Teaching 3 - Loops
Last week, we introduced loops. It's a tough concept and it was clear last week that we needed to work at it some more. The curriculum has a paper "pattern" exercise to help learn how to see when to apply a loop solution to a problem. The approach is look at each line of pictures and a notice the pattern in each of them. See how they repeat? Alas, that sheet - not so good. Each pattern had only 4 items in it. There were simple repeats (A A A A) and two item repeats (A B A B) but there were not really enough examples to help you see the pattern. Next time we should have page of 20 patterns with 8 or more in each to help see the pattern. Plus we should have actually introduced the notion of "pattern" rather than loops first and then associating that patterns.
That said, the kids got it more this week. I'm focusing on the 1-2 graders - the older kids are doing the same thing, but little harder.
Writing code is a cerebral thing. You do it in your head. Kids want to act. They want to click and put things on the screen. "Stop. Think first. What are you trying to do? What pattern do you see on the screen? Say what you want to do first, then put it on the screen." They don't want to do it that way. "Ok, fine - do it your way, but before you go on to the next exercise, let me see. I want to talk with you about it." Limited success there. Some kids are willing to talk about it, but the kid next to him is watching the next video...
"Loops help make your code pretty. Let's look at code that does the same thing, but has loops to replace the repeated steps. See how much smaller that is? Isn't that pretty?" This notion definitely took. The kids do evaluations at the end to say what they learned. Two of my kids said they learned to write pretty (or "prite" in one case) code. They definitely got the idea.
"You can do it the hard way or the easy way." The hard way is building a long program and then trying to debug it. The easy way is to write a short program, and run it (to see if there are any bugs). Once that works, add a small number of steps to it. Run it again. Repeat (that's a loop!)
They still need work on loops. Need to see the pattern. Need to think before they write. We can work on all those things at once. Definitely need to work on short little programs that we add to and add to.
When I played with the environment we're building our programs in, I had no reservations. Seems fine. I really didn't think about it. After seeing little kids interact with it, I've changed my mind. The pieces are too small. The screen shouldn't shake when you use the touch screen (Chromebook thing). The UI is bad. It should be better. They need more real estate to do their work. Their little fingers are clumsy. This should be easier!
What do I do with a class clown? He's not getting anything out of what we're doing. He's disruptive, so he's stopping other kids from getting something out of what we're doing. I guess ideal would be to use him so he gets to be part of the center of attention, and is thus paying attention. Others won't be distracted. Today it was enough that he didn't distract others. We can do better.
Boys and girls are different. I interact with them differently because they respond differently to me. I can be soft with the girls and quietly challenge them. The boys need a firmer hand. "Ok, you can do that way, but it's going to be harder. Let me know when you get stuck." I'm sure there is are dangerous patterns I could get sucked into there. Should I let the girls struggle more? Maybe.
There's a lot going on in my one hour. I'm having fun.
That said, the kids got it more this week. I'm focusing on the 1-2 graders - the older kids are doing the same thing, but little harder.
Writing code is a cerebral thing. You do it in your head. Kids want to act. They want to click and put things on the screen. "Stop. Think first. What are you trying to do? What pattern do you see on the screen? Say what you want to do first, then put it on the screen." They don't want to do it that way. "Ok, fine - do it your way, but before you go on to the next exercise, let me see. I want to talk with you about it." Limited success there. Some kids are willing to talk about it, but the kid next to him is watching the next video...
"Loops help make your code pretty. Let's look at code that does the same thing, but has loops to replace the repeated steps. See how much smaller that is? Isn't that pretty?" This notion definitely took. The kids do evaluations at the end to say what they learned. Two of my kids said they learned to write pretty (or "prite" in one case) code. They definitely got the idea.
"You can do it the hard way or the easy way." The hard way is building a long program and then trying to debug it. The easy way is to write a short program, and run it (to see if there are any bugs). Once that works, add a small number of steps to it. Run it again. Repeat (that's a loop!)
They still need work on loops. Need to see the pattern. Need to think before they write. We can work on all those things at once. Definitely need to work on short little programs that we add to and add to.
When I played with the environment we're building our programs in, I had no reservations. Seems fine. I really didn't think about it. After seeing little kids interact with it, I've changed my mind. The pieces are too small. The screen shouldn't shake when you use the touch screen (Chromebook thing). The UI is bad. It should be better. They need more real estate to do their work. Their little fingers are clumsy. This should be easier!
What do I do with a class clown? He's not getting anything out of what we're doing. He's disruptive, so he's stopping other kids from getting something out of what we're doing. I guess ideal would be to use him so he gets to be part of the center of attention, and is thus paying attention. Others won't be distracted. Today it was enough that he didn't distract others. We can do better.
Boys and girls are different. I interact with them differently because they respond differently to me. I can be soft with the girls and quietly challenge them. The boys need a firmer hand. "Ok, you can do that way, but it's going to be harder. Let me know when you get stuck." I'm sure there is are dangerous patterns I could get sucked into there. Should I let the girls struggle more? Maybe.
There's a lot going on in my one hour. I'm having fun.
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