Overview of the Discipline of Computer Science - Guide to Teaching Computer Science: An Activity-Based Approach - page 34

be familiar with the concept of diversity in general and, in particular, with its impor-
tance in the context of computer science education and with how to take advantage
of diversity in their teaching processes.
Activities 7, 8, and 9 address diversity. Activity 7 deals with diversity in general,
Activity 8—with different approaches toward students' performance, and Activity
9—with gender diversity—a well-recognized topic in computer science education
(cf. e.g., the June 2002 Special Issue of Inroads—The SIGCSE Bulletin ).
We note in passing that, in fact, the underlying idea of presenting triggers in itself
represents diversity, since triggers should be designed in a way that encourages dif-
ferent perspectives and ways of thinking. Furthermore, the pedagogical viewpoint
of constructivist teachers, which legitimizes and respects the differences between
students, is based on diversity.
Activity 7: Diverse Class Demography, Group Work
The students are asked to describe a class demography that is diverse as much
as possible. This trigger is presented to the students before the concept of
diversity is introduced. After the students work on the trigger, each group
presents its suggested hypothetical class in the course milieu. The collection
of class structures presented at this stage by the students indicates their level
of awareness to diversity, increases their awareness to diversity, and leads to
discussions on how to deal with diversity. A follow up activity can focus on
differences and similarities between these different class structures and their
implications in computer science lessons.
Activity 8: Test Evaluation, Work in Pairs
The students are asked to evaluate several pupil answers to a question given
on a test, administrated at a high school class. After working on the trig-
ger, each group suggests its philosophy with respect to the evaluation of the
answers. The different perspectives exhibited at this stage highlight that there
are different perspectives regarding student errors, that this is another way by
which diversity is expressed, and that different considerations play in such
teaching situations.
For additional information about the theme of evaluation in the MTCS
course see Chap. 10 and Lapidot and Hazzan ( 2003 ).
Activity 9: Gender Diversity, Open Conversation
Table 3.1 is presented (empty) to the students and they are asked to suggest
factors that encourage each gender (or both genders) to study computer sci-
ence or discourage each gender (or both) from studying computer science.
While the students suggest their ideas, the table is filled accordingly.
When the students' suggestions are presented, their opinions should not be
judged and the instructor should simply write what is said in the table in