Maria Knobelsdorf
Josh Tenenberg
ABSTRACT
In this paper, we address the problem that despite the fact that visualization tools are one of the most investigated research fields in Computer Science Education, most teachers and students neglect utilizing existing visualization tools for teaching and learning programming, respectively. We discuss possible reasons for the problem mentioned above as well as directions for future research based on Activity Theory, a theoretical framework from developmental psychology. Therefore, this is a philosophical paper, with the purposes of briefly presenting those aspects of Activity Theory that are most relevant to the development of program visualization tools, and pursuing the implications of this theory for deepening our understanding of how these tools impact teaching and learning.
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Index Terms
- The reasons might be different: why students and teachers do not use visualization tools
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