Predicting student performance in a beginning computer science class

Abstract

This study investigated the relationship between the student's grade in a beginning computer science course and their sex, age, high school and college academic performance, number of mathematics courses, and work experience. Standard measures of cognitive development, cognitive style, and personality factors were also given to 58 students in three sections of the beginning Pascal programming class. Significant relationships were found between the letter grade and the students' college grades, the number of hours worked and the number of high school mathematics classes. Both the Group Embedded Figures Test (GEFT) and the measure of Piagetian intellectual development stages were also significantly correlated with grade in the course. There was no relationship between grade and the personality type, as measured by the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI); however, an interesting and distinctive personality profile was evident.