Unplugged Debugging Activities for Developing Young Learners’ Debugging Skills

ABSTRACT

Despite increased interest in integrating programming education into K-12 programs, there is a lack of studies on teaching debugging to younger age groups. Therefore, this study proposes practical design components for designing unplugged debugging tasks that affect young learners’ debugging performance, problem-solving, and self-efficacy, intending to lower dependence upon tablet-based programming applications. This study incorporated different types of embodiment and language use for designing the unplugged debugging activities. Results indicated that the surrogate embodiment using an everyday language format during the unplugged debugging sessions benefited elementary students’ problem-solving and self-efficacy. The discussion includes practical implications for classroom application in elementary classrooms as well as recommendations for future research.

KEYWORDS:

• Debugging
• elementary education
• embodiment
• programming
• self-efficacy
• STEM

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Institute for Learning Technologies at Teachers College [221660].