Rethinking Debugging as Productive Failure for CS Education

Kafai, Yasmin B.; DeLiema, David; Fields, Deborah A.; Lewandowski, Gary; Lewis, Colleen M.

doi:10.1145/3287324.3287333

Cited by 18 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 6 publications

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“…Therefore meaningful teaching and training activities can encourage and guide reflection and communication about critical thinking involved in the debugging process. [5,12]. However, not all defects easily manifest in failures, potentially making them hard to spot.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Common Bugs in Scratch Programs

Frädrich

Obermüller

Körber

et al. 2020

Proceedings of the 2020 ACM Conference on Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education

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Bugs in Scratch programs can spoil the fun and inhibit learning success. Many common bugs are the result of recurring patterns of bad code. In this paper we present a collection of common code patterns that typically hint at bugs in Scratch programs, and the LitterBox tool which can automatically detect them. We empirically evaluate how frequently these patterns occur, and how severe their consequences usually are. While fixing bugs inevitably is part of learning, the possibility to identify the bugs automatically provides the potential to support learners. CCS CONCEPTS• Social and professional topics → Software engineering education; K-12 education; • Software and its engineering → Visual languages.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Common Bugs in Scratch Programs

Frädrich

Obermüller

Körber

et al. 2020

Proceedings of the 2020 ACM Conference on Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education

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“…Although the teaching of coding can help students understand and fix Syntax problems, the complete programming process can help students better read others' codes, understand the code design ideas, and fix non-SYNTAX class problems in the code. On the other hand, debugging errors encountered by students in programming are often repeated, so students can share with each other the process of encountering errors and solving them, and also accumulate debugging experience together [8]. Moreover, good debugging practice can significantly reduce students' time spent on programming assignments and increase their confidence in programming.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Debug Education: Students Debug Ability Assessment

2022

IJNDE

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This paper reviews the relevant literature on computer program debugging by students. Debugging is a part of programming learning, the complete programming process will be the end of the program debugging, but this step for the novice programmer has a certain difficulty. Although there are many programming AIDS to help beginners quickly start programming, it is difficult to avoid mistakes in the programming process. Experts have a wealth of programming experience and spend a certain amount of time on debugging. For novice debuggers with a more unfamiliar programming environment, debugging will take more time. This paper reviews and summarizes the debugging research literature in the past, focusing on the following four aspects: What is a novice debugger? Common types of novice errors and student performance in debugging. Finally, we hope to promote the future development of computer education through the analysis of these debugging studies.

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“…Some difficulties during learning seem to hinder short-term performance but may lead to better learning in the longer term ( Schmidt and Bjork, 1992 ). Thus, debugging code provides opportunities for productive failure ( Kapur, 2016 ) or the “failure precedes later success in learning” ( Kafai et al, 2019 , p. 169). In our study, receiving RPEMs might be perceived as a disadvantage to group A, but making mistakes and fixing code with only RPEMs may help students learn in a deeper way, especially in conceptual knowledge and transfer, according to the viewpoint of productive failure ( Kapur, 2008 , 2016 ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Debugging itself is an integral part of learning to program. Kafai et al (2019) suggest “rethinking debugging as productive failure for CS education” (p. 169). From this perspective, we recommend that researchers of EPEMs should reconsider the role of error messages and redesign research and instruction.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Learning From Errors: Exploring the Effectiveness of Enhanced Error Messages in Learning to Program

2021

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Error messages provided by the programming environments are often cryptic and confusing to learners. This study explored the effectiveness of enhanced programming error messages (EPEMs) in a Python-based introductory programming course. Participants were two groups of middle school students. The control group only received raw programming error messages (RPEMs) and had 35 students. The treatment group received EPEMs and had 33 students. During the class, students used an automated assessment tool called Mulberry to practice their programming skill. Mulberry automatically collected all the solutions students submitted when solving programming problems. Data analysis was based on 6339 student solutions collected by Mulberry. Our results showed that EPEMs did not help to reduce student errors or improve students’ performance in debugging. The ineffectiveness of EPEMs may result from reasons such as the inaccuracy of the interpreter’s error messages or students not reading the EPEMs. However, the viewpoint of productive failure may provide a better explanation of the ineffectiveness of EPEMs. The failures in coding and difficulties in debugging can be resources for learning. We recommend that researchers reconsider the role of errors in code and investigate whether and how failures and debugging contribute to the learning of programming.

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Rethinking Debugging as Productive Failure for CS Education

Cited by 18 publications

References 6 publications

Common Bugs in Scratch Programs

Common Bugs in Scratch Programs

Debug Education: Students Debug Ability Assessment

Learning From Errors: Exploring the Effectiveness of Enhanced Error Messages in Learning to Program

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