A Case Study on When and How Novices Use Code Examples in Open-Ended Programming
Wengran Wang, Yudong Rao, Archit Kwatra, Alexandra Milliken, Yihuan Dong, Neeloy Gomes, Sarah Martin, Veronica Cateté, Amy Isvik, Tiffany M. Barnes, Chris Martens, Thomas Price · 2023
Many students rely on examples when learning to program, but they often face barriers when incorporating these examples into their own code and learning the concepts they present. As a step towards designing effective example interfaces that can support student learning, we investigate novices' needs and strategies when using examples to write code. We conducted a study with 12 pairs of high school students working on open-ended game design projects, using a system that allows students to browse examples based on their functionality, and to view and copy the example code. We analyzed interviews, screen recordings, and log data, identifying 5 moments when novices request examples, and 4 strategies that arise when students use examples. We synthesize these findings into principles that can inform the design of future example systems to better support students.