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Debugging Pathways: Open-Ended Discrepancy Noticing, Causal Reasoning, and Intervening

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Title: Debugging Pathways: Open-Ended Discrepancy Noticing, Causal Reasoning, and Intervening
Language: English
Authors: David DeLiema (ORCID 0000-0002-2014-0313), Jeffrey K. Bye (ORCID 0000-0002-2636-3657), Vijay Marupudi (ORCID 0000-0001-5128-1197)
Source: ACM Transactions on Computing Education. 2024 24(2).
Availability: Association for Computing Machinery. 2 Penn Plaza Suite 701, New York, NY 10121. Tel: 800-342-6626; Tel: 212-626-0500; Fax: 212-944-1318; e-mail: acmhelp@acm.org; Web site: http://toce.acm.org/
Peer Reviewed: Y
Page Count: 34
Publication Date: 2024
Sponsoring Agency: National Science Foundation (NSF)
Document Type: Journal Articles
Reports - Descriptive
Education Level: Elementary Education
Grade 5
Intermediate Grades
Middle Schools
Grade 6
Grade 7
Junior High Schools
Secondary Education
Grade 8
Grade 9
High Schools
Grade 10
Descriptors: Computer Software, Troubleshooting, Intention, Intervention, Teacher Student Relationship, Interaction, Grade 5, Grade 6, Grade 7, Grade 8, Grade 9, Grade 10, Thinking Skills, Coding, Classroom Communication
DOI: 10.1145/3650115
ISSN: 1946-6226
Abstract: Learning to respond to a computer program that is not working as intended is often characterized as finding a singular bug causing a singular problem. This framing underemphasizes the wide range of ways that students and teachers could notice discrepancies from their intention, propose causes of those discrepancies, and implement interventions. Weaving together a synthesis of the existing research literature with new multimodal interaction analyses of teacher-student conversations during coding, we propose a framework for debugging that foregrounds this open-endedness. We use the framework to structure an analysis of three naturalistic debugging situations (with US 5th-10th graders) that range from solo debugging to collaborative discourse. We argue that a broken computer program is a polysemous object through which teachers and students actively and publicly notice, reason about, and negotiate different debugging pathways. We document students and teachers improvisationally altering a debugging pathway, justifying a particular pathway, and outwardly discussing competing pathways. This paper provides a framework for structuring debugging pedagogy to be less about scaffolding a student toward a specific pathway to a fix and more about exploring multiple possible pathways and judging the (learning) value of various routes.
Abstractor: As Provided
Entry Date: 2024
Accession Number: EJ1435776
Database: ERIC
FullText Text:
  Availability: 0
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  Data: Debugging Pathways: Open-Ended Discrepancy Noticing, Causal Reasoning, and Intervening
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  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22David+DeLiema%22">David DeLiema</searchLink> (ORCID <externalLink term="https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2014-0313">0000-0002-2014-0313</externalLink>)<br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Jeffrey+K%2E+Bye%22">Jeffrey K. Bye</searchLink> (ORCID <externalLink term="https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2636-3657">0000-0002-2636-3657</externalLink>)<br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Vijay+Marupudi%22">Vijay Marupudi</searchLink> (ORCID <externalLink term="https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5128-1197">0000-0001-5128-1197</externalLink>)
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  Data: Association for Computing Machinery. 2 Penn Plaza Suite 701, New York, NY 10121. Tel: 800-342-6626; Tel: 212-626-0500; Fax: 212-944-1318; e-mail: acmhelp@acm.org; Web site: http://toce.acm.org/
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  Data: Y
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  Data: 34
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  Data: 2024
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  Data: 10.1145/3650115
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  Data: 1946-6226
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  Data: Learning to respond to a computer program that is not working as intended is often characterized as finding a singular bug causing a singular problem. This framing underemphasizes the wide range of ways that students and teachers could notice discrepancies from their intention, propose causes of those discrepancies, and implement interventions. Weaving together a synthesis of the existing research literature with new multimodal interaction analyses of teacher-student conversations during coding, we propose a framework for debugging that foregrounds this open-endedness. We use the framework to structure an analysis of three naturalistic debugging situations (with US 5th-10th graders) that range from solo debugging to collaborative discourse. We argue that a broken computer program is a polysemous object through which teachers and students actively and publicly notice, reason about, and negotiate different debugging pathways. We document students and teachers improvisationally altering a debugging pathway, justifying a particular pathway, and outwardly discussing competing pathways. This paper provides a framework for structuring debugging pedagogy to be less about scaffolding a student toward a specific pathway to a fix and more about exploring multiple possible pathways and judging the (learning) value of various routes.
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  Data: 2024
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  Data: EJ1435776
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        Value: 10.1145/3650115
    Languages:
      – Text: English
    PhysicalDescription:
      Pagination:
        PageCount: 34
    Subjects:
      – SubjectFull: Computer Software
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      – SubjectFull: Troubleshooting
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      – SubjectFull: Intention
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      – SubjectFull: Coding
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      – SubjectFull: Classroom Communication
        Type: general
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      – TitleFull: Debugging Pathways: Open-Ended Discrepancy Noticing, Causal Reasoning, and Intervening
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