Content area
The purpose of this dissertation study is to examine pair programming interactions and their impact on middle school students’ self-efficacy and programming achievement in a text-based programming language. Participants included 78 middle school students from the 7th and 8th grades. Using a convergent mixed-methods research design, both qualitative and quantitative data were collected from the participants through various methods, including a programming achievement test, a computer programming self-efficacy survey, screen recordings of iPads, and video recordings of students during pair programming sessions. The findings revealed that students engaged in four types of interactions: planning, developing, evaluation, and social-emotional reflection. As students were paired with peers of varying abilities, the pair programming groups demonstrated differences in their focus on the four types of interactions, depending on the abilities of the students in each pair. Additionally, the statistical analysis revealed significant differences in students’ self-efficacy and programming achievement scores based on their abilities and how they were paired in the pair programming groups.
