ABSTRACT
Research on teaching and learning computer programming is in its childhood; however, already scholars are reaching some preliminary consensus concerning the respective merits of mediated versus discovery instruction and the conditions for transfer to nonprogramming domains. This chapter begins by briefly summarizing recent developments in educational computing. The next section of the chapter explores two topics that have begun to receive research attention during the past few years: identifying appropriate methods of instruction for computer programming and describing the cognitive consequences of learning computer programming. In the third section, some of the contributions of each chapter in this volume are highlighted. Finally, the chapter closes with an analysis of the implications of current research on teaching and learning computer programming.
