Teaching Methods in Computer Science Education - Guide to Teaching Computer Science: An Activity-Based Approach - page 120

Table 7.6 Classification task
Worksheet: classification (work in groups)
In the attached page, 15 items are presented
Choose your own criteria and categorize/classify them into sets. An item can belong to several
sets. For example, item 1 can belong to set A because it satisfies the “A criterion” and to be
included in set B because it also satisfies the “B criterion.” In your categorization, focus on
the contents or essence of the items and try to avoid “trivial” criteria (e.g., the fact that people
appear in items 8, 14, and 15)
Add a new item (not from the given page) to each set
Give a title to each set
Give a title to the whole page
Due to the explanatory power of analogy, when learners face difficulties in un-
derstanding a new concept (or an idea), a metaphor may offer a new perspective on
the concept and may support its understanding. Yet, although metaphors may help
bridge between the new and unfamiliar knowledge (e.g., a variable) and a known
knowledge (e.g., a box), metaphors should be used carefully; after all, a metaphor
does not refer solely to instances in which the two concepts correspond to each
another, but also to contexts in which they do not fit each other. For example, in
the case of a variable, the metaphor of a box helps explain the storage property of
a variable; at the same time, however, pupils may think that a variable may contain
several values (similar to a box that can contain several items). Teachers must be
aware of these difficulties and learn how to cope with them (see also Chap. 6).
Activities 53 and 54, to be facilitated in the MTCS course, address metaphors in
the context of computer science education.
Activity 53: Metaphors—Preparing a Poster, Variable Exhibition
The students are asked to prepare a poster for an exhibition about the concept
of variable. The poster can be prepared with any computational environment
that enables to combine text with graphical objects, such as PowerPoint. After
the posters are prepared, the students present them in front of the class as
an exhibition, and the class discusses pedagogical advantages and pitfalls of
each poster. Figure 7.4 presents three illustrative posters which were prepared
by prospective computer science teachers for the concept of a variable.
Activity 54: Metaphors—Advantages and Disadvantages of Metaphors
Students are given the worksheet presented in Table 7.7 . After they finished
their work, a class discussion is facilitated about advantages and disadvan-
tages of metaphors in general and of the specific metaphors they suggested in
the worksheet, in particular.