How to Use Graphical Problem Decomposition, Pattern Recognition, and Abstraction to Start Programming in Python

Are you teaching programming? Do your students have difficulties understanding loops, variables, and functions? These programming language features are mechanisms for abstraction. They allow us to describe and reason about computation in the abstract. But abstract reasoning can be hard.

This workshop looks at how to introduce those abstract ideas in a concrete way, starting from the very beginning of a programming course. Using Python as a programming language and the PyTamaro compositional graphics library, we present activities that can help students to understand abstract programming language ideas by playing with concrete graphical compositions.

The workshop interleaves conceptual discussions and practical exercises, and provides materials and ideas usable in an introductory programming course using Python.

Leitung: Prof. Dr. Matthias Hauswirth, USI; Luca Chiodini, USI

Sprache: Englisch

Zielgruppe: Teachers of «Sekundarstufe I und II»

Voraussetzungen: Prior knowledge of Python concepts, including variables, loops, and function definitions. Please bring along a laptop or tablet.