Improving Attitudes to Computer Programming in a First-Year Interdisciplinary Science Course

Over five years, we measured students’ attitudes and perceptions of computer programming in a compulsory first-year interdisciplinary science course. During this period, we collected 1057 matched survey responses at the beginning and end of the semester. We found a significant improvement in students’ attitudes toward programming over the course of the semester, and there was no difference in the extent of improvement between students with and without prior programming experience. We conclude that an interdisciplinary course in which computer programming instruction is embedded with problem-based learning activities is effective in introducing computer programming to science students, regardless of their initial level of programming experience.