Identifying Novice Student Programming Misconceptions and Errors From Summative Assessments

Abstract

This article presents a study aimed at examining the novice student answers in an introductory programming final e-exam to identify misconceptions and types of errors. Our study used the Delphi concept inventory to identify student misconceptions and skill, rule, and knowledge-based errors approach to identify the types of errors made by novices in Python programming. The students' responses to each question were scrutinized by using the Delphi concept inventory, heuristic-analytic theory, and neo-Piagetian theory of cognitive development for qualitative data analysis. Moreover, the motivation for this exploratory study was to also address the misconceptions that students held in programming and help educators to redefine the teaching methods to correct those alternative conceptions. Student misconceptions were spotted in list referencing and inbuilt functions in Python. In a further quantitative analysis, the study found that students who had misconceptions made knowledge errors and failed to complete the coding tasks. Surprisingly, and coincidentally, it was identified that only a few students were able to write code related to mathematical problems.

Tools and Techniques for Teaching Computer Programming: A Review

“…Assessment systems are typically used to check the correctness of programs written by students. However, they can also be used to assess qualities such as efficiency and readability of programs (Veerasamy et al., 2016). The use of assessment systems allows more students to enroll in programming courses.…”

“…Contemporary assessment systems are typically implemented as web-based systems and can be accessed by the students and the instructor from anywhere and anytime (de Souza et al, 2011). Assessment systems developed in the recent years performs an in-depth analysis of the programs written by students and try to provide them detailed feedback (Powers, 2012; Veerasamy et al., 2016).…”

Multimodal Technologies in Precision Education: Providing New Opportunities or Adding More Challenges?

“…In the modern educational system, programming is one of the core subjects that promotes computational and reflective thinking skills [54]. Although these cognitive sectors have been widely explored, there are still many challenges and misconceptions that prevent novices from reaching their potential [55]. A proposed solution to tackle this issue has been the incorporation of programming courses into the curriculum of primary and secondary education to prepare students' analytical and computational mindset [56].…”

“…The adoption of multimodal tools to collect data related to learners' characteristics, behavior, interactions, and performance enables instructors to better understand students' needs [55]. In addition, it allows for the integration of inclusive and reflective tasks tailored to individuals' particular needs and competencies [57].…”

Developing a Scratch-based coding achievement test

“…Unfortunately, the reliability level of the test is not reported and there are questions regarding the construct validity of the test. There are several other concept inventories developed in English language in the related literature, which are digital logic concept inventory (Herman et al , 2010), computer science concept inventory for introductory programming (Caceffo et al , 2016) and Delphi concept inventory (Veerasamy et al , 2016).…”