Teaching Methods in Computer Science Education - Guide to Teaching Computer Science: An Activity-Based Approach - page 122

switch roles frequently; this switch further enhances the learning process of both
mates, since in most cases, pair programming guides a problem-solving process
that is carried out on two levels of abstraction: the code level and the strategic level.
When this approach is applied to nonprogramming tasks, some advantages of
pair programming are not applicable anymore, mainly the code-related aspects.
Nevertheless, advantages of pair working can be achieved also when the pair works
on a nonprogramming task; it is simply reasonable to assume that in a pair work, the
two learners are involved in the problem-solving process, unlike in larger groups,
when some students may be more dominant, control the group work, and suppress
the involvement and contribution of the other group members.
Working in groups Another form of class organization is working in groups with
more than two members. This is a preferable class organization when (a) a computer
science teacher observes that a given task requires more than two learners in order
to be accomplished, (b) the teacher wishes to exploit team diversity, (c) the class is
relatively big and the teacher wants to monitor the groups' work more easily, and
finally (d) the class is relatively big, and the teacher wishes to allow all students to
be involved and represented in the group presentations presented by one of their
team members.
Jigsaw is one technique for class organization in groups, which, according to the
Jigsaw Classroom website, 6 carried out as follows. First, the students in the class are
divided into groups of five or six students each and their task is to learn a specific
topic. Each of the students in each team is responsible for learning a specific part
of the topic and to teach this specific part to the whole group. Second, to increase
the chances that each report will be accurate, after learning the allocated part of the
topic, the students do not return immediately to their jigsaw group, but rather, they
meet first with the students from the other groups who have an identical assignment
(one student from each jigsaw group) and share what they have learned. In this pro-
cess, they verify and refine their understanding of the part of the project allocated to
them. In the third stage, the jigsaw groups reconvene in their initial heterogeneous
configuration and each student of the jigsaw group teaches the other group mem-
bers the topic he or she has learned which is now considered as her or his specialty.
Finally, the teacher can decide whether each group submits a written work, a poster,
another group product, or nothing at all.
As can be seen from this short description, the jigsaw classroom organization has
many advantages, both cognitive and social, since it enhances learning, listening,
cooperation, and knowledge sharing.
Out-of-school Learning To enrich the studentsʼ computer science learning expe-
rience, out-of-school learning environments, such as museums and exhibitions (see,
for example, The Bloomfield Science Museum Jerusalem CAPTCHA exhibition
at http://www.mada.org.il/en/exhibitions/captcha), and a tour in a hi-tech company
(see, for example, Eidelman et al. 2011 ), can be integrated in the learning process.
When an out-of-school activity is integrated in the learning process, it is important
to prepare the students before it takes place and to sum it up after it ends.
6 See http://www.jigsaw.org/.