Create boolean variables to use as the condition when introducing if statement to highlight for students that the condition is any expression that evaluates to true or false.
Have students code boundary condition test to handle removing adjacent duplicates to help them better understand data structures and become familiar with common bugs through practice.
Step through an accumulator pattern on board to make clear how variables change within a while loop to help students understand this confusing topic.
Play musical chairs to explain while loops so students develop physical experience navigating through the structure of a loop to better understand while loops.
Foreshadow arrays right after teaching for loops by showing students how to create a 1x6 grid using the rectangle object in the Java objectdraw library because visualizations built off of recently introduced material provide a useful transition.
Use scoreboards to motivate the use of variables because young students have developed strong mental models for scoreboards through previous exposure allowing them to quickly understand what variables are.
Use an Arduino and three LEDs to make an electronic, binary die to teach students about data representation, programming basics, and Arduino in an engaging introductory activity.
Track the variable values of a recursive function using multiple pieces of paper to form a “stack” so that students can visualize what happens when a method calls itself and how each method call has its own unique variable values.
Use note passing for explaining the difference between methods with no return (void methods) and methods with return to provide students with a relatable example.