Designing programmed technological solutions (PTS) with programming materials has become a way to contextualise educational content related to PTS and programming. However, studies show that pupils have difficulties conceptualising central phenomena involved in the process, which affects their ability to design PTS. In order to understand these difficulties, this study investigates pupils’ ways of experiencing the process of solving a real-world task with a programming material. The study takes its point of departure from a previous study that identified two central phenomena, the dual nature (structure and function) of PTS and the BBC micro:bit material, when pupils, aged 10 and 14, were designing a burglar alarm with the BBC micro:bit. The data was revisited with the aim of analysing pupils’ sequential discernment of critical aspects of the phenomena (i.e. aspects necessary to discern in order to understand phenomena), and how this affects how the design process unfolds. The results show that the movement from the real-world context toward the BBC micro:bit context is challenging. Pupils need to be able to connect conditions in the real-world context both to aspects of the dual nature of their PTS, and to aspects of the BBC micro:bit material that represent the dual nature. This suggests the importance of appreciating the BBC micro:bit context and the real-world context in relation to the dual nature of PTS, and of addressing the sequential stages of the process in which aspects of phenomena and their interrelations are emphasised, to help pupils see the PTS in the changing contexts. © 2021, The Author(s).