A Systematic Literature Review on Predictive Cognitive Skills in Novice Programming

This Research Full Paper presents a Systematic Literature Review (SLR) investigating predictive programming skills and strategies to foster and measure such skills. Predictive skills are specific skills that precede a milestone or the development of other more structured skills, in this case, skills that precede programming skills. Introductory Programming Courses (CS1) feature students with a wide range of skill levels. This difference causes educators to get lost when formulating their practices to teach such a diverse group. There is no clear vision about what previous skills professors should foster before a student enters a CS1, much less which strategies to foster/measure such skills. Due to this limitation, we present/plan an RSL following the guidelines proposed by Kitchenham (2004) to achieve these goals. Our main results are a) Predictive programming skills are problem-solving, abstract thinking, mathematical reasoning, and cognitive flexibility; b) Different researchers use different approaches to teach programming skills based on different educational theories, teaching frameworks, or educational approaches; c) Several studies use the Classical Test Theory as a way to measure predictive programming skills. However, some universities have adopted other theories for this practice, such as Item Response Theory.