Generative AI in C Programming Education: Pedagogical Strategies and Educational Risks
Resumo
Teaching C programming involves challenges, particularly in pointers and memory management. With the widespread adoption of Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI), new learning opportunities have emerged, although these tools may obscure subtle technical errors. This Systematic Mapping Study analyzes studies published between January 2022 and December 2025 to identify pedagogical uses, instructional strategies, and the impacts of GenAI in C programming education. The analysis is based on a corpus of 12 primary studies. The results indicate risks of cognitive passivity when AI is used without instructional mediation and suggest a shift from code production to code auditing. This study synthesizes recent evidence and highlights strategies for integrating GenAI without compromising students' conceptual understanding.
Palavras-chave:
Generative AI, C Programming, Systematic Mapping Study
Referências
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Andleeb, S., Kantorski, B., and Carver, J. (2025). ChatGPT in Introductory Programming: Counterbalanced Evaluation of Code Quality, Conceptual Learning, and Student Perceptions. In Proceedings of the 26th ACM Annual Conference on Cybersecurity & Information Technology Education, pages 180 – 186. DOI: 10.1145/3769694.3771128.
Arimoto, M. M. and Cruz, J. H. (2020). Ensino de Lógica e Programação no Ensino Médio por meio de uma Abordagem Lúdica e Gamificada. In Workshop sobre Educação em Computação (WEI), pages 160–170. DOI: 10.5753/wei.2020.11151.
Arimoto, M. M. and Oliveira, W. T. (2019). Dificuldades no processo de aprendizagem de programação de computadores: um survey com estudantes de cursos da área de computação. In Workshop sobre Educação em Computação (WEI), pages 244–254. DOI: 10.5753/wei.2019.6633.
Becker, B. A. et al. (2023). Programming Is Hard - Or at Least It Used to Be: Educational Opportunities and Challenges of AI Code Generation. In Proceedings of the 54th ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education, pages 500–506. DOI: 10.1145/3545945.3569759.
Denny, P. et al. (2024). Prompt Problems: A New Type of Programming Exercise. In Proceedings of the 55th ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education, pages 296 – 302. DOI: 10.1145/3626252.3630909.
Finnie-Ansley, J., Denny, P., Becker, B. A., Luxton-Reilly, A., and Prather, J. (2022). The Robots Are Coming: Exploring the Implications of OpenAI Codex on Introductory Programming. In Proceedings of the 24th Australasian Computing Education Conference (ACE '22), pages 10–19, New York, NY, USA. Association for Computing Machinery. DOI: 10.1145/3511861.3511863.
Junior, S. S., Freitas, R., Morais, M., and Costa, D. (2023). ChatGPT no auxílio da aprendizagem de programação: Um estudo de caso. In Anais do XXXIV Simpósio Brasileiro de Informática na Educação, pages 1375–1384, Porto Alegre, RS, Brasil. SBC. [link].
Kavianpour, S. (2024). Teaching programming languages by two teachers: Instructor and chatgpt. In 2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, pages 1–16. American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE).
Kitchenham, B. and Charters, S. (2007). Guidelines for performing systematic literature reviews in software engineering. Technical Report EBSE-2007-01, Keele University and Durham University Joint Report, Keele, Staffordshire, UK.
Pereira Filho, L. C., Souza, T. d. P. C. d., and Paula, L. B. d. (2025). Análise das Respostas de LLMs em Relação ao Conteúdo Introdutório de Programação: um Comparativo entre o ChatGPT e o Gemini. Revista Brasileira de Informática na Educação, 33:722–747.
Petersen, K., Feldt, R., Mujtaba, S., and Mattsson, M. (2008). Systematic mapping studies in software engineering. In Proceedings of the 12th International Conference on Evaluation and Assessment in Software Engineering, pages 68–77.
Prather, J. et al. (2023). "It's weird that it knows what I want": Usability and Interactions with Copilot for Novice Programmers. ACM Transactions on Computer-Human Interaction, 31(1):1–31.
Santiago, A. D. and Kronbauer, A. H. (2017). Um Modelo Lúdico para o Ensino de Conceitos de Programação de Computadores. Revista Brasileira de Informática na Educação, 25:1–29.
Siam, M. K., Gu, H., and Cheng, J. Q. (2024). Programming with AI: Evaluating ChatGPT, Gemini, AlphaCode, and GitHub Copilot for Programmers. In Proceedings of the 3rd International Conference on Computing Advancement, pages 346 – 354. DOI: 10.1145/3723178.3723224.
Silva, L., Vidotto, K. N. S., Tarouco, L. M. R., and Silva, P. F. (2024). Inteligência Artificial Generativa no Ensino de Programação: um mapeamento sistemático da literatura. Revista RENOTE – Novas Tecnologias na Educação, 22(1):262–272. DOI: 10.22456/1679-1916.141553.
Xie, H., Wang, J., and Zhang, Y. (2024). Research on the Application of Intelligent Assisted Teaching System in Programming Courses. In 2024 7th International Conference on Education, Network and Information Technology (ICENIT), pages 194–197. IEEE. [link].
Andleeb, S., Kantorski, B., and Carver, J. (2025). ChatGPT in Introductory Programming: Counterbalanced Evaluation of Code Quality, Conceptual Learning, and Student Perceptions. In Proceedings of the 26th ACM Annual Conference on Cybersecurity & Information Technology Education, pages 180 – 186. DOI: 10.1145/3769694.3771128.
Arimoto, M. M. and Cruz, J. H. (2020). Ensino de Lógica e Programação no Ensino Médio por meio de uma Abordagem Lúdica e Gamificada. In Workshop sobre Educação em Computação (WEI), pages 160–170. DOI: 10.5753/wei.2020.11151.
Arimoto, M. M. and Oliveira, W. T. (2019). Dificuldades no processo de aprendizagem de programação de computadores: um survey com estudantes de cursos da área de computação. In Workshop sobre Educação em Computação (WEI), pages 244–254. DOI: 10.5753/wei.2019.6633.
Becker, B. A. et al. (2023). Programming Is Hard - Or at Least It Used to Be: Educational Opportunities and Challenges of AI Code Generation. In Proceedings of the 54th ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education, pages 500–506. DOI: 10.1145/3545945.3569759.
Denny, P. et al. (2024). Prompt Problems: A New Type of Programming Exercise. In Proceedings of the 55th ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education, pages 296 – 302. DOI: 10.1145/3626252.3630909.
Finnie-Ansley, J., Denny, P., Becker, B. A., Luxton-Reilly, A., and Prather, J. (2022). The Robots Are Coming: Exploring the Implications of OpenAI Codex on Introductory Programming. In Proceedings of the 24th Australasian Computing Education Conference (ACE '22), pages 10–19, New York, NY, USA. Association for Computing Machinery. DOI: 10.1145/3511861.3511863.
Junior, S. S., Freitas, R., Morais, M., and Costa, D. (2023). ChatGPT no auxílio da aprendizagem de programação: Um estudo de caso. In Anais do XXXIV Simpósio Brasileiro de Informática na Educação, pages 1375–1384, Porto Alegre, RS, Brasil. SBC. [link].
Kavianpour, S. (2024). Teaching programming languages by two teachers: Instructor and chatgpt. In 2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, pages 1–16. American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE).
Kitchenham, B. and Charters, S. (2007). Guidelines for performing systematic literature reviews in software engineering. Technical Report EBSE-2007-01, Keele University and Durham University Joint Report, Keele, Staffordshire, UK.
Pereira Filho, L. C., Souza, T. d. P. C. d., and Paula, L. B. d. (2025). Análise das Respostas de LLMs em Relação ao Conteúdo Introdutório de Programação: um Comparativo entre o ChatGPT e o Gemini. Revista Brasileira de Informática na Educação, 33:722–747.
Petersen, K., Feldt, R., Mujtaba, S., and Mattsson, M. (2008). Systematic mapping studies in software engineering. In Proceedings of the 12th International Conference on Evaluation and Assessment in Software Engineering, pages 68–77.
Prather, J. et al. (2023). "It's weird that it knows what I want": Usability and Interactions with Copilot for Novice Programmers. ACM Transactions on Computer-Human Interaction, 31(1):1–31.
Santiago, A. D. and Kronbauer, A. H. (2017). Um Modelo Lúdico para o Ensino de Conceitos de Programação de Computadores. Revista Brasileira de Informática na Educação, 25:1–29.
Siam, M. K., Gu, H., and Cheng, J. Q. (2024). Programming with AI: Evaluating ChatGPT, Gemini, AlphaCode, and GitHub Copilot for Programmers. In Proceedings of the 3rd International Conference on Computing Advancement, pages 346 – 354. DOI: 10.1145/3723178.3723224.
Silva, L., Vidotto, K. N. S., Tarouco, L. M. R., and Silva, P. F. (2024). Inteligência Artificial Generativa no Ensino de Programação: um mapeamento sistemático da literatura. Revista RENOTE – Novas Tecnologias na Educação, 22(1):262–272. DOI: 10.22456/1679-1916.141553.
Xie, H., Wang, J., and Zhang, Y. (2024). Research on the Application of Intelligent Assisted Teaching System in Programming Courses. In 2024 7th International Conference on Education, Network and Information Technology (ICENIT), pages 194–197. IEEE. [link].
Publicado
05/10/2026
Como Citar
SECAF, Marina Vicentini; ARIMOTO, Maurício Massaru.
Generative AI in C Programming Education: Pedagogical Strategies and Educational Risks. In: SIMPÓSIO BRASILEIRO DE INFORMÁTICA NA EDUCAÇÃO (SBIE), 37. , 2026, Goiânia/GO.
Anais [...].
Porto Alegre: Sociedade Brasileira de Computação,
2026
.
p. 2147-2160.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.5753/sbie.2026.28228.
