A Proposal for a Debugging Learning Support Environment for Undergraduate Students Majoring in Computer Science

TL;DR

This paper proposes a visual programming environment in Scratch to support undergraduate computer science students in learning debugging through breakpoints, aiming to enhance their debugging skills and understanding.

Contribution

It introduces a new Scratch-based debugging support environment focusing on breakpoint learning, which is a novel approach for educational debugging tools.

Findings

Students improved their debugging skills after using the environment.

The environment facilitated understanding of systematic debugging procedures.

Students showed increased confidence in debugging tasks.

Abstract

In software development, encountering bugs is inevitable. However, opportunities to learn more about bug removal are limited. When students perform debugging tasks, they often use print statements because students do not know how to use a debugger or have never used one.In this study, among various debugging methods, we focused on debugging using breakpoints. We implemented a function in Scratch, a visual programming language, that allows for self-learning of correct breakpoint placement and systematic debugging procedures.In this paper, we discuss experimental results that clarify the changes that occur in subjects when they learn debugging in Scratch.