Can’t program, won’t program, will program!

The higher education system, and indeed industry as a whole, relies on students graduating from University with the ability to think logically, laterally and creatively, yet students increasingly seem to find this process alien and incomprehensible. Research has shown that this affects performance in sociological aspects of the computing discipline and impacts significantly on student performance in the final year extended project yet based on the work of Partridge (1996), it is clear that programming implicitly requires many of the same skills. This paper explores the use of logic puzzles based on numbers and symbols such as Sudoku as a means of promoting analytical and logical thought processes in a problem-based environment, which can be applied to any computing student. The study involves identifying a sample group of students, testing their incoming logical and analytical skills and introducing them to logic puzzles. The hypothesis is that students who improve their logical and lateral thought processes will in turn perform more effectively in subjects with a high logical content, improving both retention and progression rates.