Understanding Students’ Failure to use Functions as a Tool for Abstraction – An Analysis of Questionnaire Responses and Lab Assignments in a CS1 Python Course

• Published in: Informatics in education Vol. 20; no. 4; pp. 583 - 614
• Main Authors: Haglund, Pontus, Strömbäck, Filip, Mannila, Linda
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Vilnius Vilniaus Universiteto Leidykla 2021; Vilnius University Press; Institute of Mathematics and Informatics; Vilnius University Institute of Mathematics and Informatics, Lithuanian Academy of Sciences; Vilnius University
• Subjects: Abstract Reasoning; abstraction; Algorithms; Assignments; Basic Skills; Computer Science Education; core concepts; CS1; data abstraction; Data Analysis; Data collection; Education; Failure analysis; Fundamental Concepts; ICT Information and Communications Technologies; Intelligent Tutoring Systems; Introductory Courses; Laboratories; Prerequisites; Problem Solving; procedural abstraction; Programming; Programming Languages; python; Questionnaires; Reference Materials; Students; Teaching; Visualization; CS1; prerequisites; Python Tutor; parameter passing; references; abstraction; scope; data abstraction; Python functions; core concepts; procedural abstraction; functions; Python
• ISSN: 1648-5831; 2335-8971; 2335-8971
• DOI: 10.15388/INFEDU.2021.26

Controlling complexity through the use of abstractions is a critical part of problem solving in programming. Thus, becoming proficient with procedural and data abstraction through the use of user-defined functions is important. Properly using functions for abstraction involves a number of other core concepts, such as parameter passing, scope and references, which are known to be difficult. Therefore, this paper aims to study students’ proficiency with these core concepts, and students’ ability to apply procedural and data abstraction to solve problems. We collected data from two years of an introductory Python course, both from a questionnaire and from two lab assignments. The data shows that students had difficulties with the core concepts, and a number of issues solving problems with abstraction. We also investigate the impact of using a visualization tool when teaching the core concepts.