Variation theory applied to students’ conceptions of computer programming

Abstract

The present work has its focus on university-level engineering education students that do not intend to major in computer science but still have to take a mandatory programming course. Phenomenography and variation theory are applied to empirical data from a study of students’ conceptions of computer programming. A phenomenographic outcome space is presented, with five qualitatively different categories of description of students’ ways of seeing computer programming. Moreover, dimensions of variation related to these categories are identified. Based on this discussion it is suggested how to use patterns of variation in order to support students’ learning of computer programming. Finally, results from a pilot study demonstrate the successful application of two patterns of variation in a computer lab assignment.

Keywords:

• variation theory
• pattern of variation
• phenomenography
• computer programming

Notes

To protect the anonymity of the participating students, each student is referred to by a letter which is completely unrelated to the student's real name.

Explanation for non-CS experts: the debugger is a software tool that allows for step-by-step execution of programs. After each step it is possible to examine the values of the data stored in the program's working memory.