More than the usual suspects

This paper presents results from a video-based analysis of non-programmers' use of a new platform for end-user programming, the 3D Avatar Programming System (3DAPS). We use micro-ethnographic analytic methods to understand how learning about programming occurs. We discuss how the management of internal and external cognitive representations of 3D movement information leverages existing, embodied knowledge to unravel less familiar knowledge---that of programmatic instruction. In other words, the 3D movement serves as the language of translation between the representations to support learning. We also examine how shared code is used as an educational resource in a learning environment without a teacher.