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Everything I needed to know about teaching I learned in kindergarten: bringing elementary education techniques to undergraduate computer science classes

Published: 03 March 2006 Publication History

Abstract

By expanding the teaching styles used in computer science classrooms, we can expand the audience of students that enjoy and excel in technology. Rather than focusing on major curriculum changes or new programs specifically for non-traditional students, we propose that relatively simple expansions in teaching style can have significant results. In particular, we advocate incorporating teaching techniques reminiscent of kindergarten: games, toys, stories, and play. These techniques promote an active learning environment, level the playing field for non-technical students, provide motivation beyond grades, and make class time fun. In this paper, we want to acknowledge the many activities others have proposed by providing a coherent categorization of such activities and show how to use these techniques throughout the curriculum rather than as special experiences.

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  • (2010)Experiences with active learning in CS 3Journal of Computing Sciences in Colleges10.5555/1747137.174717125:5(173-179)Online publication date: 1-May-2010
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  1. Everything I needed to know about teaching I learned in kindergarten: bringing elementary education techniques to undergraduate computer science classes

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    Published In

    cover image ACM SIGCSE Bulletin
    ACM SIGCSE Bulletin  Volume 38, Issue 1
    March 2006
    553 pages
    ISSN:0097-8418
    DOI:10.1145/1124706
    Issue’s Table of Contents
    • cover image ACM Conferences
      SIGCSE '06: Proceedings of the 37th SIGCSE technical symposium on Computer science education
      March 2006
      612 pages
      ISBN:1595932593
      DOI:10.1145/1121341
    Permission to make digital or hard copies of all or part of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. Copyrights for components of this work owned by others than ACM must be honored. Abstracting with credit is permitted. To copy otherwise, or republish, to post on servers or to redistribute to lists, requires prior specific permission and/or a fee. Request permissions from [email protected]

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    Association for Computing Machinery

    New York, NY, United States

    Publication History

    Published: 03 March 2006
    Published in SIGCSE Volume 38, Issue 1

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    Author Tags

    1. active learning
    2. active teaching
    3. classroom management
    4. curriculum issues
    5. pedagogy

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    Cited By

    View all
    • (2017)Folk PedagogyProceedings of the 2017 ACM Conference on International Computing Education Research10.1145/3105726.3106192(145-154)Online publication date: 14-Aug-2017
    • (2012)Teaching graph algorithms to children of all agesProceedings of the 17th ACM annual conference on Innovation and technology in computer science education10.1145/2325296.2325308(34-39)Online publication date: 3-Jul-2012
    • (2010)Experiences with active learning in CS 3Journal of Computing Sciences in Colleges10.5555/1747137.174717125:5(173-179)Online publication date: 1-May-2010
    • (2010)The active-learning transformationJournal of Computing Sciences in Colleges10.5555/1747137.174717025:5(165-172)Online publication date: 1-May-2010
    • (2008)Pre-programming analysis tutors help students learn basic programming conceptsACM SIGCSE Bulletin10.1145/1352322.135223140:1(276-280)Online publication date: 12-Mar-2008
    • (2008)Pre-programming analysis tutors help students learn basic programming conceptsProceedings of the 39th SIGCSE technical symposium on Computer science education10.1145/1352135.1352231(276-280)Online publication date: 12-Mar-2008
    • (2019)Student Knowledge and MisconceptionsThe Cambridge Handbook of Computing Education Research10.1017/9781108654555.028(773-800)Online publication date: 15-Feb-2019
    • (2019)The Cambridge Handbook of Computing Education Research10.1017/9781108654555Online publication date: 15-Feb-2019
    • (2017)Folk PedagogyProceedings of the 2017 ACM Conference on International Computing Education Research10.1145/3105726.3106192(145-154)Online publication date: 14-Aug-2017
    • (2012)Physical Webbing: Collaborative kinesthetic three-dimensional Mind Maps®Active Learning in Higher Education10.1177/146978741142918513:1(35-49)Online publication date: 28-Feb-2012
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