interesting comparison between teaching methods in english (phonics vs. whole language), math
(practice vs. exploration/proofs), and programming
Seymour Papert (created LOGO, programming language for kids) studied with Jean Piaget
(psycologist,founder of constructivism)
Papert said "By explaining something you take away the opportunity for a child to discover
it" --- i.e. don't explain --- common vibe in programming instruction books for kids
in other things (especially outside of school), like guitar or tennis, you aren't expected to
just figure it out --- you are taught and must do deliberate practice --- practice the
small things
this is like the phonics side in the language teaching debate
comparing the types of teaching
group 1-> instruction, phonics, explaining (direct instruction)
group 2-> inquiry, whole language, exploration
turns out explaining things to kids works really well
it is always said based on research from the 50s that we can only hold 7 +- 2 items in our
short term memory --- newer research indicates it may actually only be 4 +- 2
we use chunking to remember more things (e.g. remembering words vs. all the individual
characters)
when our short term memory gets full we feel cognitive load
KEY POINT-> You don't become an expert by doing expert things
research on direct instruction of programming->
vocalize syntax --- reading code out loud --- group that read code aloud every week did
better than the kids in the control group that didn't (paper --- The effect of reading
code aloud on comprehension by Swidan and Hermans '19)
tell students how to solve problems --- works really well (paper --- The case for case
studies in Pascal by Linn and Clancy '92)
three groups
write own code and then read expert code
write own code and then read expert code with explanation
read expert code with explanation
teachers preferred the first group method
the second and third groups did equally better than the first group --- lightens
cognitive load, leaving more room to remember things
takeaway-> teaching explicit strategies works really well
assessment (specifically in code clubs) --- gives insight into what students actually
know and helps them remember it better
KEY POINT-> having fun is not important for learning
there is the idea that Motivation => Skill --- they are related, but it's actually usually
in the opposite way --- Skill => Motivation --- if acquiring skill then will be motivated