ERIC Number: ED675600
Record Type: Non-Journal
Publication Date: 2025
Pages: 14
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: N/A
Available Date: 0000-00-00
Automated Identification of Logical Errors in Programs: Advancing Scalable Analysis of Student Misconceptions
Muntasir Hoq; Ananya Rao; Reisha Jaishankar; Krish Piryani; Nithya Janapati; Jessica Vandenberg; Bradford Mott; Narges Norouzi; James Lester; Bita Akram
International Educational Data Mining Society, Paper presented at the International Conference on Educational Data Mining (EDM) (18th, Palermo, Italy, Jul 20-23, 2025)
In Computer Science (CS) education, understanding factors contributing to students' programming difficulties is crucial for effective learning support. By identifying specific issues students face, educators can provide targeted assistance to help them overcome obstacles and improve learning outcomes. While identifying sources of struggle, such as misconceptions, in real-time can be challenging in current educational practices, analyzing logical errors in students' code can offer valuable insights. This paper presents a scalable framework for automatically detecting logical errors in students' programming solutions. Our framework is based on an explainable Abstract Syntax Tree (AST) embedding model, the Subtree-based Attention Neural Network (SANN), that identifies the structural components of programs containing logical errors. We conducted a series of experiments to evaluate its effectiveness, and the results suggest that our framework can accurately capture students' logical errors and, more importantly, provide us with deeper insights into their learning processes, offering a valuable tool for enhancing programming education. [For the complete proceedings, see ED675583.]
Descriptors: Computer Science Education, Programming, Misconceptions, Error Patterns, Coding, College Students, Grades (Scholastic), Prediction
International Educational Data Mining Society. e-mail: admin@educationaldatamining.org; Web site: https://educationaldatamining.org/conferences/
Publication Type: Speeches/Meeting Papers; Reports - Research
Education Level: Higher Education; Postsecondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: 2236195; 2331965
Author Affiliations: N/A

Peer reviewed
