Parameter Passing: The Conceptions Novices Construct

This study explores the parameter-related misconceptions of two college students enrolled in a Pascal programming course. Findings indicate that both students appeared to conceive a direct procedure-to-procedure linkage, with the connection being made by identically named formal parameters. Both students were able, by making seemingly innocuous adjustments to formal parameter lists, to construct correctly functioning modular programs. They were also able to correctly answer parameter-related questions as long as the questions did not provoke a conflict with their fundamental misconceptions of the parameter process. As a result, the misconceptions were hidden from the instructor and perhaps from the students themselves. The results are discussed within a constructivist framework and implications for instruction are suggested. Contains 22 references. (Author/JRH)