Learning to program as empirical inquiry: using a conversation perspective to explore student programming processes
Kristina Torine Litherland, Anders Kluge · Computer Science Education · 2023
Background and Context: We explore the potential for understanding the processes involved in students' programming based on studying their behaviour and dialogue with each other and "conversations" with their programs.Objective: Our aim is to explore how a perspective of inquiry can be used as a point of departure for insights into how students learn to program.Method: We completed a qualitative study situated in elective computer science classes in an upper secondary school in Norway.We collected data by video recording classroom interactions and used screen-recording software.Findings: Our findings include how we consider programs as both means and ends and reconsider the "error" in trial-and-error strategies, the role of error messages, and how programs are bound to context and particular moments in time.Implications: Our findings have implications for the ways we understand programs as mediating tools in research and apply them in the field of practice.