My teaching and research goal is to make students become independent learners of programs as soon as possible, capable of independently applying strategies to learn about how programs work, beyond just knowing what they do. In other words, being able to independently learn and develop programming schemas without yet having well-developed schemas. My goal is to make novices become independent, productive novices rather than experts, because acquiring well-developed schemas can take too long to learn within a degree program. In my research, I have identified a collection of interventions that can be applied both independently by the student, by instructors, and within collaborative student groups, and are easily automatable through systems like GPT and LLMs, ensuring they are accessible and adaptable. For example, I’ve applied active and inquiry-based Learning through qualitative think-aloud studies with introductory programming students. I explored different applications of how students could utilize tracing independently and in classroom contexts. The goal of my interventions is to foster students' ability to construct their own mental models of program behavior through guided discovery and strategic interventions, applying constructivist principles.