquisition of diverse knowledge and skills. It is also well known that programming often requires a certain degree of creativity. There are some studies on how to foster creativity with programming, but few studies h...

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Bibliographic Details
Authors: Pérez Poch, Antoni|||0000-0003-2609-8694, Olmedo Torre, Noelia|||0000-0003-2502-3201, Sánchez Carracedo, Fermín|||0000-0001-6954-7643, Salán Ballesteros, Maria Núria|||0000-0001-9323-8883, López Álvarez, David|||0000-0002-7993-3799
Format: article
Publication Date:2016
Country:España
Institution:Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC)
Repository:UPCommons. Portal del coneixement obert de la UPC
Language:English
OAI Identifier:oai:upcommons.upc.edu:2117/97382
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/2117/97382
Access Level:Open access
Keyword:Computer programming
Creativity
Programming
Computer Engineering
Equal Opportunities
Generic Competences.
Informàtica -- Ensenyament
Àrees temàtiques de la UPC::Ensenyament i aprenentatge
Description
Summary:Teaching fundamentals of programming is a complex task that involves the students’ acquisition of diverse knowledge and skills. It is also well known that programming often requires a certain degree of creativity. There are some studies on how to foster creativity with programming, but few studies have analyzed the influence of students creativity on their performance as programmers. In this paper we present the results of a study, with a sample of 89 freshmen engineering students. Our results suggest (p<0.01) that a high level of creativity is correlated with achieving excellence in programming. Creativity is a generic competence which is not currently covered with in most engineering curricula, and we conclude it should be taken into account. Females, diverse thinking student and some disadvantage groups may benefit from a free-thinking environment in the classroom, in particular at their first-year in college.