Teaching Tip: An Example-Based Instructional Method to Develop Students' Problem-Solving Efficacy in an Introductory Programming Course

This paper introduces a teaching process to develop students' problem-solving and programming efficacy in an introductory computer programming course. The proposed teaching practice provides step-by-step guidelines on using worked-out examples of code to demonstrate the applications of programming concepts. These coding demonstrations explicitly teach the systematic approach and strategies required to develop a programming solution. Each code demonstration is then followed by the instructor assigning similar practice problems to build learners' awareness of the programming process and problem-solving techniques. Every successful attempt of the practice exercise by a student exemplifies their efficacy in applying the programming process and developing solutions using the instructor's strategies. Finally, through regular and structured feedback, the instructor gives learners insight into their performance in completing various steps of the programming process. This paper provides guidelines for creating and using code demonstrations, practice exercises, and rubrics for structured feedback in an introductory programming class. An end-of-course survey was employed to compare students' reported self-efficacy and their actual programming and problem-solving efficacy, based on their completion rates of the practice activities.