Introduction—What Is this Guide About? - Guide to Teaching Computer Science: An Activity-Based Approach - page 6

1.3.3 Course Objectives

The MTCS course is one of the first stages in the professional development of the
prospective computer science teachers, which naturally continues in many ways
also after the course ends (e.g., in their participation in conferences, in-service
teachers training programs, working groups of computer science teachers, design of
new curricula, and more). Accordingly, the main objective of the MTCS course is
to prepare the students to their future fieldwork as computer science teachers. The
specific objectives derived from this main objective, are:

1. To enhance students' professional identity as computer science teachers
2. To heighten students' awareness to the uniqueness of computer science education
3. To expose students to difficulties encountered by learners when learning differ-
ent topics from the computer science curriculum
4. To enable students to master pedagogical skills for teaching computer science,
considering different kinds of learners
5. To enable students to master pedagogical tools for teaching computer science,
including the creation of a supportive and cooperative inquiry-based learning
environment
6. To expose the students to a variety of computer science teaching methods
7. To expose students to the research conducted on computer science education and
to its application in the teaching process

These objectives are achieved by the facilitation of many activities, discussions,
reflective thinking processes, and additional kinds of tasks, as is elaborated in the
next section and is widely illustrated in this guide.

1.3.4 Recommended Teaching Methods Used in the MTCS Course

The teaching methods implemented in the MTCS course are varied and their imple-
mentation in itself constitutes an essential tier of learning the course. The course
does not only “talk about” but rather it “shows how” to actively apply the teaching
principles in the teaching of the discipline of computer science. Thus, the MTCS
course is essentially a workshop that includes lectures, workshops for developing
different teaching materials and skills, hands-on experience with various software
programs, practice teaching, and many discussions and reflections. Course tasks
and assignments are varied and develop simultaneously with the learning process.
Task types include, for example, preparing learning activities, preparing lesson
plans, analyzing learners' mistakes, reading articles and preparing reports, explor-
ing different ways for class management in general and how to use the computer lab
in particular, preparing a teaching plan for an entire teaching unit, and exploring the
uniqueness of the discipline of computer science. These kinds of activities, as well
as many others, are presented in the guide with respect to different (pedagogical)
computer science topics.