PRIDAM: A Framework for Teaching Programming

The drive to teach programming across Key Stages 1–4 in UK schools has resulted in computer science teachers without computer science degrees. Many of these teachers find it difficult to teach an abstract concept like programming to children. The work presented here proposes a framework for teaching programming to aid teachers and pupil progress. PRIMM, a state-of-the-art framework, was implemented in two Year 9 classes of a comprehensive school in England. Results presented show that when it comes to solving problems, PRIMM performs well for simple single-statement problems but fails for more complex multi-statement problems. PRIDAM improves on PRIMM by introducing problem Decomposition and Arrangement which makes it more suitable for more complex multi-statement problems. The authors conclude that whereas the PRIMM framework is suitable for introducing concepts, PRIDAM is suitable both for introducing concepts and solving programming problems.