Conceptual Checks for Programming Teachers
Demonstration Paper
EC-TEL'21
Mon, Sep 20, 2021Learning to program and learning a new programming language is difficult because it requires learners to undergo conceptual change. Research on conceptual change has shown that instructors’ awareness of the misconceptions their students may hold can significantly affect learning outcomes. In this demo we present ``conceptual checks’’, a web-based tool that allows instructors and teaching assistants of programming courses to quickly get an overview of the misconceptions that might come up at a given point in their course. We implemented conceptual checks on top of Progmiscon, an educational repository of programming language misconceptions observed in students learning to program. The inventory currently catalogues more than 200 misconceptions, documented in a structure that is presented on the web site and is accessible through a static API for educational tools. This demonstration illustrates conceptual checks as an efficient and effective means for instructors to access the relevant information in the large body of misconceptions.