Help each student prepare a resume, get business cards, and practice interviewing so they make the most out of CS conference job fairs.
Provide students with an algorithm which is written in everyday language and have students write pseudocode in order to help them practice the process of translating the ideas in their heads into code.
Encourage students to replace variables with values when tracing through code to reduce the necessary cognitive load.
Discuss and explore the difference between additive (sequential) and multiplicative (nested) loop structures to give students practice reasoning about loops.
Have students pay close attention to loop bounds when tracing through code to help them identify and avoid off-by-one errors caused this way.
Have students practice looping through an array in as many ways as possible, such as forwards and backwards, to increase their comfort with array looping.
Teach students how to find built-in Java methods in the Javadocs documentation so they can are prepared to use this skill on the AP CS exam.
Compare objects in Java to cloud-hosted documents, such as Google Docs, for a relatable analogy to explain object references with.
Misconception: When students trace through recursive code, they have trouble figuring out if operations are done before or after the recursive call.
Provide flexibility and additional resources for students with health impairments to ensure that these students get the most out of your class.
Have students label a string’s index values to help them understand how to use Java’s substring method.
Send students on an online scavenger hunt to find pieces of information on the internet so they learn different ways of retrieving data.
Have students complete CodeLab’s practice exercises to improve their skills in Python, Java, C++, or other programming languages.
Model the software engineering process by having students design games or other projects for an audience. This helps students gain valuable, hands-on experience and make connections to real world applications.
Use an activity that introduces minimal spanning trees by having students determine the minimum number of roads to pave between houses.
Arrange seating in your classroom to allow ample room for wheelchairs in multiple locations to make your classroom accessible to all students.
Use many assessment formats in your course to ensure all students are graded fairly and have a chance to demonstrate their knowledge.
Seek out others to be part of your mentees’ mentoring team to ensure they have access to a wide network of mentors that can relate to and provide support for the wide variety of situations they’ll encounter.
Write encouraging notes, such as “Have you ever considered grad school?”, for undergraduate students who consistently do well in class to get them thinking about exciting postgrad opportunities like graduate school.