Influence of Skill and Knowledge of Programmers on Program Behavior Visualization by CS Unplugged

TL;DR

This paper investigates how programmers' skill and knowledge influence their program behavior visualization in CS Unplugged, highlighting the importance of participant knowledge in understanding programming concepts without computers.

Contribution

It introduces an analysis of how programmer skill and knowledge affect visualization outcomes in CS Unplugged, considering factors overlooked in previous studies.

Findings

Participant knowledge significantly impacts visualization test results.

Skill level correlates with better understanding of program behavior.

Factors influencing visualization effectiveness are identified.

Abstract

Computer science unplugged (CS unplugged) is a method of teaching computer science and computational thinking. It does not use a computer but employs physical materials. As CS unplugged, past studies proposed a new method to visualize programming behavior, and evaluated the method based on the understanding test of program. However, the past studied did not consider the factors affecting the test such as participants knowledge. This study analyzed the relationship between the factors and the test results.