Abstract

The growing demand of computer science professionals is affected by the high dropout rates in the introductory programming courses. It is a problem that must be addressed from several aspects. One effective alternative is to update the teaching methods in these courses. Under the assumption that the use of active learning methodologies can improve the understanding of topics of programming courses, this exploratory intervention is proposed in the course of Introductory Programming (ICF122) of the Engineering School of the Andrés Bello University, Chile. In this opportunity, activities such as Peer Instruction and Problem Solving specifically designed to address preconceptions and specific learning problems were tested. This first intervention allowed the lecturer in charge of the course to enter into the paradigm of student-centered teaching through the design, implementation and evaluation of the activities. This also allowed generating a body of knowledge oriented to the development of an experimental design that allows to quantify the advantages of a pertinent design of activities. This design will be carried out during the second semester of 2018 for the ICF122 course of basic programming.