The Hands-Up Problem and How to Deal With It: Secondary School Teachers' Experiences of Debugging in the Classroom
Laurie Gale, Sue Sentance
TL;DR
This study investigates secondary school teachers' experiences with debugging in text-based programming, identifying the pervasive 'hands-up problem' where many students rely on teacher support. Through nine semi-structured interviews and thematic analysis, the authors uncover drivers, consequences, and counters to this phenomenon, including domain-general and domain-specific strategies such as peer collaboration, modelling, and positive error culture. They argue for the development of debugging-specific pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) and professional development to empower less confident teachers and reduce reliance on instructor intervention. The work highlights practical implications for classroom practice and directions for future research, including a formal debugging-PCK model and larger-scale evaluation of pedagogical interventions to normalise error-making and foster independent debugging.
Abstract
Debugging is a vital but challenging skill for beginner programmers to learn. It is also a difficult skill to teach. For secondary school teachers, who may lack time or programming experience, honing students' understanding of debugging can be a daunting task. Despite this, little research has explored their perspectives of debugging. To this end, we investigated secondary teachers' experiences of debugging in the classroom, with a focus on text-based programming. Through thematic analysis of nine semi-structured interviews, we identified a common reliance on the teacher for debugging support, embodied by many raised hands. We call this phenomenon the `hands-up problem'. While more experienced and confident teachers discussed strategies they use to counteract this, less confident teachers discussed the negative consequences of this problem. We recommend further research into debugging-specific pedagogical content knowledge and professional development to help less confident teachers develop approaches for supporting their students with debugging.