Misconceptions - Misunderstandings of 5^th - 6^th Grade Students in Programming: The Educators' Perspective

This paper explores educators' views on the challenges faced by primary school students while learning programming in the Information and Communication Technologies curriculum in Greece. This research, focused on 5<sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">th</sup> and 6<sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">th</sup> grade students, aims to identify difficulties and misconceptions in programming, as observed and documented by educators during instruction. This research serves as a preparatory stage for a more extensive study of students' misconceptions regarding fundamental programming concepts. Existing relevant literature lacks extensive research on students' misconceptions in primary school. The findings are expected to contribute to the existing body of knowledge on programming misconceptions in early education. Preliminary results, based on educators' responses, indicate that programming plays a significant role in the curriculum of public primary schools in Greece. Notably, students face significant difficulties with fundamental structural elements of programming. Educators have identified 15 distinct elements that pose challenges for students and require reinforcement and additional support to alleviate misconceptions and improve their understanding. The study corroborates existing literature, confirming that the concept of variables is challenging for many students, compared to other structural elements introduced at this educational stage. Furthermore, it is expected that the results will provide valuable insights to educators, enabling them to refine pedagogical approaches, to focus on students' difficulties, to enrich programming instruction, and improve their understanding of students' learning needs in programming education.