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Avoid formal definitions of topics at first in intro courses; these can be intimidating for students, as they can look like “hard math.”

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  • Generalize across examples to help students get a feel for the topic first, then give students more explicit definitions.
  • Give intuitive descriptions of concepts before introducing formal notation to help students build intuition without becoming intimidated.

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  • Programming Concepts
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Interview with John Dougherty

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Other Tips By John Dougherty

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Focus on simple examples in a breadth course about systems to avoid confusing students. Save depth for upper level courses.
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