Developing Problem Solving Competency Using Functional Programming Style

Abstract

This paper is dedicated to the challenges of the education that high school students are facing while developing specific competencies related to the functional programming style (FPS). The presented educational approach consists of two components: first, learning FPS by comparing it with the imperative, procedural, object-oriented and logic programming paradigms and second, using competencies based approach for solving practical problems with functional programming. The paper presents a problem set and the phases of its application in the learning process. The results and the analysis of the approach are presented in two groups of high school students which develop successfully their specific competencies for using FPS for practical problem solving. The presented results show that the students are understanding easier FPS and its differences from their known paradigms (imperative, procedural, object-oriented and logical) by using a problem set with properly prepared practical problems which they can solve in multiple ways which lead them to the FPS solution.