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Assign each student in a pair programming partnership to the role of 'driver' or 'navigator' to allow students to start working together without having to negotiate roles.

  • When doing pair programming you often assign students to the following roles:
    • Driver - uses the keyboard and mouse to execute all actions on the computer.
    • Navigator - directs the driver’s actions, checks for errors and typos, and plans the problem solving or debugging actions.
  • Note - both students should be discussing all of their plans and working together to understand and create solutions to the problems.
  • Assigning a driver and a navigator at the beginning of a pair programming session avoids having students negotiate this decision.
    • Negotiating social situations can be difficult for students, especially younger students, and may not the desired use of class time.
  • For example:
    • Assign students in a pair as a left or right partner.
    • Have the left partner start as the driver and the right student start as the navigator.
    • Provide a mechanism to have students switch roles frequently.