Encourage students to be independent

Question

As is often the case, there is usually more than one way to approach a problem or task.

Currently, my students use what they were taught in the lessons (which is expected). When they stumble upon a problem (e.g. a project that has parts that they are unsure how to approach) they very often get stuck. This is because they haven't been taught some specific thing that is related.

I want the students to be more independent in their learning, and to look for that other approach on their own. How can I structure a lesson that would foster independence and give the students the ability to look for a new approach when needed?

The students' level is somewhat advanced high school level.

Answer 1

I think there's a few different skills students need for independence, and they require quite different teaching approaches. Independence is the end result but you can't teach it directly.

• Confidence. They need to think it's possible to try out a new toolset and make something. Guiding them prescriptively through a variety of different new tools is a good way to do this, as with @BrDaHa's answer. i.e. Don't teach independence as such but show through example that different and new approaches are possible and not too difficult. Once they've achieved several different projects, even tiny ones, with different technologies they'll be more confident to explore different options rather than use the same thing every time.

• Abstract understanding. The hard bit of programming is thinking about problems and solutions in the right way. Once you know conceptually what you want to do it's much less scary to go find a tool to implement that well, and that conceptual understanding will help guide you through using a new tool. Teaching CS generally addresses this, plus a specific focus on systems design.

• Ability to learn something they don't already know. Reading documentation, using stack overflow, reading blog posts and books. Students need to learn each of these, they're different skills, and they're often not taught well or at all in CS courses. When you can do these things then approaching a new tech is fun rather than daunting.

• Appreciate there's different tools for different jobs. You need to demonstrate, or better have them experience, that some technologies are great for some things and not others. So they know there's worthwhile in exploring different tech. On the one hand, when you have a hammer everything looks like a nail. Conversely though, it's often a lot faster to use a tool you know than learn a whole new one for a small job, even if that tool is 'better'. Negotiating that trade off is an important part of general software development. Part of the fun of being a developer.

Answer 2

The best "win" I've had with this is drawing on tables. I gave challenges to my Y12s (about a dozen students). While talking through the problems I was annotating ideas, flowcharting, tracing etc on the tables beside them with a board marker.

Now when I give them a problem they grab a table from the centre of the room and start drawing out ideas. And because they're 'winning' with what they're doing they start going above and beyond.

Answer 3

I think it's hugely beneficial to create projects that require use of a certain language or technology, or in other words, don't leave students to their own devices to solve a problem. As a student, I found that learning Java and then moving to "weird" languages like Ocaml really expands how you think of how to solve a problem. Knowing JavaScript is pretty much a requirement in web development. Learning Python can expose students to beautiful, concise ways of solving problems, and opens the door to a lot of machine learning libraries.

I can't count how many times I've read about some technology, dismissed it, then was forced to use it somewhere, and came out thinking, "Huh, that's pretty cool"

Answer 4

There is an argument for facilitated and directed learning to encourage independence. Students should be allowed to discuss problems and options with their peers in order to make judgements; evidence shows that adults tend to interfere with that process. Ensure activities are hands on and try pairing students.

This may be of interested to help structure a critical thinking approach - Search Kivunjas article Using Dear Bono's Six Thinking Hats Model to Teach Critical Thinking and Problem Solving Essential for Success in the 21st Century Economy.

Answer 5

I don't think there are shortcuts here—the students just need more foundational knowledge before they can be independent. It takes significant expertise to be able to transfer knowledge to new contexts [ref]. Novices have shallow knowledge that is closely tied to shallow features.

As an expert, you have insight into meaningful patterns in your area of expertise. You have also seen many, many different problems and cases that you can relate to current problem-solving. Your knowledge is organized in terms of its applicability to new problems [ref]. It seems so straightforward from your perspective!

But think about the challenges facing novices. To them, the problem looks different than anything they've seen because they don't recognize the generalities. Do they even know what words to Google?

I agree with other posters that confidence is necessary. Knowing good resources to use (e.g. user-friendly documentation) also helps. But most important is foundational knowledge. Teach your students well, with many examples, and as they learn more they will begin to seek out knowledge on their own.

Answer 6

Early in the process, you should emphasize using and applying documentation. Once the students begin to gain this skill, they can explore APIs and libraries that interest them.