Comparing the use of block-based and robot programming in introductory programming education: Effects on perceptions of programming self-efficacy

Despite the importance given to providing students with programming skills, there are significant problems in teaching programming, mainly at the entry level. Various programming education tools and methods have been developed to solve these problems in introductory programming education. For this reason, block-based and robot programming tools are widely used at various education levels, especially at the novice level. Although the advantages of using block-based and robot programming over classical or text-based programming methods in introductory programming education have been demonstrated in various studies, the two methods have not been compared in experimental studies. The main purpose of this study was to compare the effects of using block-based programming and robot programming methods in introductory programming education on students' perceptions of programming self-efficacy. The results of the study indicated that the perceptions of programming self-efficacy of the students who used the robot programming method in programming education were significantly more positive than those of the students who used the block-based programming method. Moreover, the programming self-efficacy perceptions of the male students who used robot programming in introductory programming education were significantly more positive than those of the female students. After the robot programming activities, the students had more fun with programming and their self-confidence increased.