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Teaching Software Carpentry |
As a species, we know a lot about how brains learn, how effective various teaching practices are, and how society's needs and expectations shape how and how well we learn. As individuals, though, most people who teach at college and university either don't know this knowledge exists, or haven't incorporated it into their teaching.
The goal of this short training course is to introduce people to the basics of educational psychology and instructional design, and show them how to use those ideas to teach programming to free-range adult learners. We can only touch a few scattered highlights, but we hope that will be enough to convince you that it's worth learning more.
Throughout, it's important to remember what H.L. Mencken wrote almost a century ago: "For every complex problem there is an answer that is clear, simple, and wrong." People are complicated, and no general rule applies to everyone and all the time. You should always use your own best judgment when applying the ideas discussed below to your learners.
If you find this course useful, please also have a look at the teaching guide for Software Carpentry itself. And if you discover something you think others would want to know, please send it to us: we are always grateful for contributions and corrections.
- Introduction
- Cognitive Development and Concept Mapping
- Motivation and Demotivation
- Assessment and Reverse Instructional Design
- Collaborative Lesson Development
- Pedagogical Content Knowledge and Cognitive Load
- In the Classroom
- Next Steps
- Readings
- differences between novice, competent practitioner, and expert understanding
- cognitive limits to learning (seven plus or minus two, attention fatigue, sleep deprivation)
- cognitive load theory and faded examples
- fixed vs. growth mindset
Dunning-Kruger Effect: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect
Guzdial blog post about teaching computing when people are ready: http://computinged.wordpress.com/2012/09/07/teaching-cs-in-schools-with-meaning-contexts-and-problems-come-first/
Michael Pershan: what if Khan Academy was made in Japan? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CHoXRvGTtAQ#t=284
Dan Meyer on what Silicon Valley gets wrong about math education: http://blog.mrmeyer.com/2012/what-silicon-valley-gets-wrong-about-math-education-again-and-again/
Alex Reinhart: Shut up and listen to your students http://www.refsmmat.com/articles/shutup.html
Mark Chu-Carroll: Everyone should learn to program and programming is hard http://scientopia.org/blogs/goodmath/2012/10/05/everyone-should-program-or-programming-is-hard-both/
Chris Long: Flipped Classrooms: ASQ Before You Teach http://learning.instructure.com/2012/10/flipped-asq/
Guzdial on the need for PCK http://computinged.wordpress.com/2012/02/24/doubts-of-my-students-expert-teaching-is-no-better-than-good-enough-teaching/
Guzdial on culture and pedagogy http://computinged.wordpress.com/2012/12/21/the-bigger-issues-in-learning-to-code-culture-and-pedagogy/
On beyond sticky notes http://teaching.software-carpentry.org/2013/01/18/when-the-sticky-goes/
Pickens on writing learning objectives http://michigancomputes.wordpress.com/2013/01/16/how-to-write-good-learning-objectives/
What Americans keep ignoring about Finland's School Success http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2011/12/what-americans-keep-ignoring-about-finlands-school-success/250564/
The Myth of Learning Styles http://www.changemag.org/Archives/Back%20Issues/September-October%202010/the-myth-of-learning-full.html
Guzdial on Victor http://worrydream.com/LearnableProgramming/ http://computinged.wordpress.com/2012/09/28/learnable-programming-thinking-about-programming-languages-and-systems-in-a-new-way/
Organizing Knowledge: http://teaching.software-carpentry.org/2012/09/03/week-1-organizing-knowledge/
Motivation: http://teaching.software-carpentry.org/2012/09/09/week-2-motivation/
Example of a good teaching tip: http://teaching.software-carpentry.org/2012/11/09/an-example-of-a-good-teaching-tip/
Examples of in-class questions from Elizabeth Patitsas http://teaching.software-carpentry.org/2013/02/24/some-notes-on-assessment-questions/
From How to What: http://teaching.software-carpentry.org/2013/04/18/from-how-to-what/
Welcome, Goals, and Concept Maps http://teaching.software-carpentry.org/2013/05/25/round-5-1-welcome-goals-and-concept-maps/
Screencast advice http://teaching.software-carpentry.org/2013/09/14/round-6-3-screencasts/
What Sir Ken Got Wrong http://teaching.software-carpentry.org/2013/10/27/reading-what-sir-ken-got-wrong/
Wrapping Up Round 7 (nice image) http://teaching.software-carpentry.org/2014/02/07/wrapping-up-round-7/
A Few Short Guides http://teaching.software-carpentry.org/2014/02/03/a-few-short-guides/
Helping Teachers Think Like the Web http://teaching.software-carpentry.org/2014/03/28/helping-teachers-think-like-the-web/
Screencast Questions http://teaching.software-carpentry.org/2014/03/25/round-8-4-wrap-up/
Opening Lecture http://teaching.software-carpentry.org/2014/04/25/round-9-1-concept-maps/ http://teaching.software-carpentry.org/2014/06/13/round-10-introductions-and-concept-maps/
What Everyone in Tech Really Ought to Know About Education http://teaching.software-carpentry.org/2014/05/07/absolutely-positively/
Motivation Lecture http://teaching.software-carpentry.org/2014/05/22/motivation-and-screencasts-2/ http://teaching.software-carpentry.org/2014/06/06/motivation-and-live-teaching/ http://teaching.software-carpentry.org/2014/06/26/from-concept-maps-to-motivation/