Lab-Based Teaching - Guide to Teaching Computer Science: An Activity-Based Approach - page 143

Table 8.2 (continued)

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We note that in order to let the students in the MTCS course taste this teach-
ing method, it is sufficient to let them work only on the beginning of the
worksheet.
The continuation of this worksheet on conditional statements teaches the
following topics: blocks, logical connectors, the Boolean data type, and the
conditional statement switch.

• Stage B: Class discussion
After the students worked on the worksheet presented in Table 8.2 , a class
discussion takes place in which their pedagogical comments are addressed.
In this discussion, it is important to address guidelines that computer sci-
ence teachers can follow when they design worksheets based on the lab-
first teaching approach. Here are several such guidelines:
• The topic (or aspect) on which the lab-first activity focuses was not taught
yet in the class.
• Active learning should be fostered.
• The topic should be divided into subtopics.
• The concepts addressed in the lab should be identified and listed, as well
as connections between them.
• Each task should have a well-defined purpose and should concentrate on
one specific idea.