CS classroom dynamics

Since I got to teach 2 separate semesters this year, I noticed that class dynamics between the kids affects their learning quite a bit.
The first semester kids were very open and willing to try things, and really into learning about CS. As a result they learned more. The current class of kids were more the traditional good students. They are smart, and great students, but not as open to collaborating with others as the first semester kids. When they get stuck on a problem, they tend to not ask how their classmates approached the problem, but internalize it and wait until I ask them if they are stuck. They are also a little more scared of getting things wrong instead of just trying it out. I'm not sure if this dynamic was there to start with or something I did differently.
Either way, I need to change it and get a more open and collaborative environment going.

TEALS is underway

In addition to teaching, I realized that I really need to scale myself out. The STEM in education problem will not and can not be solved by me alone. So with that in mind, I started a pilot program at Microsoft in conjunction with the Issaquah school district to bring 3 MS employees to teach part time at Issaquah High School.
The plan is to find one teacher for each of the following classes:
- AP CS
- Web Design
- Linear Algebra
I have to say, it is amazing how much the administration makes a difference. The IHS administrators are the most awesome and open minded bunch of guys and gals I know. It is their willingness and flexibility that makes the pilot program possible. We will have internal MS recruiting sessions in the coming weeks. In addition, IHS has also announced the program to the school community at large. I am very excited to say the least.
Oh TEALS stands for Technology Education and Literacy in Schools. Anything with Tech or Ed has already been taken up by MS's annual conference called TechEd. I still remember one year it was in Boston when I was in grad school and everyone had a TechEd backpack on the T...

UPrepTacToe

For the new semester, instead of the Fraction Calculator, the project has been change to a TicTacToe game. While the underlying concepts the students have to apply and implement are very similar, we'll see it does better.
THe transition from Scratch to Java has not been entirely easy. Some students in the class are still having issues with the structure of Java programs. One part is giving it some time, the other is just having them thinking in very clear CS mode. They still thinking in English terms and directly put that down the best they can into Java, instead of filtering it with what methods and techniques they have learned and then putting it down as Java code. Once again, time would correct that, but in a one semester class, there isn't much of that.
I am also toying with the idea of doing a mini-project using the RadioShack hobby kit I used as a Harvard TF to demo binary adders. I had initially considered the easier to use snap on kit, but turns out there just isn't enough real estate on the board to do an adder. So back to the kit with the breadboard...


In a way, I'm using this class to figure out 2 things. One is what a high school level general intro CS class should look like, and what should go into the 1st semester, and what should go into the 2nd. If the adder segment goes will, we will use it again next year.
Oh yeah, UPrep has a 2 week long spring break. I'm not sure how that will affect the project, but we'll see.

From Scratch to Java

So we have now transitioned from Scratch to Java. Picture == 1000 words...

A new semester, new tweaks to class

A new semester has already begun. The students have finished the Scratch portion of course. We are starting to going into Java, however, the students range from Freshmen and Juniors. There is a difference in foundation in the understanding of how computers work and how they think logically. I plan to infuse a bit more of how computers work as we learn Java. Should be interesting and hopefully will turn out well. For example, we are starting to look into how Java primitive ints work underneath the hood. We will see how 32bits limit the positive range up to 2^31-1 before it turns negative etc...

Almost end of 1st quarter update

The kids are doing quite well in Java. The fraction calculator project is well under way. It's interesting to see the moment that something clicks in their mind. They'd be struggling with the whole concept of StringTokenizers and after two or three days, you can see that little light going off. It's pretty cool.
Also, nothing beats actually getting them up on the board to write code to make everything absolutely clear.
Right now, trying to get them to factor out chucks of code in their main method into actual reusable methods.

Scratch as a beginner language in high school

So we spent the first 4 weeks of school learning about CS using Scratch. I think for high school, 3 weeks would have been perfect. The last week, we weren't really learning any new concepts, but just making the projects more complex.

We have started Java, and it is a lot easier to explain a bunch of CS concepts by referring to their equivalents in Scratch. The for loop was an easy one after the students used the repeat if function in Scratch. Same goes for setting variables and conditionals.

Sadly inputs in Java and parsing will be much harder to deal with...