The Influence of the Developed Specific Multi-Paradigm Programming in Digital Logic Education

Abstract

This article introduces the possible usage of the developed programming discourse that can be used to support training in the digital logic area. The discourse merges several programming paradigms into one solution. The intended learners are secondary school students focused on digital system programming. The main intent is to find out whether digital logic curriculum based on Digital Circuits Based Logical Programming (DCBLP) inheritance has positive impact on the students and the way they explore the digital logic itself. Students’ cognitive and affective areas are in the scope of this preliminary research and questionnaires and cognitive tests will help to support the research. Experimental and control groups were used to gather relevant records. To analyse and support the interpretation of the data gathered by questionnaires, the chi-square test (two-tailed) has been used. ANOVA has been used to evaluate data for the achievement test results. The preliminary research revealed there is a possibility of using developed programming discourse DCBLP in digital logic training. Students claim overall usefulness of the discourse in the training; the strong motivation power of the programming discourse itself has not been discovered. From the test we conclude that the performance of the students trained using new programming discourse is significantly better. It is possible to use more different programming paradigms, such as imperative and declarative, in one solution to support training in the area of digital logic. Such solutions can enhance the way the students deal with the programming languages and also supports interdisciplinary relationships.