Conjectures Concerning the Origins of Misconceptions in LOGO

Abstract

Seven graduate students in a seminar on classroom computing received instruction in LOGO programming. Programming protocols were collected periodically and examined for errors and misconceptions; in-depth interviews were conducted in order to understand specific misconceptions better. As novice students transit from instruction to experience in LOGO, they develop a systematic set of misconceptions concerning the flow of control in programs. These misconceptions result in programming errors including unnecessary repetition of statements, inadequate use of conditional statements, non-existent or inappropriate combination of Boolean operators, failure to initialize variables, and difficulty transferring simple recursive structures developed in the graphics mode to the list processing mode. In addition, students with prior programming experience in BASIC inappropriately attempt to superimpose the iterative FOR...NEXT loop of this language onto recursion in LOGO. The origins of these misconceptions are traced to general properties of cognition and also to specific instructional practices. Four recommendations for instructing novices in LOGO are included. (Author/MNS)