More Web Proxy on the site http://driver.im/

research-article

Exploring programming misconceptions: an analysis of student mistakes in visual program simulation exercises

Authors:

Juha SorvaAuthors Info & Claims

Koli Calling '12: Proceedings of the 12th Koli Calling International Conference on Computing Education Research

Pages 19 - 28

https://doi.org/10.1145/2401796.2401799

Published: 15 November 2012 Publication History

Abstract

Visual program simulation (VPS) is a form of interactive program visualization in which novice programmers practice tracing computer programs: using a graphical interface, they are expected to correctly indicate each consecutive stage in the execution of a given program. Naturally, students make mistakes during VPS; in this article, we report a study of such mistakes.

Visual program simulation tries to get students to act on their conceptions; a VPS-supporting software system may be built so that it reacts to student behaviors and provides feedback tailored to address suspected misconceptions. To focus our efforts in developing the feedback given by our VPS system, UUhistle, we wished to identify the most common mistakes that students make and to explore the reasons behind them. We analyzed the mistakes in over 24,000 student-submitted solutions to VPS assignments collected over three years. 26 mistakes stood out as relatively common and therefore worthy of particular attention. Some of the mistakes appear to be related to usability issues and others to known misconceptions about programming concepts; others still suggest previously unreported conceptual difficulties. Beyond helping us develop our visualization tool, our study lends tentative support to the claim that many VPS mistakes are linked to programming misconceptions and VPS logs can be a useful data source for studying students' understandings of CS1 content.

References

[1]

P. Bayman and R. E. Mayer. A Diagnosis of Beginning Programmers' Misconceptions of BASIC Programming Statements. Communications of the ACM, 26(9):677--679, 1983.

Digital Library

[2]

A. Berglund and R. Lister. Introductory Programming and the Didactic Triangle. In T. Clear and J. Hamer, editors, Twelfth Australasian Computing Education Conference (ACE 2010), volume 103 of CRPIT, pages 35--44. Australian Computer Society, 2010.

Digital Library

[3]

M. Clancy. Misconceptions and Attitudes that Interfere with Learning to Program. In S. Fincher and M. Petre, editors, Computer Science Education Research, pages 85--100. Routledge, 2004.

[4]

A. A. diSessa. A History of Conceptual Change Research: Threads and Fault Lines. In R. Sawyer, editor, The Cambridge Handbook of the Learning Sciences, pages 265--282. Cambridge University Press, 2006.

[5]

B. du Boulay. Some Difficulties of Learning to Program. Journal of Educational Computing Research, 2(1):57--73, 1986.

[6]

A. Eckerdal and M. Thuné. Novice Java Programmers' Conceptions of "Object" and "Class", and Variation Theory. SIGCSE Bulletin, 37(3):89--93, 2005.

Digital Library

[7]

A. Elliott Tew. Assessing Fundamental Introductory Computing Concept Knowledge in a Language Independent Manner. PhD thesis, School of Interactive Computing, Georgia Institute of Technology, 2010.

Digital Library

[8]

A. E. Fleury. Parameter Passing: The Rules the Students Construct. SIGCSE Bulletin, 23(1):283--286, 1991.

Digital Library

[9]

S. Holland, R. Griffiths, and M. Woodman. Avoiding Object Misconceptions. SIGCSE Bulletin, 29(1):131--134, 1997.

Digital Library

[10]

M. Hristova, A. Misra, M. Rutter, and R. Mercuri. Identifying and Correcting Java Programming Errors for Introductory Computer Science Students. SIGCSE Bulletin, 35(1):153--156, 2003.

Digital Library

[11]

C. D. Hundhausen, S. A. Douglas, and J. T. Stasko. A Meta-Study of Algorithm Visualization Effectiveness. Journal of Visual Languages and Computing, 13(3):259--290, 2002.

[12]

W. M. Kunkle. The Impact of Different Teaching Approaches and Languages on Student Learning of Introductory Programming Concepts. PhD thesis, Drexel University, 2010.

Digital Library

[13]

L. Ma. Investigating and Improving Novice Programmers' Mental Models of Programming Concepts. PhD thesis, Department of Computer & Information Sciences, University of Strathclyde, 2007.

[14]

F. Marton. Our Experience of the Physical World. Cognition and Instruction, 10(2):227--237, 1993.

[15]

N. Myller. Automatic generation of prediction questions during program visualization. Electronic Notes in Theoretical Computer Science, 178:43--49, 2007.

Digital Library

[16]

T. L. Naps, G. Rößling, V. Almstrum, W. Dann, R. Fleischer, C. Hundhausen, A. Korhonen, L. Malmi, M. McNally, S. Rodger, and J. Á. Velázquez-Iturbide. Exploring the Role of Visualization and Engagement in Computer Science Education. SIGCSE Bulletin, 35(2):131--152, 2003.

Digital Library

[17]

G. özdemir and D. B. Clark. An Overview of Conceptual Change Theories. Eurasia Journal of Mathematics, Science & Technology Education, 3(4):351--361, 2007.

[18]

A. Pears and M. Rogalli. mJeliot: A Tool for Enhanced Interactivity in Programming Instruction. In A. Korhonen and R. McCartney, editors, Proceedings of the 11th Koli Calling International Conference on Computing Education Research, Koli Calling '11, pages 10--15. ACM, 2011.

Digital Library

[19]

R. T. Putnam, D. Sleeman, J. A. Baxter, and L. K. Kuspa. A Summary of Misconceptions of High School BASIC Programmers. Journal of Educational Computing Research, 2(4):459--72, 1986.

[20]

N. Ragonis and M. Ben-Ari. A Long-Term Investigation of the Comprehension of OOP Concepts by Novices. Computer Science Education, 15(3):203--221, 2005.

[21]

J. Sajaniemi, M. Kuittinen, and T. Tikansalo. A Study of the Development of Students' Visualizations of Program State during an Elementary Object-Oriented Programming Course. Journal of Educational Resources in Computing, 7(4):1--31, 2008.

Digital Library

[22]

Simon. Assignment and Sequence: Why Some Students Can't Recognize a Simple Swap. In A. Korhonen and R. McCartney, editors, Proceedings of the 11th Koli Calling International Conference on Computing Education Research, Koli Calling '11, pages 16--22. ACM, 2011.

Digital Library

[23]

T. Sirkiä. Recognizing Programming Misconceptions -- An Analysis of the Data Collected from the UUhistle Program Simulation Tool. Master's thesis, Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Aalto University, 2012.

[24]

D. Sleeman, R. T. Putnam, J. Baxter, and L. Kuspa. Pascal and High School Students: A Study of Errors. Journal of Educational Computing Research, 2(1):5--23, 1986.

[25]

J. P. Smith, III, A. A. diSessa, and J. Roschelle. Misconceptions Reconceived: A Constructivist Analysis of Knowledge in Transition. Journal of the Learning Sciences, 3(2):115--163, 1994.

[26]

J. Sorva. Students' Understandings of Storing Objects. In R. Lister and Simon, editors, Proceedings of the Seventh Baltic Sea Conference on Computing Education Research (Koli Calling 2007), volume 88 of CRPIT, pages 127--135. Australian Computer Society, 2007.

Digital Library

[27]

J. Sorva. Visual Program Simulation in Introductory Programming Education. Doctoral dissertation, Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Aalto University, 2012.

[28]

J. Sorva. Notional Machines and Introductory Programming Education. ACM Transactions on Computing Education, (accepted).

Digital Library

[29]

J. Sorva and T. Sirkiä. UUhistle -- A Program Visualization Tool for Introductory Programming Education (web site), n.d. http://www.uuhistle.org/.

[30]

M. Teif and O. Hazzan. Partonomy and Taxonomy in Object-Oriented Thinking: Junior High School Students' Perceptions of Object-Oriented Basic Concepts. SIGCSE Bulletin, 38(4):55--60, 2006.

Digital Library

Cited By

Mladenović MŽanko ŽZaharija G(2024)From Blocks to Text: Bridging Programming MisconceptionsJournal of Educational Computing Research10.1177/0735633124124004762:5(1302-1326)Online publication date: 2-Apr-2024
https://doi.org/10.1177/07356331241240047
Bevilacqua JChiodini LMoreno Santos IHauswirth M(2024)Assessing the Understanding of Expressions: A Qualitative Study of Notional-Machine-Based Exam QuestionsProceedings of the 24th Koli Calling International Conference on Computing Education Research10.1145/3699538.3699554(1-12)Online publication date: 12-Nov-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3699538.3699554
Haglund PMannila LStrömbäck FBerglund AMonga MLonati VBarendsen ESheard JPaterson J(2024)Grasping the Unseen: TA Insights into Teaching Subtle Concepts in Computer ScienceProceedings of the 2024 on Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education V. 110.1145/3649217.3653601(157-163)Online publication date: 3-Jul-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3649217.3653601
Show More Cited By

Index Terms

Exploring programming misconceptions: an analysis of student mistakes in visual program simulation exercises
1. Social and professional topics
  1. Professional topics
    1. Computing education
      1. Computing education programs
        Computer science education

Recommendations

A Curated Inventory of Programming Language Misconceptions
ITiCSE '21: Proceedings of the 26th ACM Conference on Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education V. 1

Knowledge about misconceptions is an important element of pedagogical content knowledge. The computing education research community collected a large body of research on misconceptions, using a diverse set of definitions and approaches. Inspired by this ...
Identifying student misconceptions of programming
SIGCSE '10: Proceedings of the 41st ACM technical symposium on Computer science education

Computing educators are often baffled by the misconceptions that their CS1 students hold. We need to understand these misconceptions more clearly in order to help students form correct conceptions. This paper describes one stage in the development of a ...
Notional machines and introductory programming education

This article brings together, summarizes, and comments on several threads of research that have contributed to our understanding of the challenges that novice programmers face when learning about the runtime dynamics of programs and the role of the ...

Comments

Please enable JavaScript to view thecomments powered by Disqus.

Information & Contributors

Information

Published In

cover image ACM Other conferences

Koli Calling '12: Proceedings of the 12th Koli Calling International Conference on Computing Education Research

November 2012

187 pages

ISBN:9781450317955

DOI:10.1145/2401796

Conference Chairs:
Mikko-Jussi Laakso
University of Turku
,
Robert McCartney
University of Connecticut

Copyright © 2012 ACM.

Permission to make digital or hard copies of all or part of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. Copyrights for components of this work owned by others than ACM must be honored. Abstracting with credit is permitted. To copy otherwise, or republish, to post on servers or to redistribute to lists, requires prior specific permission and/or a fee. Request permissions from [email protected]

Sponsors

Univ. Eastern Finland: University of Eastern Finland
Tampere University of Technology
Univ. Turku: University of Turku
Aalto University

In-Cooperation

SIGCSE: ACM Special Interest Group on Computer Science Education

Publisher

Association for Computing Machinery

New York, NY, United States

Publication History

Published: 15 November 2012

Permissions

Request permissions for this article.

Request Permissions

Check for updates

Author Tags

Qualifiers

Research-article

Conference

Koli Calling '12

Sponsor:

Univ. Eastern Finland
Univ. Turku

Koli Calling '12: 12th Koli Calling International Conference on Computing Education Research

November 15 - 18, 2012

Koli, Finland

Acceptance Rates

Overall Acceptance Rate 80 of 182 submissions, 44%

Contributors

Other Metrics

View Article Metrics

Bibliometrics & Citations

Bibliometrics

Article Metrics

72
Total Citations
View Citations
1,574
Total Downloads

Downloads (Last 12 months)143
Downloads (Last 6 weeks)12

Reflects downloads up to 12 Dec 2024

Other Metrics

View Author Metrics

Citations

Cited By

Mladenović MŽanko ŽZaharija G(2024)From Blocks to Text: Bridging Programming MisconceptionsJournal of Educational Computing Research10.1177/0735633124124004762:5(1302-1326)Online publication date: 2-Apr-2024
https://doi.org/10.1177/07356331241240047
Bevilacqua JChiodini LMoreno Santos IHauswirth M(2024)Assessing the Understanding of Expressions: A Qualitative Study of Notional-Machine-Based Exam QuestionsProceedings of the 24th Koli Calling International Conference on Computing Education Research10.1145/3699538.3699554(1-12)Online publication date: 12-Nov-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3699538.3699554
Haglund PMannila LStrömbäck FBerglund AMonga MLonati VBarendsen ESheard JPaterson J(2024)Grasping the Unseen: TA Insights into Teaching Subtle Concepts in Computer ScienceProceedings of the 2024 on Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education V. 110.1145/3649217.3653601(157-163)Online publication date: 3-Jul-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3649217.3653601
Tilanterä ASorva JSeppälä OKorhonen A(2024)Students Struggle with Concepts in Dijkstra's AlgorithmProceedings of the 2024 ACM Conference on International Computing Education Research - Volume 110.1145/3632620.3671096(154-165)Online publication date: 12-Aug-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3632620.3671096
Mazumder SPérez Quiñones MStephenson BStone JBattestilli LRebelsky SShoop L(2024)The Correctness of the Mental Model of Arrays After Instruction for CS1 StudentsProceedings of the 55th ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education V. 110.1145/3626252.3630943(806-811)Online publication date: 7-Mar-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3626252.3630943
Sychev ODenisov M(2023)Explain Trace: Misconceptions of Control-Flow StatementsComputers10.3390/computers1210019212:10(192)Online publication date: 24-Sep-2023
https://doi.org/10.3390/computers12100192
Jell LList CKipp M(2023)Towards Automated Interactive Tutoring - Focussing on Misconceptions and Adaptive Level-Specific FeedbackProceedings of the 5th European Conference on Software Engineering Education10.1145/3593663.3593692(226-235)Online publication date: 19-Jun-2023
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3593663.3593692
Evans AWang ZLiu JZheng MLaakso MMonga MSimon Sheard J(2023)SIDE-lib: A Library for Detecting Symptoms of Python Programming MisconceptionsProceedings of the 2023 Conference on Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education V. 110.1145/3587102.3588838(159-165)Online publication date: 29-Jun-2023
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3587102.3588838
Kohn TKomm DLaakso MMonga MSimon Sheard J(2023)Coping With Scoping: Understanding Scope and ParametersProceedings of the 2023 Conference on Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education V. 110.1145/3587102.3588798(201-207)Online publication date: 29-Jun-2023
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3587102.3588798
Leinonen JHellas AEdwards JLaakso MMonga MSimon Sheard J(2023)Seeing Program Output Improves Novice Learning GainsProceedings of the 2023 Conference on Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education V. 110.1145/3587102.3588796(180-186)Online publication date: 29-Jun-2023
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3587102.3588796
Show More Cited By

View Options

Login options

Check if you have access through your login credentials or your institution to get full access on this article.

Full Access

Get this Publication

View options

PDF

View or Download as a PDF file.

eReader

View online with eReader.

Media

Figures

Other

Tables

View Table of Contents