Identifying Students’ Misconceptions on Basic Algorithmic Concepts Through Flowchart Analysis
Publication year
2017Publisher
Cham : Springer International Publishing
ISBN
9783319714837
In
Lecture Notes in Computer Science, (2017)Dagienė, V.; Hellas, A. (ed.), Informatics in Schools: Focus on Learning Programming: 10th International Conference on Informatics in Schools: Situation, Evolution, and Perspectives, ISSEP 2017, Helsinki, Finland, November 13-15, 2017, Proceedings, pp. 155-168ISSN
Publication type
Article in monograph or in proceedings
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Editor(s)
Dagienė, V.
Hellas, A.
Organization
Science Education
Journal title
Lecture Notes in Computer Science
Book title
Dagienė, V.; Hellas, A. (ed.), Informatics in Schools: Focus on Learning Programming: 10th International Conference on Informatics in Schools: Situation, Evolution, and Perspectives, ISSEP 2017, Helsinki, Finland, November 13-15, 2017, Proceedings
Page start
p. 155
Page end
p. 168
Subject
Science EducationAbstract
In this paper, a flowchart-based approach to identifying secondary school students’ misconceptions (in a broad sense) on basic algorithm concepts is introduced. This approach uses student-generated flowcharts as the units of analysis and examines them against plan composition and construct-based programming problems to identify students’ misconceptions. In this study, 102 flowcharts, generated by 50 students in two informatics classes in the Netherlands, were examined and various sorts of misconceptions were identified. The results suggest that, given their abstract and language-independent nature, flowcharts can be considered as an effective tool for revealing students’ difficulties in understanding algorithmic concepts. Our approach contrasts the more traditional use of program code to investigate students’ misconceptions. We found several misconceptions mentioned in the literature, together with two misconceptions which appear not to have been described before. Our research contributes to the usage of flowcharts as a formative assessment tool, directing informatics teachers’ instruction toward resolving these misconceptions.
This item appears in the following Collection(s)
- Academic publications [245263]
- Electronic publications [132514]
- Faculty of Science [37522]
- Open Access publications [106157]
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