- For example, using video games as a motivating example is likely to alienate women, non-binary, and non-white students because these groups are poorly represented in game design; making an analogy to different brands of cars may be isolating to students who have never been able to afford a car; and referring to baseball is likely to confuse non-American students.
-
The best examples and analogies are ones that rely on experiences that are highly likely to be shared by all students, such as the experience of attending class or preparing food.
- For example, when teaching databases, consider making a mock database of groceries as opposed to a mock database of vacation homes.
- For example, when teaching algorithms, consider using a sample algorithm that applies to class registration at your institution as opposed to a sample algorithm that applies to solving a Rubik’s Cube.