Across 334 Students and 11 Semesters, Code Writing Was the Only Practice Type Strongly Linked to Better Programming Outcomes

arXiv 2608.02541·low signalXBlueskyLinkedInCopy link

Analyzing log data from 334 students across 11 semesters of introductory and intermediate Java using an interactive practice system with five content types, researchers found active practice associated with 3.2 times better learning outcomes than passive viewing — consistent with the established 'doer effect.' Decomposing 'doing' further, only Code Writing showed a strong association with improved posttest performance; Code Tracing, Code Completion, Visualizations, and Explanations showed no comparable association. The finding is directly relevant to the current debate over cognitive debt from reading AI-generated code rather than writing it.