Identifying students’ misconceptions on basic algorithmic concepts through flowchart analysis

Abstract

In this paper, a flowchart-based approach to identifying secondary school students’ misconceptions (in a broad sense) on basic algorithm concepts is introduced. This approach uses student-generated flowcharts as the units of analysis and examines them against plan composition and construct-based programming problems to identify students’ misconceptions. In this study, 102 flowcharts, generated by 50 students in two informatics classes in the Netherlands, were examined and various sorts of misconceptions were identified. The results suggest that, given their abstract and language-independent nature, flowcharts can be considered as an effective tool for revealing students’ difficulties in understanding algorithmic concepts. Our approach contrasts the more traditional use of program code to investigate students’ misconceptions. We found several misconceptions mentioned in the literature, together with two misconceptions which appear not to have been described before. Our research contributes to the usage of flowcharts as a formative assessment tool, directing informatics teachers’ instruction toward resolving these misconceptions.