The effect of incorporating cooperative learning principles in pair programming for student teachers

Abstract

Based on their quantitative and qualitative investigations, the authors conclude that pair programming as a strategy for teaching student teachers could be made more effective through the incorporation of principles associated with cooperative learning. They substantiate this claim by referring to a literature study about the advantages and disadvantages of pair programming as a teaching-learning strategy, by then discussing five principles of cooperative learning, and by presenting the findings of their empirical study. Second year student teachers taking a Delphi programming module participated in an experiment conducted over a two year period. In 2005, the participants did computer programming in pairs without the application of principles associated with cooperative learning. In 2006, a similar group of participants also programmed in pairs, but in their case, certain principles associated with cooperative learning were incorporated in the strategy followed by the facilitator. According to a comparison of the module examination marks, the 2006 group outperformed the 2005 group. This finding was confirmed by qualitative investigations.