ABSTRACT
This chapter explores factors that may determine the cognitive demands of programming. It focuses on a study of these cognitive demands conducted with high school students learning Logo. In the production task, students made very little use of variables and reusable subprocedures. Students were given the set of written directions, a map, and local driving rules. Both programming comprehension tasks were designed as paper-and-pencil tests that did not require the use of the computer. There was a fairly broad range of performances on the cognitive demands tasks. Analysis of the relationship between the cognitive demands tasks and the assessments of programming proficiency yielded an interesting set of results. Programming can potentially serve as a fertile domain in which to foster the growth and development of a wide range of high-level thinking skills. Programming ability of one form or another is undoubtedly obtainable regardless of levels of particular cognitive skills.
