Have students write a game of Hangman in Python in which the computer cheats by changing its secret word to give students practice using dictionaries.
Give students a set number of late homework passes so they can give themselves extensions and hold themselves accountable for deadlines.
Assume the role of a confused student and ask your students questions, prompting them to answer your questions in order to further their understanding of the material.
Stand or sit among your students in small group settings to encourage more student-driven discussions.
Encourage students to answer one another’s questions in lab and office hours to help both confident and confused students better understand the course concepts.
Pick an article from the ACM TechNews newsletter for students to read, summarize, and write a reflection on to find relevant and appropriate CS articles for AP CSP social implications assignments.
Have a student write out detailed instructions for performing a basic task, then have another student try to follow these instructions exactly. Engaging, interactive classroom activities like this demonstrate that program instructions need to be explicit.
Distinguish the differences between print statements and return statements to help students understand that these elements are not related because this conflation can cause a lot of confusion.
Misconception: Return is a mystery to students because they may not understand that functions have an entry point and an exit point. This results in mistakes such as assuming Python will return the right thing.
Misconception: Students struggle with the jump from writing code in one method to writing code in two methods.