Three classes of conceptual bugs presenting obstacles to all novice programmers and not related to any specific program--parallelism, intentionality, and egocentrism--are identified and exemplified through student errors. It is suggested these bugs are rooted in students' intuitive feeling that programming languages, like humans, have intelligent,…

In order to determine the knowledge and skills needed by novice programmers to successfully learn computer programming, four studies were conducted using a clinical interview technique. The first study determined that many systematic errors in programming were due to programmers' high-level misconceptions of the nature of the computer and of the…

Describes a microcomputer-based system for diagnosing children's multiplication errors which incorporates the knowledge base of all known systematic multiplication errors, and utilizes a modular approach to cope with the program's complexity. Each module's function, how the programs interact, and the design of pupil-machine interaction are…

Seven graduate students in a seminar on classroom computing received instruction in LOGO programming. Programming protocols were collected periodically and examined for errors and misconceptions; in-depth interviews were conducted in order to understand specific misconceptions better. As novice students transit from instruction to experience in…

Misconceptions high school students have about constructs in the BASIC programming language were examined in this study. A total of 96 high school students received a screening test after a semester course in BASIC programming, and 56 of these students were subsequently interviewed by means of questions and short programs prepared in advance. The…

This report examines the features and performance of the BUG-FINDing component of MENO-II, a computer-based tutor for beginning PASCAL programming students. A discussion of the use of artificial intelligence techniques is followed by a summary of the system status and objectives. The two main components of MENO-II are described, beginning with the…

An overall schema of interpretation for programming instructors is given, so that the misconceptions students develop in programming can be determined more readily. Types of language-independent and -dependent bugs, how they can be identified, and how to help students overcome them are addressed. (MNS)

Argues that a computer-based programming tutor for novice programmers needs to take into account not only the types and frequency of bugs found in the programs, but the intentions and knowledge state of the programmer. A first version of such a program was developed on the basis of the bug types found in a number of pencil-and-paper studies with…

This report describes PROUST, a computer-based system for online analyses and understanding of PASCAL programs written by novice programmers, which takes as input a program and a non-algorithmic description of the program requirements and finds the most likely mapping between the requirements and the code. Both the theory and processing techniques…

High school students' misunderstandings of the conceptual machine of the BASIC programming language were examined using a screening test and structured interviews to determine their understanding of fundamental concepts such as variables, assignments, loops, flow and control, and tracing and debugging. (MBR)

In an attempt to initiate a new approach to the teaching of Pascal, a study was conducted to ascertain the difficulties students encountered when they attempt to learn this computer language. Screening tests were given to 68 students in grades 11 and 12 who had just completed a semester course in Pascal. The purpose of the test was to detect…