Instructional Design of a Workshop "How a Computer Works" Aimed at Improving Intuitive Comprehension and Motivation

Abstract

After teaching and observing students for several years, we hypothesize that learning programming is difficult for students who cannot imagine concretely how a computer works, or the process by which the CPU accesses memory and I/O via the bus according to coded programs. In this paper, we discuss why we believe it is important for programing education to help students understand how a computer works. We have developed a workshop to help students understand this more intuitively. We surveyed the students to assess their perceptions of the workshop, and we discuss its further development and progress toward use in a future full-scale course.