Unit I: Course Introduction & code.org

Logistics

• Today
  • Seating arrangements & roll
  • Course & instructor introduction
  • Success in this course
  • Brief discussion of "programming"
  • code.org and getting started on the code.org course
• Wonderings/comments?

Roll & Seating Chart

• Temporary seating chart today; revise/finalize it next time
• Why choose a seat
  • to see/hear better
  • to be near friends
  • to be near helper/helpee
  • to have access to electrical power
  • to be closer to/farther away from me
• Change places if you want
• Take roll; produce seating chart

Instructor & Course Introduction

• Me
  • Philip East, east@cs.uni.edu, cs.uni.edu/~east (web site)
  • I have moderate to severe hearing loss, so please speak loudly
  • I like talking about teaching and learning and trying to understand it and how to do it better
  • Wonderings/comments?
• Course information (from syllabus) discussion/questions
  • My office hours and office location?
  • Course grading elements?
  • Nature of homework assignments and submissions?
  • Nature of feedback on assignments and submissions?
  • Is there a final? (what? or what instead of?)
  • Extra credit?
  • Anything else? Wonderings/comments?
• What else do you know or what to know about the course?

  List & discuss student responses.
• Why are you here?

  List & discuss reasons students supply.
• Anything else? Wonderings/comments?

Course Success

Our goal is to be successful? What does that mean? What can we do to make the course successful? (Discuss student responses to the following.)

• What does success look like? For you?
• What does success look like? For me?
  • You achieved a level of programming ability that allows you to make informed choices about whether to program or to learn more programming.
  • You learned enough programming to be willing to allow your students to try programming in your classes.
  • You have a reasonable idea of how you might introduce your students to programming and kinds of activities you could use to do so.
  • You feel that you could help students learn programming beyond what you presently know (or remember when the teaching occurs).
  • You believe programming is (or is not) useful for your students to learn and have a good rationale for your belief. (The rationale should be based on what students can and need to learn in public schools and the basis for your conclusions.)
• What can I do to enhance the likelihood or degree of success for reaching our goals?
• What can you do to enhance the likelihood or degree of success for us all?
  • Attend class and think/question during presentations and discussion. (What is being said? Do I understand/does it make sense? Do I agree? ...)
  • Ask questions when you don't understand/agree.
  • Persist when I am too dense to see your point.
  • Do all the assignments to the best of your ability.
  • Seek help when you have difficulty on the assignments. (e-mail, office hours, classmates, ...)
  • Try stuff beyond what is assigned or what you know.
  • Think about assignments from the teacher's standpoint, e.g., it's goals, why/how it is useful, how it could be adapted, ...
  • Wonder about how/whether programming is similar to or different from other content.
  • Be curious about programming and the teaching and learning of programming.
• Anything else? Wonderings/comments?

Programming

A major focus of this course is programming and teaching programming. So, ...

• What is programming?
  • Preparing a set of instructions for the computer to carry out.
• Basic elements/aspects/skills/understandings of programming
  • "simple" data and collections of "simple" data representing the "problem" being solved
  • determining the manipulations of the data that "solve" the problem
  • sequencing action statements that accomplish the desired manipulations
  • selecting between alternative actions (with action/no action a possibility)
  • repeating actions a given number of times or under specified conditions (so long as something remains true or until something becomes true)
  • modularizing a set of actions—creating a new action by combining basic actions (and/or previously created actions)

  (data, actions, sequence, selection, repetition, modularization)

• Anything else? Wonderings/comments?

The code.org Course

Bring up the code.org assignment. Have students signup, join my course at code.org, explore, and start work on the course.

Next Time:

• Plans:
  • Final seating chart
  • (Continue) Work on code.org course
• To prepare for class:
  • Sign up as a teacher with code.org if you have not already done so
  • Join my class at code.org
  • Begin work on the course
  • Bring any questions to class

And final questions? comments? wonderings?   . . .   See you Thursday.

Day 2: Work on code.org Course

Logistics

• Roll & finalize the seating chart
• Today is a work day
• Wonderings? Comments?

code.org Course Work

If you have questions, please ask. Work on the the course. remember that you need to finish the course and the TARR before next Tuesday's class.

Next Time

• Discussion RE code.org and reflections

Questions? Comments? Wonderings?   —   See you Tuesday.

Day 3: code.org Experiences & Scratch Exploration

Laptop Use in ITTC 328

• Go to the cabinet;   pick a laptop   unplug it;   and note its location/number
• Return to your seat and open the lap top;   if it doesn't light up, press the power button
• If it asks for a bit locker password, enter compsci1
• When directed, press CTRL-ALT-DELETE and log into your UNI active directory, be patient
• Start up a web browser
• If you know what to do, do it
• DO ONLY CLASS STUFF!
• When done for the day, press CTRL-ALT-DELETE and log out
• Return the laptop to the cart, in the appropriate position above its number, and plug it in

Logistics

• Roll
• Comments? Questions? Wonderings

code.org Experience

First, I'd like you to share any comments or questions you have. If you had trouble with a particular lesson or idea or set of lessons please let us know. Any and all questions will be appreciated. Reactions to the course are also welcome. So, Comments? Questions? Difficulties? Wonderings? Reactions? ...?

Next, I'd like to provide some prompts for you to discuss.

• Did you like anything about the course? What? Why?
• Anything you disliked about it? What? Why?
• Programming fundamentals addressed in the course
  • What are the fundamentals?
    • data and collections of data
    • actions, perhaps/often involving manipulation of data
    • sequence/li>
    • selection
    • repetition
    • modularization
  • Can you provide an example of each that you encountered?
  • Were any of them problematic for you? Which ones? How so?
• How are programming and computational thinking related?
  • What are the elements of computational thinking?
    • decomposition—breaking a problem into subproblems
    • pattern location/recognition—seeing recurring activity or something similar to past experience
    • abstraction—recognizing the essence of something and ignoring the details
    • algorithm—plan for accomplishing a task (We develop algorithms before or as we program. A program is an algorithm understood by the computer.)
  • Questions/comments about computational thinking?
• Did this seem like programming to you? If not, what do you think you were expecting?
• Anything you have liked to have seen/done that was not included? What? Why?
• Anything else you'd like to say or ask?

In my mind, the code.org course introduces programming and illustrates many aspects of it but the activity is rather cookbook-ish and doesn't quite give you the real feel of programming. Hopefully, that will change a bit with Scratch.

Scratch

Scratch is a block-oriented programming language similar to Blockly that you experienced in the code.org course. In the Scratch environment, however, you are exposed to the entire gamut of actions, control mechanisms, events, etc. that constitute the language. And, you have to know/learn enough so that you can choose what is needed to accomplish the task you are attempting program. Comments, questions, difficulties, wonderings at this point in time? . . . Okay, let's fire up Scratch.

• Open up a web browser
• enter the URL scratch.mit.edu
• click on Join Scratch (top, right of the page on the blue tool bar)

  You'll be asked to enter a username and password. Security is not a big deal so make the username and password easy for you, perhaps the same as for code.org.

• If not already signed in, sign in (tab/link at the top right of the screen on the blue toolbar)
• Check out "My Stuff"

  Click on your username (where the "Sign In" link was). Select "My Stuff". This is where your programs go when you save them. You need to give them names and save them to be able to accurately track them.

• Comments? Questions? Wonderings

Next Time:

• Work on first Scratch assignment—Recount a fairy tale, myth, nursery rhyme, poem, etc. using Scratch. It should have
• To prepare for class:
  • Sign up at the Scratch site
  • Finish the exploration activities
  • Examine assignment description and think about what you'd like to do
  • Be prepared to work on your chosen activity during class
  • Bring any questions to class

And final questions? comments? wonderings?   . . .   See you Thursday.