Say it another way Sam

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Say it another way Sam

• Christopher Carter
• ?
• Formerly of
• Sheffield Hallam University

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Teaching programming
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Who are we teaching?

• 80s
• mathematically literate
• highly motivated
• Some could already program (badly!)
• 90s
• Mathematically less able
• Well motivated
• Fewer had concept of programming
• 00s
• Many have no concept of algebra even
• Poorly motivated fearful of programming
• Culture of being cool to skip lectures and
  tutorials
• Pressure to pass high percentage of students

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What we aim to teaching them

• 80s
• Teach as much as possible
• Challenge was to wean students off poor habits
• Discrete mathematical framework
• 90s
• Teach concepts rather than techniques
• Challenge to understand and simplify material
• Software Engineering context
• 00s
• Teaching concept of programming
• Challenge becomes how to motivate
• May not gain more than ability in logical thinking

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How do we teach it?

• 80s
• Many programming exercises building up to quite
  advanced programs
• 90s
• Algorithm design programming in the large
  team programming modifying existing programs
• 00s
• Try to find ways to motivate students reduce
  fear factor - experience they may wish to follow
  up later

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Why learning paths?

• Some years ago I noticed that
• After 50 hours a large minority of students
  seemed not to understand the first thing about
  programming.
• First 4 weeks of learning seemed crucial.
• If students didnt get it within that time they
  seemed to mentally switch off for the rest of the
  course (relying on friends for help with tests or
  simply dropping out).
• Seemed worth making a disproportionate effort to
  get first few weeks right.

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Strategy

• Set up BB to get students to share their
  experiences (of Maths and other things)
• Help students reflect on how they learn
• Try to overcome problem of getting stuck (and not
  asking for help) by offering alternative routes
  to knowledge.
• Make first assignment as non-threatening and
  enjoyable as possible

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First assignment

• Orally assessed low weighting (5)
• Credit for learning styles questionnaire.
• Credit for taking part in BB discussion.
• Credit for images using Paint (simple interface).
• Students had to choose a learning method.
• Get program working (using chosen method).
• Record position and size of objects on VB form
  and put these numbers into Start Subroutine.

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Maths in School BB

• Who likes maths? Def not me
• At school I struggled with maths, so I had to go
  to extra classes to keep up with the class work ,
  which helped me a lot.
• I'm glad it's not just me that sometimes
  struggles a bit, I don't feel so alone now )
• maths was so boring in school, now its even more
  boring!!! But I still go to lesson!!!!
• i've never been could at maths and don't think
  i'll ever be!!!!
• I v never been to good at maths but it seems to
  be alright at the movement

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We already see a problem

• Students are very careless about way they put
  sentences together even when their peers can read
  their mistakes
• First thing that typing in other peoples
  programs teaches us
• Wrong syntax is unforgiving less so in VB!
• accepts if a 3 or 4 then a 5 and b 5
• Ouch!!

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Liking maths vs. progress
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5 dimensional Felder model
Inductive Deductive (fundamentals first vs.
problem/discovery) Felder says dont need to
consider - all learning should be inductive!
(problem/discovery)
What type of learner do you think you are?
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Are you Active or Reflective?

• When I am learning something new, it helps me to
• talk about it. ACTIVE
• think about it. REFLECTIVE
• I would rather first
• try things out. ACTIVE
• think about how I'm going to do it. REFLECTIVE

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Are you Sensing or Intuitive?

• I would rather be considered
• realistic. SENSING
• innovative. INTUITIVE
• I am more likely to be considered
• careful about the details of my work. SENSING
• creative about how to do my work. INTUITIVE

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Are you Sequential or Global?

• When I start a homework problem, I am more likely
  to
• start working on the solution immediately.
  SEQUENTIAL
• try to fully understand the problem first. GLOBAL
  
• I tend to
• understand details of a subject but may be fuzzy
  about its overall structure. SEQUENTIAL
• understand the overall structure but may be fuzzy
  about details. GLOBAL

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Are you Visual or Verbal?

• I like teachers
• who put a lot of diagrams on the board. VISUAL
• who spend a lot of time explaining. VERBAL
• When I get directions to a new place, I prefer
• a map VISUAL
• written instructions. VERBAL

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Lessons of Learning model

• Lesson for teachers
• Does your teaching assume that all learners have
  the same learning style as yourself?
• Lesson for learners
• If you are finding a subject difficult or boring
  it may just be you are trying to learn it or
  being taught it in a way that does not suit you.

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How I compare with my students
Key Me my profile f/t full time students p/t
part time students
Results for students are similar to those
reported in the literature e.g.
http//www.eng.monash.edu.au/uicee/gjee/vol6no1/Zy
wno.pdf
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Choosing a first program

• Football seems very popular with both sexes
• Action programs Visual more fun than static ones
• Football penalty program allows us to introduce
  elements that are fundamental to good programming.

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Different Learning paths

• Type it all in and get it working
• Learning by repetition!
• Experimentation
• For those who dont like discipline?
• Theory first
• For those who like to read the instructions.
• Step by step
• For cautious people who like to understand one
  thing before going on to the next.

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Type it in method

• Name and place all the Controls
• Set the properties such as Style Color
• Note Top Left Height and Width of each Control
• Add code for Start button BUT
• Substitute dimension values recorded above.
• Add code for Hit Ball button
• Explanation of how it all works (pseudo-code)
• Add Text Box explain and run program.
• 10 exercises on changing the program and
  explaining what the effect is.

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Exercises after typing in

• Position the ball closer to the striker
• Position the Goalie in front of the goal
• Make Striker head ball by changing Top
• Stop Label from moving
• Make ball move backwards
• Make ball move down instead of up

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Experimentation

• Dont bother changing default names
• Start with clickable image move 300 units.
• After certain point image moves down instead.
• Call click routine recursively.
• Introduce loop instead of above recursion.
• Add Command Button.
• Explain need for more disciplined approach.
• Start again correctly naming project etc.

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Strengths and weaknesses

• Consider Experimenter personality type
• Strength
• Willing to try things if instructions dont work
• Weakness
• May not be very disciplined (sloppy control names
  ?)
• Taking strengths and weaknesses into account
• particularly emphasise the importance/advantages
  of taking care over naming controls etc.
• take for granted they will be willing to try
  things out.

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Theory First

• Explain Boolean logic / defensive programming
  (Enabled property)
• Mention States of the program and which controls
  are enabled in which states
• Introduce code to implement states
• Add user instructions
• Pseudo-code of iteration then implement
• Assignment statements etc.

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Learn by Doing

• Make ball jump from left to right suddenly.
• Make ball move in steps (repeated code).
• Using a loop to make it move smoothly.
• Making player move up to ball etc.
• Resetting things to start positions.
• Add user instructions.
• Preventing unwanted user input.

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Methods vs. Personality

• Type it get it working
• Highly Active
• Rather Sensing
• Rather Verbal
• Rather Global
• Experimentation
• Highly Active
• Highly Intuitive
• Rather Verbal
• Rather Global

• Theory first
• Highly Reflective
• Rather Intuitive
• Visual Verb neutral
• Rather Sequential
• Step by step
• Highly Active
• Highly Visual
• Visual Verb neutral
• Highly Sequential

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Methods chosen by students
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Student feedback ()
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Programming - Hidden benefits

• Second Semester spent considerable time with
  individuals trying to explain (for example)
• Why their code wont do anything
• If a 0 and a 3000 then
• Or if 5 questions can be answered correctly,
  incorrectly or not at all. What was wrong with
• if 5 are right and 1 is wrong then
• if 4 are right and 2 are wrong then
• Doing programming is obviously useful in helping
  students to think logically!

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Summary

• Teaching programming is a challenge.
• Football penalty program a good model.
• Learning paths are worth the effort even if not
  fully appreciated by the students.
• Students do use a range of methods
• Half of them tried all four possible methods!
• Concept of leaning styles seems useful
• but I am not sure exactly why.