Just the Numbers: An Investigation of Contextualization of Problems for Novice Programmers

Contextualization of problems is widely studied in mathematics education. In computer science it is taken for granted that authentic, contextualized programming assignments will increase student interest and therefore enhance performance in programming assignments. This paper examines whether contextualization is, in fact, beneficial for students. We present a study that compares novice programmers' ability to code a solution given two versions of a problem. One version is contextualized, the other is non-contextualized, using "just the numbers." The results presented indicate that there is no difference in success rates for the two types of programming assignments.