Background Knowledge CAT Kate Deibel March 29, 2004 Background Knowledge Probe This survey provides a picture of students' prior experience with computers and programming.

Please answer each question with a number a rating on how much expereince you have had with the topic. Use the scale 1 to 5 where 1 means "No experience" and 5 means "Lots of Experience."

1. Writing papers or presentations on a computer	1	2	3	4	5
2. Installing programs on a computer	1	2	3	4	5
3. Playing games on a computer	1	2	3	4	5
4. Using Windows	1	2	3	4	5
5. Using an Apple or Macintosh computer	1	2	3	4	5
6. Using a Linux or Unix computer	1	2	3	4	5
7. Programming in C	1	2	3	4	5
8. Programming in C++	1	2	3	4	5
9. Programming in Java	1	2	3	4	5
10. Surfing the Internet	1	2	3	4	5
11. Using e-mail and instant messaging	1	2	3	4	5
12. Helping someone use a computer	1	2	3	4	5
13. Designing a web page	1	2	3	4	5
14. Setting up a new computer	1	2	3	4	5

Not applicable

The answers should be counted and tallied. To present these results, look at the distribution of answers across all the choices in order to identify common trends.

These results can hint at the background of the students, but it is dangerous to overgeneralize from them. Self-reporting biases could have people overrate or underrate themselves.

Depending on the results, the data could be used to help prevent women and minority students from dropping out of an introductory CS course by showing that they are not alone in terms of their experience with computers and programming. Improve memory skills Learn terms and facts Learn concepts and theories Computer applications Prior experience MEDIUM LOW MEDIUM MEDIUM Next Day Summary Has Been Enabled Previous knowledge Prior programming experience Gender Demographics