Overview of the Discipline of Computer Science - Guide to Teaching Computer Science: An Activity-Based Approach - page 40

Table 3.3 Worksheet on programming paradigms
Worksheet—programming paradigms
Answer the following questions
1. What is a programming language ?
2. What is a programming paradigm ?
3. Give examples of three programming paradigms. For each paradigm
—explain why it is a programming paradigm
—list at least two programming languages that implement the said paradigm
4. Compare the two concepts: a programming paradigm and a programming language
clarifications are added by the instructor. At the end of this discussion, the
instructor summarizes the activity by:
− Presenting a definition for the concept of programming paradigm
− Presenting the differences between several programming paradigms
(according to students' knowledge)
− Highlighting the difference between a programming paradigm and a
programming language and illustrate them with several examples
− Explaining that since programming languages implement program-
ming paradigms, different programming languages may implement the
same programming paradigm; nevertheless, if one is familiar with one
programming language which represents a specific programming para-
digm, it is reasonable to assume that he or she will be able to switch
smoothly to another programming language that represents the same
programming paradigm
− Highlighting the fact that the differences between programming para-
digms are more fundamental and therefore, unlike switching between
programming languages that represent the same programming para-
digm, the switching between programming paradigms is not (in most
cases) a trivial cognitive task.
As mentioned, Activity 13 allows the instructor of the MTCS course to identify
students' current knowledge with respect to the notion of programming paradigms.
Based on this observation, the instructor can move on and continue the lesson with
either Activity 14 or Activity 15 or both.
Activity 14: Abstract-Oriented Examination of Programming Paradigms
• Stage A: Problem solving in different programming paradigms, work in
pairs
The students are asked to work in pairs on the worksheet presented in
Table 3.4 . Clearly, another problem can be presented in the worksheet, for
example, one of the sort algorithms.