Students used visualizations to verify their own reasoning rather than as primary explanation tools, valuing control over their cognitive effort (agency)¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · qualitative r2 · q2
Currency · no dated study recorded · checked against its sources 2026-10-20 (automated, 1 of 1 entry) · not reviewed by a person

Subclaims¶

q2 i? Students framed manual tracing as essential to feeling in control of their reasoning and used visualizations for verification of their own reasoning rather than as primary tools for understanding execution. → agency-theme

Evidence¶

agency-theme¶

Naaz Sibia, Jessica Wen, Amber Richardson, Yashika Jain, Khushi Malik, Bogdan Simion, Carolina Nobre, Angela Zavaleta Bernuy, Andrew Petersen, and Michael Liut. 2026. Code as Anchor, Memory and Metaphor as Support: Learner Experiences with Multi-View Visualizations. ICER 2026 Vol. 1. https://doi.org/10.1145/3765964.3811662

q2 · i? · qualitative · r2

Reflexive thematic analysis of think-aloud and interview transcripts from the 19-participant within-subjects study; the agency theme was constructed inductively from accounts such as P6A preferring to trace on his own to feel more in control. Qualitative interpretive finding; no effect size.

"The high frequency of Memory↔Code transitions (11k+) supports this interpretation: students used visualizations forverificationof their own reasoning rather than as primary tools for understanding execution."

Discussion¶

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