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Ellen Spertus
Ellen Spertus
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I have a class which is in a computer lab (each student has a computer). These are standard windowsWindows computers. The computer lab is organized into rows, with students on either side of a row facing eachothereach other. I stand at the front of the classroom with a smart board.

I also take pains to ensure that students enjoy the class, seeing that the goal of the class is to encourage students who may not otherwise have encountered computer science to persuepursue it.

These two factors come together to create two problems: Students tend to talk to their neighbors, which I believe is because the rows seperateseparate them from me, so when I'm not near, there's no reason not to talk. I also permit talking, because the students are encouraged to work on problems together. In addition, because there are computers in front of them which have access to the internet, and they're not entering the class excited about computer science, they will use the computers for games.

How can I make the classroom environment more focused on computer science, without making it any less enjoyable for newcomers to CS?

I have a class which is in a computer lab (each student has a computer). These are standard windows computers. The computer lab is organized into rows, with students on either side of a row facing eachother. I stand at the front of the classroom with a smart board.

I also take pains to ensure that students enjoy the class, seeing that the goal of the class is to encourage students who may not otherwise have encountered computer science to persue it.

These two factors come together to create two problems: Students tend to talk to their neighbors, which I believe is because the rows seperate them from me, so when I'm not near, there's no reason not to talk. I also permit talking, because the students are encouraged to work on problems together. In addition, because there are computers in front of them which have access to the internet, and they're not entering the class excited about computer science, they will use the computers for games.

How can I make the classroom environment more focused on computer science, without making it any less enjoyable for newcomers to CS?

I have a class which is in a computer lab (each student has a computer). These are standard Windows computers. The computer lab is organized into rows, with students on either side of a row facing each other. I stand at the front of the classroom with a smart board.

I also take pains to ensure that students enjoy the class, seeing that the goal of the class is to encourage students who may not otherwise have encountered computer science to pursue it.

These two factors come together to create two problems: Students tend to talk to their neighbors, which I believe is because the rows separate them from me, so when I'm not near, there's no reason not to talk. I also permit talking, because the students are encouraged to work on problems together. In addition, because there are computers in front of them which have access to the internet, and they're not entering the class excited about computer science, they will use the computers for games.

How can I make the classroom environment more focused on computer science, without making it any less enjoyable for newcomers to CS?

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thesecretmaster ♦
thesecretmaster ♦
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Students frequently distracted by peers and games

I have a class which is in a computer lab (each student has a computer). These are standard windows computers. The computer lab is organized into rows, with students on either side of a row facing eachother. I stand at the front of the classroom with a smart board.

I also take pains to ensure that students enjoy the class, seeing that the goal of the class is to encourage students who may not otherwise have encountered computer science to persue it.

These two factors come together to create two problems: Students tend to talk to their neighbors, which I believe is because the rows seperate them from me, so when I'm not near, there's no reason not to talk. I also permit talking, because the students are encouraged to work on problems together. In addition, because there are computers in front of them which have access to the internet, and they're not entering the class excited about computer science, they will use the computers for games.

How can I make the classroom environment more focused on computer science, without making it any less enjoyable for newcomers to CS?