Skip to main content
CS Teaching Tips

Main navigation

  • Browse All Tips
  • Tags
  • 3D
  • About
  • Rate Tips
  • Tip Sheets

Misconception: Students think that both the IF and the ELSE cases of a conditional are executed every single time a conditional runs.

  • For example, here is a conditional in Python:
      if ( x<2 ):
        print "This is fun."

      else:

        print "I love CS."

  • Students sometimes think that if x=1, the computer will print "This is fun." then continue to ELSE and print "I love CS."

More about this tip

Tags

  • Content Misconceptions
  • Python
  • Intro Programming
  • CS 1
  • Programming Concepts
External Source

"Visual program simulation in introductory programming education" by Juha Sorva.

Other Tips By
Other Tips By Juha Sorva

Similar tips

Match grammar constructs of nouns and verbs to classes and methods to help students understand what goes into a class because this helps make this difficult object-oriented programming construct easier to understand.
Show students the visual representation of recursion in the Modern Family title sequence for a fun way to introduce them to this concept.
Have students create a Python program that implements an automated authorship detection algorithm, which gives them an opportunity to practice working with strings, lists, and loops.

For more information or to report a bug, contact us at admin@csteachingtips.org. Built with Bootstrap. Powered by Drupal.

Privacy Policy