Use humor in class that does not rely on race, gender, ability, class, etc. because those jokes are made at the expense of a diverse set of students and create a very unwelcome classroom environment.
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.
Provide opportunities for students to write code, in addition to traditional multiple choice questions, when using Peer Instruction.
Assign students to add comments to code their peers wrote that is void of comments to test students ability to understand the code as well as their peer’s ability to write clear code.
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.
Setup pair programming assignments intentionally using the following checklist so that students have the tools, environment, and space they need to succeed
Provide students with practice opportunities to develop the verbal communication skills needed for successful pair programming to ensure that students gain the most out of these activities.
Be aware of the advantages of different student pairings when creating group work environments, here are some pros to grouping students according to skill levels and some cons to grouping students across skill levels.
Fold paper to demonstrate the effects of different complexities, (i.e., O(n)) using a physical analog to help students strengthen their understanding of this abstract topics.