Plugged or Unplugged Teaching: A Case Study of Students’ Preferences for the Teaching of Programming

This study is an investigation of the effects of plugged and unplugged activities in a programming course using the Programming in Seven Steps (PSS) model on pupils' satisfaction and activity type preferences. A case study method was used in the classroom was the case. Data included students' diary, their responses on semi-structured interview forms, and semi-structured interviews with a selected sub-set of students. The collected data were analyzed by content analysis technique. It has been found that there are different factors that positively affect student satisfaction for "Conditional Structures", "Variables" and "Loops" courses that are processed according to YAP model. In addition, students' preferences and reasons for activity type differ. Study results show that training students with their preferred activity types increases their satisfaction and enable them to overcome associated difficulties more easily. It is concluded that because the PSS model is effective with students with different learning environment preferences, it can be used as a model to increase learner satisfaction with programming instruction.