Have students complete CodeLab’s practice exercises to improve their skills in Python, Java, C++, or other programming languages.
Emphasize the importance of documentation when working with spreadsheets or any programming language for future reference.
Introduce terms like declaration, initialization, and operand that often appear in C++ error messages so that students are prepared to understand and interpret the error messages they come across using C++.
Create a list of the vocabulary terms that come up in error messages for the specific programming language you’re teaching so that students are prepared to understand and interpret the error messages they come across.
Have student video tape their Arduino circuits to make it easier for you to grade because you don’t have to collect the Arduinos or set aside class time to observe the circuits in action.
Explicitly discuss the lack of bounds-checking in C-based courses to avoid student confusion when using strings and arrays.
Misconception: In C-based languages, students don’t know when to use and not use pointer derefrences (*) and reference-operators (&).
Students have trouble seeing the connection between models (UMLs, etc.) and code so they only want to focus on coding, a problem when teaching modeling.
Misconception: When passing arrays in C/C++ students often forget to pass in the size of the array and to use [] (square brackets) to make the variable an array.