Analysis of School Students' Misconceptions about Basic Programming Concepts

Autor/inn/en	Žanko, Žana; Mladenovic, Monika; Krpan, Divna
Titel	Analysis of School Students' Misconceptions about Basic Programming Concepts
Quelle	In: Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, 38 (2022) 3, S.719-730 (12 Seiten)Infoseite zur Zeitschrift PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Zusatzinformation	ORCID (Žanko, Žana) ORCID (Mladenovic, Monika) ORCID (Krpan, Divna)
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	0266-4909
DOI	10.1111/jcal.12643
Schlagwörter	Programming; Misconceptions; Grade 5; Elementary School Students; Information Science + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Programmierung; Missverständnis; School year 05; 5. Schuljahr; Schuljahr 05; Informationswissenschaft
Abstract	Background and Context: Most studies about programming misconceptions are conducted at the undergraduate and graduate levels. Since the age level for starting learning programming is getting lower, there is a need for determining programming misconceptions for younger learners. Objective: Our goal is to determine programming misconceptions and their time-resistance for programming novices at the K-12 level using Python as a text-based programming language. Method: We conducted research in the school settings during informatics classes among 98 fifth-grade students in three elementary schools. We analysed the data collected from two Python tests students took immediately after programming lectures and 5 months later. Results and Conclusions: We detected seven misconceptions: (a) Assigning the expression instead of the calculated value, (b) When reassigning the variable value, assigning the sum value to the variable, (c) Using the symbolic name of the variable instead of its value, (d) Using the first (or previously) assigned variable value, (e) Datatype misconception, (f) Sequencing misconception, and (g) Swapping variable values. By shifting focus on variables and spending more time introducing variables and sequencing during teaching, the appearance of known misconceptions is minimized compared to previous findings. (As Provided).
Anmerkungen	Wiley. Available from: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030. Tel: 800-835-6770; e-mail: cs-journals@wiley.com; Web site: https://www.wiley.com/en-us
Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2024/1/01