Type of Publication: Article in Collected Edition

Statistical Frequency-Analysis of Misconceptions In Object-Oriented Programming From Educator’s Perspective

Author(s):

Kelter, R.; Kramer, M.; Brinda, T.

Editor:

Joy, M.; Ihantola, P.

Title of Anthology:

Proceedings of the 18th Koli Calling Conference on Computing Education Research

pages:

1-10

Publisher:

ACM Press

Location(s):

New York

Publication Date:

2018

ISBN:

978-1-4503-6535-2

Language:

englisch

Keywords:

object-oriented-programming, misconceptions in object-oriented- programming, frequency-analysis of misconceptions in programming, regression models for OOP misconceptions

Digital Object Identifier (DOI):

doi:10.1145/3279720.3279727

Link to complete version:

https://www.ddi.wiwi.uni-due.de/forschung/publikationen/acm/#kelter-kramer-brinda-2018

Citation:

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Abstract

The object-oriented programming (OOP) paradigm is quite prominent in German secondary schools. To challenge and overcome possible difficulties in the learning process it is vital for educators to have knowledge about possible (mis-)conceptions. Traditionally, these are gathered by investigating the mental models of students, e.g. towards object-orientation. While on the one side lots of misconceptions could not be reproduced in replication studies, on the other side most of ten students are asked, while teachers could provide an overview on one or several courses. To tackle both aspects at once, this paper describes the investigation of teachers views on occurring student misconceptions regarding OOP in their lessons. Therefore misconceptions were gathered from literature and were condensed into a survey. The answers of 79 teachers are analysed regarding the frequency with which teachers register misconceptions, which of those are possibly new and by fitting linear and quadratic regression models it is investigated, which external factors, such as teaching approach, work experience or educational degree, might influence the perceived frequency of registered misconceptions. All aspects show promising results for further investigations towards the research of misconceptions in OOP.