Towards Prioritized and Actionable Programming Misconceptions

Abstract

Many programming misconception collections contain hundreds of entries with little guidance on which misconceptions to prioritize. We report on a refinement of a teaching-relevance framework for a web-based misconception repository for Java/Processing. Three instructors evaluated two criteria, Learner Discoverability and Learning Barrier (Krippendorff's α=0.57;0.60, rising to 0.9;1.0 after a majority-vote). Together with frequency data, the criteria enable compound filters like Silent Blockers or Rare Traps that, combined with teaching opportunities such as peer instruction quizzes, bridge the gap between misconception knowledge and classroom action.