The Hands-Up Problem and How to Deal With It: Secondary School Teachers' Experiences of Debugging in the Classroom

Abstract: Debugging is a vital but challenging skill for beginner programmers to learn. It is also a difficult skill to teach. For secondary school teachers, who may lack time or relevant knowledge, honing students' understanding of debugging can be a daunting task. Despite this, little research has explored their perspectives of debugging. To this end, we investigated secondary teachers' experiences of debugging in the classroom, with a focus on text-based programming. Through thematic analysis of nine semi-structured interviews, we identified a common reliance on the teacher for debugging support, often embodied by many raised hands. We call this phenomenon the `hands-up problem'. While more experienced and confident teachers discussed strategies they use for dealing with this, less confident teachers discussed the generally negative consequences of this problem. We recommend further research into debugging-specific pedagogical content knowledge and professional development to help less confident teachers develop counters to the hands-up problem.