Learning Programming with Augmented Reality-Based Editor: A Dynamic Code Visualisation Approach

Abstract

Background: Students experience higher-order thinking skills by finding ways to solve the problem, debugging errors while applying the solution, and testing the solution in programming. However, the inability to create schemas that will characterise programming structures is one of the difficulties during this process. Objectives: This study aimed to create an augmented reality-based programming editor and evaluate its contributions to learning programming. Text-based programming codes developed by the students on the editor were instantly visualised through a traffic metaphor in dynamic visualisation via augmented reality. The findings of this study highlight the significance of a novel usage of augmented reality in shaping cognitive processes during the programming learning process. Methods: An exploratory case study was adopted in the study. Participants voluntarily selected 15 students in the same secondary school's 4th and 5th grades. The data to determine the programming performances were collected via a programming performance test and analysed with the rubric created by the authors. Interviews and screen recordings were employed to determine the factors that had a role in the programming learning process. Results and Conclusions: The results indicated that teaching programming using the augmented reality-based editor has positively contributed to learning programming. The editor's scenario, animation, and error display features incorporated with an authentic dynamic visualisation were remarkable in this contribution. The editor also contributed to reducing students' efforts to create schemas for programming by bringing the context closer to reality throughout the programming process.