Misconception: Students think you can use the “item (any) of (list)” block in Snap! and Scratch to check for every item in a list, but this block actually returns a random item.
Define programming language terms independently of computer terminology to make concepts more accessible to students.
Reassure students struggling with common misconceptions that they’re not alone to bolster their confidence.
Misconception: students think that when you assign a = b, there is no longer anything assigned to b because b empties its contents into a.
Misconception: when working with Booleans, students assume that false means incorrect and true means correct.
Cover the outer-loop of nested loops when tracing through loops to help students see the inner loop runs just like a single loop during execution to help students understand nested loops.
Misconception: Students incorrectly believe that variables passed into a block in Snap! will get modified; however, a copy of the passed-in variable is what the block receives and modifies.
Misconception: When a variable is on both sides of an equal sign (i.e., x = x+1), students can get very confused.