Improving the mental models held by novice programmers using cognitive conflict and jeliot visualisations

  • Authors:

  • Linxiao Ma;John Ferguson;Marc Roper;Isla Ross;Murray Wood

  • Affiliations:

  • University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, United Kingdom;University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, United Kingdom;University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, United Kingdom;University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, United Kingdom;University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, United Kingdom

  • Venue:
  • ITiCSE '09 Proceedings of the 14th annual ACM SIGCSE conference on Innovation and technology in computer science education
  • Year:
  • 2009

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Abstract

Recent research has found that many novice programmers often hold non-viable mental models of basic programming concepts which can limit their potential to develop appropriate programming skills. Previous work by the authors suggests that a teaching model that integrates cognitive conflict and program visualisation can help novices formulate appropriate mental models. This paper first outlines a 'concepts roadmap' that provides an ordered approach to learning programming concepts allowing students to build on fundamental base knowledge. It then reports the results of a series of studies investigating the use of the Jeliot visualisation tool as the visualisation component of the proposed learning model when applied to these concepts. The findings include: the ease with which Jeliot can be tailored to visualise a range of concepts using a variety of examples; the Jeliot visualisation of object reference was too complex for CS1 students; further evidence that CS1 students struggle to develop appropriate understanding of a range of key programming concepts; and, further evidence that an integrated cognitive conflict/visualisation strategy can help students develop an appropriate understanding of key programming concepts.