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ERIC Number: EJ1443786
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2024
Pages: 40
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1648-5831
EISSN: EISSN-2335-8971
"Hear" and "Play" Students Misconceptions on Concurrent Programming Using Sonic Pi
Daniele Traversaro; Giorgio Delzanno; Giovanna Guerrini
Informatics in Education, v23 n3 p679-718 2024
Concurrency is a complex to learn topic that is becoming more and more relevant, such that many undergraduate Computer Science curricula are introducing it in introductory programming courses. This paper investigates the combined use of Sonic Pi and Team-Based Learning to mitigate the difficulties in early exposure to concurrency. Sonic Pi, a domain-specific music language, provides great support for "playing" with concurrency, and "hearing" common problems such as data races and lack of synchronization among different concurrent threads. More specifically, the paper focuses on students' misconceptions regarding concurrency in Sonic Pi and compares them to those arising in traditional concurrent programming languages. In addition, it preliminarily explores knowledge transfer from Sonic Pi to C/C++. The approach has been applied in two teaching experiments with undergraduate students in our University involving 184 participants. Our investigations bring out the need to address misconceptions through targeted interventions for a clear understanding of concurrent programming concepts. Sonic Pi's simplified abstraction and domain-specific flavor has demonstrated to be effective, especially for first-year students.
Vilnius University Institute of Mathematics and Informatics, Lithuanian Academy of Sciences. Akademjos str. 4, Vilnius LT 08663 Lithuania. Tel: +37-5-21-09300; Fax: +37-5-27-29209; e-mail: info@mii.vu.lt; Web site: https://infedu.vu.lt/journal/INFEDU
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research; Tests/Questionnaires
Education Level: Higher Education; Postsecondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A