THE EFFECTS OF COMPUTER PROGRAMMING ON PROBLEM SOLVING ABILITIES OF FIFTH GRADE STUDENT

The problem of this study was to determine the effects of computer programming on fifth grade students' problem solving abilities. The two basic questions relating to the study were: (1) Will students who have used a computer to program word problems achieve at a higher level than students who have not had the use of a computer for programming? and (2) Will there be a difference in achievement by sex in students who have had use of the computer for programming and those who have not had use of a computer for programming?;A quasi-experimental design with non-equivalent control groups was employed to gather data. Both the control and experimental groups were given a pretest as well as a post-test to determine whether programming word problems on a computer had an effect on achievement of the experimental group. Analysis of covariance was used to determine any significant differences in the means on the pretest and the post-test between the control and experimental groups and between males and females.;All students were assigned the same set of word problems ("story problems") from the adopted math text book of the school district. The experimental group wrote computer programs and ran the programs in a computer while the control group worked their problems in the traditional paper and pencil method.;The control and experimental groups each consisted of one high socio-economic and ability class and two average socio-economic and ability classes. The experimental classes were selected for their close proximity to junior high schools where computers were housed and were then matched in ability and socio-economic status to their control class counterpart.;The following conclusions were reached as a result of the analysis conducted in this study: (1) The employment of programming word problems on a computer did not produce significantly greater scores in achievement than did the traditional method of teaching word problems. Subjects in the control group with no access to a computer or programming, achieved a higher mean gain overall than did the subjects who used computer programming. (2) Neither fifth grade boys nor girls were significantly effected in their achievement of word problems by the use of computer programming. The boys and girls who did not use the computer obtained higher mean gains than their counterparts who did use computer programming.