In the early stages of learning computer programming, Computer Science (CS) minorsudshare a misconception of udwhat programming isud. In order to address thudisudproblem, udFMAS, uda udfudlowcharudtud-udbased udmudultiud-udaudgent udsudystemudis developedudto familiarize udstudents who haveudno prior k nowledge of programmingud,udwith the initial stages in learning udprogrammingud. udThe aim is to improveudstudents’ problemudsolving skillsudandudto introduce theudm to theudbasic udprogrammiudng algorithms prior to surface structureud,udusing an automatic textud-udtoud-udflowchart conversion approach. udTherefore, students udcanudfocus lessudon language and syntax and more on uddesigning udsolutionudsudthroughudflowchart uddevelopment. udThe wayudtextud-udtoud-udflowchart conversioudn as a visualizationud-udbased approach is employed in FMAS to udengage students in flowchart development for subsequent programmingudstagesudis discussed in this paper. Finally, an udexperimental study udis uddevised to assess the success of FMAS, udandudpositive feedbackudis achievedud. Therefore, udusingudFMAS in practice is supportedud,udas the results indicate considerable gains for the experimental group over the udcontrol group. udThe results also show udthat an automatic textud-udtoud-udflowchart conversion approach applied in FMAS udsuccesudsfully motivated udnearly udall participants in problemudsolving activities. Consequently, the results suggest udadditionalud, futureuddevelopment of our proposed approach in the udform udof an Intelligent Tutoring System (ITS) to mak e udthe early stages of learning progrudamming more encouraging for students.
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