Teach Programming Using Task-Driven Case Studies: Pedagogical Approach, Guidelines, and Implementation

Abstract

Despite the effort invested to improve the teaching of programming, students often face problems with understanding its principles when using traditional learning approaches. This paper presents a novel teaching method for programming, combining the task-driven methodology and the case study approach. This method is called a task-driven case study. The case study aspect should provide a real-world context for the examples used to explain the required knowledge. The tasks guide students during the course to ensure that they will not fall into bad practices. We provide reasoning for using the combination of these two methodologies and define the essential properties of our method. Using a specific example of the Minesweeper case study from the Java technologies course, the readers are guided through the process of the case study selection, solution implementation, study guide writing, and course execution. The teachers’ and students’ experiences with this approach, including its advantages and potential drawbacks, are also summarized.