Student Facing Materials « PD4CS - Python programming, common student misconceptions, student projects

Student Facing Materials

The main objective of the PD4CS material is to help teachers gain a better understanding of common scenarios that students tend to find confusing in an introductory programming or CS Principles course. Hence, many posts are teacher-facing and focus on providing insight on how to respond to student concerns and misconceptions. A number of posts are, however students-facing or can easily be adapted to be student-facing. The student-facing index gives a listing of student facing PD4CS material and how teachers can most effectively use it.

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UNIT 1: BASIC PROGRAMMING CONCEPTS AND CONSTRUCTS
Conditionals
A Class Project: Monty Hall	The project is based on an intriguing game and surprising statistical puzzle.It gives students an opportunity to plan and implement a program using conditionals.
Data Structures
Strings in Python	Use the string manipulation examples in class to show step-by-step how strings and their methods work.
Lists and Tuples in Python	Use these coding examples in class to show students step-by-step execution of list and tuple structure and methods.
Loops in Python
Better Deal	The problem gives students a chance to practice the use of loops while also demonstrating the power of exponential growth. Comparing a lump sum of money to the total amount received by doubling pennies over the course of a month is a valuable lesson. Offer the video as extra instruction and utilize two versions of the code.
Sum up the Digits I	Compute the sum of the digits of an integer using a while loop. Use as an exercise to help your students think through the process of a while loop.
Sum up the Digits II	Can you solve the problem using a for loop? The post explains how to do it.
Are these loops doing the same thing	Ask your students to figure out if these loops produce the same output. It is a great exercise in understanding how loops work.
Nested Loops in Python
Sum up the digits III	Another program solving this problem: this time with nested loops.
Printing stars	A simple example helping students think through the flow of executing in a nested look. Suited for in-class.
Finding prime numbers	Talk about prime numbers and have students write a program finding all prime numbers between 1 and n.
Functions
What to avoid and what to do when writing functions	Ask students to use the guidelines for writing good functions to improve their code and coding skills.
Comparing the performance of two functions	Ask students to compare two functions solving the same problem and to determine what each version does, how they are different, and explain why one version might be better.
Functions – A Class Project	Use the project on Appliance Store Commissions to give students the opportunity to use specifications for functions that have applications.

UNIT 2: MORE ADVANCED PROGRAMMING TOPICS
Debugging
Common Mistakes not Producing an Error Message	These examples show common mistakes made in Python and how to fix them. Give students the opportunity to run the code and fix the errors.
Algorithms – Solving Problems
An intriguing problem	This non-programming problem challenges students to use creative problem-solving skills to identify the lighter suitcase.
Make a profit	This project asks students to develop and implement an algorithm to solve bank-related problems, such as how to organize account transactions to maximize a bank’s profit.
Flipping pancakes	Let students figure out an algorithm to arrange pancakes in order of size with the minimum number of flips. It gives them a chance to come up with an algorithm to solve a fun problem.
Recursion – Algorithms
Searching in a sorted list	Teach your students recursion using binary search. The code provided includes a recursive and a non-recursive version of the problem.
Reversing a string	Implement the reversing string problem using recursion. The problem is simple to understand but challenging to implement with recursion.
Pretty things	Show your students recursion visually using fractals. The post includes code and pictures of several types of fractals.
Classes & Objects
Syntax	Use the fun Horse class to introduce classes and objects to students--includes key words, variables, and methods.
Python Built-in Class Examples	After introducing the concepts of classes and objects, use these four examples of built-in classes to further explore the ideas. Bringing in the old ideas can make the new ideas more accessible to the students.
Appliance Store returns	Revisit the Appliance Store project in the context of classes and objects. Students will define and use a new class according to specifications.

UNIT 3: SELECTED OTHER TOPICS
Internet
HTML	Introduce HTML to students with the provided video and code examples. The explanations show students the overall structure and results of HTML code.
CSS	Introduce CSS to students with videos and examples of CSS code. Students can see the CSS code and the corresponding result to understand how CSS works.
Javascript	Show the video and examples of Javascript code in class, allowing students to see how basic structure, interaction, and results of Javascript.
Information Security
Public-key cryptography	Discover public-key cryptography with this non-programming activity. Students use creative problem-solving to come up with a solution based on public-key concepts.
Discussion Topics	These discussions and linked articles provide a good way to introduce some controversial subjects related to privacy, social media, and the government. Ask students to read the articles, and have a class discussion about ethical uses of social media or the rights of the government vs. the rights of citizens.
Rotation cipher	Implement an alphabetic rotation cipher using a class definition and loops, then write another program to break the cipher using a brute-force attack.

The following video describes the Student Facing Materials. Video Length: 7:39