28
votes
Accepted
Recommended IDE for teaching web development to beginners
I find that the best introductory IDE is a lack thereof because, for the most part, the features that an IDE offers (code completion, organization, etc.) are more hurt than help and tend to promote ...
- 4,795
27
votes
Accepted
How to respond to the two-handed approach to swapping
Don't overcomplicate things. Your first instinct, that the computer only has one hand, was the correct one.
This is a regular problem that new teachers have, and it sometimes takes a few years of ...
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22
votes
How to respond to the two-handed approach to swapping
Re-evaluate what you think is "right", because you aren't
but isn't right in computer science
This is simply incorrect. Your student can create two variables called ...
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16
votes
How to respond to the two-handed approach to swapping
Your problem is that you tried to let your student "program" without establishing a language. Thus they were free to write their own "language" in which you can do two things at ...
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11
votes
Recommended IDE for teaching web development to beginners
The latest generation of text editors, e.g. Sublime, Atom, Visual Studio Code, are great, and seem to offer all that one might want from an IDE. I've a soft spot for Atom, but don't rule the others ...
- 1,256
10
votes
Recommended IDE for teaching web development to beginners
In the context of front-end development, I suggest looking into CodePen.
For each "pen" you can get an instant visual as to how your HTML/CSS/JS affect your page. Additionally, you can immediately ...
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7
votes
Recommended IDE for teaching web development to beginners
I don't think the tool (or learning the tool) should get in the way of learning the initial core of the subject.
If students are already comfortable with NotePad (or TextEdit, et.al.), why add to ...
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7
votes
Resources for flowchart programming for young, new programmers?
Honestly, I would be surprised if this method bore the kind of fruit that you hope for. While flowcharts seem like a nice way to make ideas more concrete, I contend that they will actually become ...
- 32.9k
5
votes
How to respond to the two-handed approach to swapping
This question reminds me of when a student failed to understand why a third variable was needed to exchange the value of two variables (i.e. to swap A and B, C=A, A=B, B=C). I managed to illustrate ...
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5
votes
Recommended IDE for teaching web development to beginners
I go for simple. This year we used either an online editor or the free version of JCreator specifically because they don't have autocomplete.
What I noticed last year using NetBeans is that students ...
- 3,029
4
votes
Recommended IDE for teaching web development to beginners
You are correct in considering Sublime text, or atom text editor as they are light weight and more importantly will be hassle free for school kids.
But one should also keep in mind considering ...
- 141
4
votes
Accepted
What can be the causes of the difference in student performance?
There is a point, somewhere around where puberty starts but I don't think identical, in which the brain changes its structure. It is much more capable of abstraction after that point than before. ...
- 36k
4
votes
Curriculum for a primary school learner
My grand-daughter is interested in programming and has been from the age of 5 or so (and is now nearly 10).
I teach programming at university and my son-in-law (her father) teaches at secondary school ...
4
votes
How to respond to the two-handed approach to swapping
They took both their hands, picked up the second and fourth pencils (each in one hand), and swapped them! That works in reality... but isn't right in computer science.
It depends on your paradigm. ...
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3
votes
Accepted
How many of "The Seven Laws of Teaching" are still relevant for teaching computer science today?
These "laws" mostly reflect how people learn, so they are still quite relevant. But going through:
("Know thoroughly and familiarly the lesson you wish to teach; or, in other words, ...
- 32.9k
3
votes
How to respond to the two-handed approach to swapping
I do the swap example pretending to have two largish (2-hands-to-lift) boxes side-by-side on a desk (with only enough room for two boxes). After we lift the first we have to look for a place to put it,...
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3
votes
How to respond to the two-handed approach to swapping
In thinking about this, and especially the answer of Graham, I think that what we really do in the standard three step process is a two handed swap without thinking of it. So, it is a failure of the ...
- 36k
3
votes
How to respond to the two-handed approach to swapping
Analogies & metaphors are imperfect, so let's share the expectation that they are just illustrative.
Rules of what is possible (and not) are very important, and we can compare the rules of pencils ...
- 323
3
votes
Curriculum for a primary school learner
You might want to explore CS Unplugged for use with any youngster. While it doesn't use programming, it provides some foundation in computational thinking and provides some metaphors, etc, that might ...
- 36k
2
votes
Recommended IDE for teaching web development to beginners
The answer can be very broad because of personal taste :) But you may want to check MS Visual Studio IDE which you can "minimize" for the purpose of education. And then extend if step by step.
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2
votes
What resources would you recommend for K-5 Computer Systems Concept of the CSTA K-12 Standards?
I haven't seen a lot of resources in the US for that age group, though England seems to publish a great deal of high quality KS2 (Key Stage 2, ages 7-11) material. What's particularly nice is the ...
- 32.9k
2
votes
How to respond to the two-handed approach to swapping
Graham pointed out that the assumtions of the question are wrong. And Peter Cordes elaborated a bit in the comments.
Considering a target VLIW (Very Long Instruction Word)
architecture can help ...
- 918
2
votes
How to respond to the two-handed approach to swapping
Ben's answer is great, but allow me to suggest that you don't need to "respond" to the two-handed approach at all: just say when you're explaining the problem in the first place that they ...
- 529
2
votes
Resources for flowchart programming for young, new programmers?
This is a very good and important question. People have doubted the usefulness of flowcharts for a long time, and derided them. But I have two things to say in their defense.
It is vital to ...
- 937
2
votes
Scratch-like environment for 3D game programming
I'm not sure it's at the right level for a 10-year-old, as it's aimed for professional developers, but you can write game logic in Unreal Engine without any code, using its Blueprints visual scripting ...
- 236
2
votes
Scratch-like environment for 3D game programming
I want to avoid typing code.
Unfortunately don't have an exact solution for what you're looking for as this does involve typing code, but I thought perhaps you could find this answer insightful and ...
- 121
1
vote
Curriculum for a primary school learner
I'm surprised that no one has mentioned Code.org (computer science curricula for middle-high school students page) so I will! They have a plethora of courses and short activities that allow students ...
- 111
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vote
Curriculum for a primary school learner
For Java ideas, look at the free to join Greenroom that is a resource collection place for the Greenfoot programming environment. There are a wide variety of project (see Resources) for programming ...
- 36k
1
vote
How to introduce problem solving to primary school pupils?
I have taught problem solving to older learners who studied a range of diagnostic, design and contingency problems. I'm not sure what age group you are talking about which would be handy to know in ...
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