Introductory Programming Using Non-Textual Modalities - An Empirical Study on Skill Assessment Using Rainfall Problem

This paper presents an analysis of programming skills of first semester undergraduate computer science & engineering students using Rainfall programming problem. 345 students, in a 2 hour laboratory session, solved the Rainfall programming problem using either (block-based) Scratch or (flowchart-based) Flowgorithm tool. The success rate, in terms of the number of correctly implemented sub-goals, of the students has been analyzed. The possible influence of factors such as the non-texual modality tool, gender difference, school board from which students had their higher secondary education and prior computing experience in their higher secondary stage has been presented. The possible factors for difficulty towards conceiving and implementing the sub-goals has been indicated based on the observations while evaluating the student programs.