Open Access

Raziel Ludovico Hatzke

• Concurrency is a fundamental concept in modern computing, allowing systems to execute multiple tasks in parallel to achieve responsiveness and efficiency. Despite its importance, concurrency remains a difficult topic for novice programmers, with prior studies documenting persistent misconceptions that hinder their ability to develop and reason about concurrent programs. Kotlin, an increasingly adopted programming language, introduces a coroutine-based concurrency model that offers unique challenges for learners. Little research has explored misconceptions in this specific context, however. Improving concurrency education requires a deeper understanding of how students reason about concurrent concepts. This thesis aims to address this need, by focusing on novice Kotlin programmers at the Cologne University of Applied Sciences. We present a qualitative study that investigates students’ misconceptions and mental models of concurrency, by the use of code-based exercises. Using a think-aloud protocol and subsequent content analysis, we illuminate a range of misconceptions related to sequential thinking, launching of coroutines, synchronisation, as well as thread safety. Here we examine a collection of misconceptions, laying a foundation for improving concurrency education in Kotlin at Cologne UAS.