A flexible and systematic teaching framework to develop cognitive skills through programming courses Computer programming has become an increasingly crosscutting theme and is no longer considered just a specialized subject. In some countries, the inclusion of this subject in the curricula of the basic cycles of their educational systems has been provided for, because it is recognized that programming promotes computational thinking which allows cognitive development of students. In Chile, the Universidad de La Frontera established that an initial programming course is given to all the Engineering degrees. Unfortunately, studies have shown that students are not achieving the competencies defined by the computational thinking approach. This research paper presents a flexible and systematic teaching framework for developing cognitive skills in programming courses. This framework considers the use of a systematic methodology of teaching programming, which focuses on the process of building solutions over the product; using electronic programmable devices; and sets of predefined exercises appropriate to various domains of the engineering area.

An exploration of STEM freshmens attitudes, engagement and autonomous learning in introductory computer programming Programming skills and computational thinking are fundamental concerns in professional training in Science, Technologyxe2x80x99 Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) disciplines. In spite of this, in the Chilean higher education system, as in most parts of the world, teaching programming is a challenging endeavor, partly because the majority of freshmen students in STEM undergraduate programs have not been introduced to the fundamentals of the discipline and its applications in K12 education. Therefore, studentsu0027 attitudes, engagement, and autonomous learning can make a difference in how students in STEM disciplines in higher education face their first programming course. In the present study, we carried out measurement of variables associated to these constructs involving a sample of 1694 freshmen of seventeen STEM programs in a Chilean research university. Relevant differences were found among different STEM programs, and by student gender. Implications of the results obtained and future research avenues are discussed.