DOI: 10.5176/2251-2195_CSEIT19.147
Authors: Mr. Keith Nolan
Abstract: The mental health of young people is a growing concern for everybody and the need to understand how anxious and confident our students are is also necessary for their successful education. When educators understand the state of mind of their students they can begin to tailor the learning experience within their classes with this in mind which may result in an improved learning environment for their students. In this paper, wewillfocusonfirstyearComputerSciencestudents.Sometimes, as educators, we may forget that students taking introductory computer science might face a number of challenges. While all tertiary level modules should challenge students, there are often particular concepts that hinder student learning in Computer Science. These difficulties can lead to dropping out and as such first year Computer Science modules have one of the highest failure rates across all disciplines. With many students having no prior formal experience of programming, mastering core concepts can be difficult for early tertiary learners. This paper reports on a recent large scale survey that investigates the state of anxiety within first year Computer Science students. In addition, we investigate the confidence of their programming ability after they have completed their first semester exams. Using standard techniques, we aim to draw a relationship between anxiety, confidence and exam results. Initial results would suggest that there is a linear relationship between anxiety and confidence in their programming ability. This along with other findings provide valuable evidence to justify future research.
Keywords: CS1, anxiety, self-efficacy, mental health
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