Deducing Loop Patterns in CS1: A Comparative Study

This paper presents a proposal for implementing iterative algorithms based on the definition of algorithmic schemes starting from identifying four sequential access models. A learning method is applied to get students to develop their cognitive capabilities in such a way that they are able to deduce the algorithmic schemes for a sequential access model given. In a controlled study, programming students trained using the sequential access models were found to make fewer errors than a control group which suggests that our approach helps students to construct iterative algorithms correctly.