In a study of the types of problems encountered by students that led them to seek assistance, Robins et al. [2006] found that the most common problems were related to trivial mechanics. The students in this study worked by themselves on their programming exercises. This article discusses a replication of the Robins et al. study in which the subjects pair programmed. The types of problems encountered by the pairing students were similar to those of the solo students. The number of problems requiring assistance was much smaller for the pairing students, which suggests that they were able to resolve more problems on their own.
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