ABSTRACT
The operation of the notional machine presents a hidden but crucial process in students' understanding of introductory programming. When students trace though code, simulating the operation of the notional machine, this hidden operation becomes evident. When students sketch this trace by physically drawing it, the operation is also visible to peers, tutors, and teachers as well as to the students themselves. Increased accuracy on code reading problems has already been found for students who sketch and trace. I want to explore whether sketching and tracing helps others better understand what a student knows about the notional machine.
- Michelene TH Chi, Stephanie A Siler, and Heisawn Jeong. 2004. Can tutors monitor students' understanding accurately? Cognition and instruction 22, 3 (2004), 363--387.Google Scholar
- Matthew Hertz and Maria Jump. 2013. Trace-Based Teaching in Early Programming Courses. Proceedings of the 44th ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education (2013), 561--566. DOI:http://dx.doi.org/10.1145/2445196.2445364 Google ScholarDigital Library
- Raymond Lister, Otto Seppala, Beth Simon, Lynda Thomas, Elizabeth S. Adams, Sue Fitzgerald, William Fone, John Hamer, Morten Lindholm, Robert McCartney, Jan Erik Mostrom, and Kate Sanders. 2004. A multi-national study of reading and tracing skills in novice programmers. In ACM SIGCSE Bulletin, Vol. 36. 119--150. DOI:http://dx.doi.org/10.1145/1041624.1041673 Google ScholarDigital Library
- Linxiao Ma. 2007. Investigating and improving novice programmers' mental models of programming concepts. Ph.D. Dissertation. University of Strathclyde.Google Scholar
- Robert McCartney, Jan Erik Mostrm, Kate Sanders, and Otto Seppl. 2005. Take note: the effectiveness of novice programmers annotations on examinations. Informatics in Education 4, 1 (2005), 69--86.Google ScholarCross Ref
- Juha Sorva. 2013. Notional Machines and Introductory Programming Education. Trans. Comput. Educ. 13, 2, Article 8 (July 2013), 31 pages. DOI:http://dx.doi.org/ 10.1145/2483710.2483713Google ScholarDigital Library
- Juha Sorva, Ville Karavirta, and Lauri Malmi. 2013. A Review of Generic Program Visualization Systems for Introductory Programming Education. ACM Transactions on Computing Education 13, 4 (2013), 15.1 -- 15.64. DOI:http: //dx.doi.org/10.1145/2490822Google ScholarDigital Library
- Aman Yadav, Sarah Gretter, Susanne Hambrusch, and Phil Sands. 2017. Expanding computer science education in schools: understanding teacher experiences and challenges. Computer Science Education 26, 4 (2017), 235--254. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/08993408.2016.1257418 Google ScholarCross Ref
Index Terms
- The Effect of Sketching and Tracing on Instructors' Understanding of Student Misconceptions
Recommendations
Using Tracing and Sketching to Solve Programming Problems: Replicating and Extending an Analysis of What Students Draw
ICER '17: Proceedings of the 2017 ACM Conference on International Computing Education ResearchSketching out a code trace is a cognitive assistance for programmers, student and professional. Previous research (Lister et al. 2004) showed that students who sketch a trace on paper had greater success on code 'reading' problems involving loops, ...
Novice Rationales for Sketching and Tracing, and How They Try to Avoid It
ITiCSE '19: Proceedings of the 2019 ACM Conference on Innovation and Technology in Computer Science EducationPrior research has shown that sketching out a code trace on paper is correlated with higher scores on code reading problems. Why do students sometimes choose not to draw out a code trace, or if they do, choose a different sketching technique than their ...
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