Adaptive Problem Selection in a Mobile Python Tutor

We have developed PyKinetic, a mobile Python tutor for novices. We present our study on PyKinetic with various activities to target several skills: code tracing, debugging, code understanding and code writing. We compared a version with a fixed sequence of learning activities to an adaptive version, containing the same activities but with personalized problem selection. We had two hypotheses: (H1) the combination of activities is effective for learning, and (H2) the adaptive problem selection is beneficial. The results show that PyKinetic is effective for learning, and the adaptive version provides additional benefits for learners.