Molly Watt

When explaining code to the class, project your code and use a tablet to draw on top of it. Ask students for debugging suggestions to make them more comfortable finding bugs and to show them that all programmers, even you, make mistakes.

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Help students monitor their emotional experience to know when they should take a break from writing code to maximize learning and student attitudes.

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When students are working on projects, especially open-ended ones, resist the urge to intervene. Don’t do the job for them!

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Have students keep a “bug collection” in a journal so they can more easily recognize and eliminate bugs in the future.

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Have students break their code into smaller pieces to find out where the bug might be.

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As a debugging technique, have students write out their programs in their spoken language and compare their description to the code in order to find bugs.

Share As a debugging technique, have students write out their programs in their spoken language and compare their description to the code in order to find bugs. with Facebook Share As a debugging technique, have students write out their programs in their spoken language and compare their description to the code in order to find bugs. with Twitter

Use metaphors and analogies to describe how concepts work in a memorable way.

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Keep a bag of “survival tricks” on hand that will keep students interested and motivated.

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Help students find bugs by drawing or writing out what their code does at each step.

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Talk through your code as you write it so students learn how to approach problems.

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