Elementary Students' Conceptions of Programming on a Sorting Task

• In Event: Computational Thinking and Cognition

Abstract

Understanding students’ conceptions of programming is important for building on their knowledge in meaningful ways. In this study, 27 first graders and 26 third graders sorted pictures of objects, before and after a programming intervention, based on whether the pictures definitely involve programming, sort-of involve programming, or do not involve programming. Results indicate that the percent of students labeling pictures as definitely involving programming increased for the majority of items and this change was significant for girls on three of the five items of interest (two programming games and a robot). Students’ changes aligned with programming applications they used and learned about during the intervention, suggesting helping students make direct connections to programming applications is important for their developing conceptions.

Authors

• Laura Bofferding, Purdue University

• Sirou Wang, Purdue University

• Mahtob Aqazade, Texas A&M University - Corpus Christi