Home PublicationsJRTEPast IssuesVolume 34 Number 3

	Edited by Dr. David J. Ayersman, Mary Washington College, and Dr. W. Michael Reed, New York University Incoming editor: Dr. Lynne Schrum, University of Georgia
formerly Journal of Research on Computing in Education

Volume 34 Number 3 2002

Modular Programming: Novice Misconceptions
Sandra Madison and James Gifford
University of Wisconsin–Stevens Point

Abstract
This study explored the parameter-related misconceptions of two college students enrolled in an introductory programming course. Both students appeared to conceive a direct procedure-to-procedure linkage, with the connection being forged by identically named formal parameters. Throughout the semester, both students were able—by making apparently innocuous adjustments to formal parameter lists—to construct correctly functioning modular programs. They were also able to correctly answer parameter-related test questions when the questions did not provoke a conflict with their fundamental misconception of the parameter process. Therefore, the misconceptions were concealed from the instructor and perhaps from the students themselves. This article discusses the results of the study within the constructivist framework and suggests implications for instruction. (Keywords: constructivism, modular programming, misconception, novice programmers, parameters.)

Contributors
Sandra Madison is an associate professor in the Department of Mathematics and Computing at the University of Wisconsin–Stevens Point. Her research interests include the study of novice programmers, formal thinking in computing students, and gender equity in computing-related fields.

James Gifford is a professor in and chair of the Department of Mathematics and Computing at the University of Wisconsin–Stevens Point. His research interests include the improvement of instruction in introductory programming courses, especially as such issues relate to gender equity, and the development of effective distance education in the computing curriculum.

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Contact
Sandra Madison
Department of Mathematics and Computing
University of Wisconsin–Stevens Point
Stevens Point, WI 54481
smadison@uwsp.edu

Appendix

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Copyright © 2002, ISTE (International Society for Technology in Education). All rights reserved.