Misconception: Students have trouble understanding that when the value of a variable is reassigned its previous value is irrelevant.

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  • Students struggle to understand that the prior value of a variable essentially disappears because it is written over.
  • Consider the following code:
      X=1
      X=10
      Students are confused about the value of X after this code has run. They’re not sure whether X is 1 or 10, and sometimes even think that the two numbers are added and X is now 11.

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Interview with Michael Lee.

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