Investigating and improving the models of programming concepts held by novice programmers

L. Ma

J. Ferguson

M. Roper

M. Wood

Study Information

Manually extracted from the paper by the Progmiscon.org team

Programming Languages

Method

Quantitative and qualitative analysis of incorrect mental models related to variable assignment using open-ended testing

Subjects

60 novice students

Artifact

Related Study Results

Phenomena studied in this paper that map to Progmiscon.org misconceptions

The following list summarizes those phenomena reported in this study that provide evidence for misconceptions documented on Progmiscon.org. (The paper may provide evidence for other misconceptions as well. This list focuses exclusively on misconceptions documented on Progmiscon.org.)

Mental model

Incorrect mental models related to variable assignment among tested students.

ME

Viewing '=' as a comparison operator

6 / 60

Students showing this (incorrect) mental model

This provides evidence potentially relevant for the following Progmiscon.org misconceptions:

AssignCompares — Java

AssignCompares — Python