Don''t Teach Coding - Until You Read This Book

The definitive resource for understanding what coding is, designed for educators and parents
 
Even though the vast majority of teachers, parents, and students understand the importance of computer science in the 21st century, many struggle to find appropriate educational resources. Don't Teach Coding: Until You Read This Book fills a gap in current knowledge by explaining exactly what coding is and addressing why and how to teach the subject. Providing a historically grounded, philosophically sensitive description of computer coding, this book helps readers understand the best practices for teaching computer science to their students and their children.
 
The authors, experts in teaching computer sciences to students of all ages, offer practical insights on whether coding is a field for everyone, as opposed to a field reserved for specialists. This innovative book provides an overview of recent scientific research on how the brain learns coding, and features practical exercises that strengthen coding skills. Clear, straightforward chapters discuss a broad range of questions using principles of computer science, such as why we should teach students to code and is coding a science, engineering, technology, mathematics, or language? Helping readers understand the principles and issues of coding education, this book:
* Helps those with no previous background in computer science education understand the questions and debates within the field
* Explores the history of computer science education and its influence on the present
* Views teaching practices through a computational lens
* Addresses why many schools fail to teach computer science adequately
* Explains contemporary issues in computer science such as the language wars and trends that equate coding with essential life skills like reading and writing
 
Don't Teach Coding: Until You Read This Book is a valuable resource for K-12 educators in computer science education and parents wishing to understand the field to help chart their children's education path.

List of contents

About the Authors xi
 
Acknowledgments xiii
 
Introduction 1
 
Who is This Book For? 3
 
Let's Do It! 3
 
Chapter 1: Prologues 5
 
A Wizard's Tale 5
 
The Sorting of Wizards 5
 
The Call to Action 10
 
A Language Without 10
 
Our Strange Protagonists 10
 
(cons 'Apple 'Soft) 13
 
Tower of Babel 15
 
Confessions 16
 
Penances 17
 
A Language Within 17
 
Installing Languages 17
 
Writing in Tongues 19
 
Kiss, Gift, Poison 20
 
Nova: Va o no va? 22
 
Hello, Hello, Hello 23
 
Languages Without 25
 
Tongueless Languages 27
 
Babbage's Calculus Club 29
 
Diffs 31
 
Finite Descriptions of the Infinite 31
 
Bottling the Human Will 33
 
Machines Anchor Language 35
 
Now That It's Out of Our System 39
 
Languages Within 40
 
Signed Languages 42
 
Silent Battles 43
 
Our Strange Citizens of Broca's Area 49
 
Chapter 2: Beginnings 51
 
A Wizard's Tale 51
 
The Leap of Faith 51
 
The Forge 53
 
They Slept 56
 
A Language Without 56
 
Syntax - Building Materials 59
 
A Meta-Linguistic Meander 60
 
Back to Syntax 62
 
Semantics: "When your eyes see this, do this with your mind . . . " 63
 
Checking Assumptions 65
 
We Have a "Language." Now What? 66
 
A Language Within 66
 
Cats 66
 
Stories and Back Stories 71
 
Ab(stract) 74
 
Shortest Path: Dijkstra to You 75
 
A Brave New Syntax 79
 
Languages Without 81
 
The Unwritten, Unwritable Backstory 83
 
Three Old Friends: Language, Math, Algorithms 84
 
Algorithms of Antiquity 88
 
A Brief Story of Stories 90
 
Languages Within 91
 
Foreign Language: A Friend, Perhaps a Mentor 96
 
Zapping Broca's Area 97
 
More Monkey Business 98
 
Chapter 3: Middles 101
 
A Wizard's Tale 101
 
Purgatory 101
 
Descent 103
 
Ascent 105
 
A Language Without 106
 
(Stories (Within Stories)) 106
 
Order Word 111
 
Easing the Transition 113
 
Magic Tricks 114
 
A Language Within 122
 
Implicit Learning 122
 
Animation 122
 
Napoleon's Risky Maneuver 126
 
Noughts and Crosses 131
 
Round Stories; Square Frames 132
 
Languages Without 133
 
Illusions of Mind 133
 
Dactylonomy: Digits to Digital 134
 
Externalization 137
 
The Spark of the Pascaline 139
 
The Best of all Possible Languages 141
 
Automatons 144
 
King Ludd 147
 
The Song for the Luddites 149
 
Languages Within 152
 
The Machine Within 152
 
Potions for the Mind 152
 
Science and Schools 154
 
Mindset 156
 
Metacognition 158
 
Deliberate Practice 160
 
Second Language
 
Acquisition 160
 
Krash Course 162
 
Fluency and Expertise 164
 
What It Feels Like to Upgrade Your Own Wetware 166
 
Meta-teaching 168
 
A Universal Educational Language 169
 
The Loop of Being Human 173
 
Chapter 4: Ends 175
 
A Wizard's Tale 176
 
Learn to Teach; Teach to Learn 176
 
Montage 178
 
Loop Back 183
 
The Beginning 184
 
A Language Without 184
 
Our Road Thus Far 184
 
Definitions 185
 
Becoming t

About the author

STEPHEN R. FOSTER, PHD, is a researcher, author, and co-founder of several social enterprises with a mission to teach teachers how to teach coding. An expert in video game end-user programming and computer science education, Stephen has coded to generate peer-reviewed scientific results, coded to build educational technology solutions for teachers and students, and coded to bootstrap educational startups and non-profit organizations. LINDSEY D. HANDLEY, PHD, is a teacher, researcher, entrepreneur, author, and co-founder, with Stephen Foster, of ThoughtSTEM and MetaCoders.org, which have helped hundreds of thousands of beginning coders. She is a passionate advocate of both using science to improve education and of improving the teaching of science worldwide.

Summary

The definitive resource for understanding what coding is, designed for educators and parents

Even though the vast majority of teachers, parents, and students understand the importance of computer science in the 21st century, many struggle to find appropriate educational resources. Don't Teach Coding: Until You Read This Book fills a gap in current knowledge by explaining exactly what coding is and addressing why and how to teach the subject. Providing a historically grounded, philosophically sensitive description of computer coding, this book helps readers understand the best practices for teaching computer science to their students and their children.

The authors, experts in teaching computer sciences to students of all ages, offer practical insights on whether coding is a field for everyone, as opposed to a field reserved for specialists. This innovative book provides an overview of recent scientific research on how the brain learns coding, and features practical exercises that strengthen coding skills. Clear, straightforward chapters discuss a broad range of questions using principles of computer science, such as why we should teach students to code and is coding a science, engineering, technology, mathematics, or language? Helping readers understand the principles and issues of coding education, this book:
* Helps those with no previous background in computer science education understand the questions and debates within the field
* Explores the history of computer science education and its influence on the present
* Views teaching practices through a computational lens
* Addresses why many schools fail to teach computer science adequately
* Explains contemporary issues in computer science such as the language wars and trends that equate coding with essential life skills like reading and writing

Don't Teach Coding: Until You Read This Book is a valuable resource for K-12 educators in computer science education and parents wishing to understand the field to help chart their children's education path.

Product details

• Authors: Stephen Foster, Stephen R Foster, Stephen R. Foster, Stephen R. Handley Foster, Lindse Handley, Lindsey Handley, Lindsey D Handley, Lindsey D. Handley, Lindsey D. Foster Handley, Lindsey Foster Handley
• Publisher: Wiley, John and Sons Ltd
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 30.04.2020
• EAN: 9781119602620
• ISBN: 978-1-119-60262-0
• No. of pages: 288
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > Education > School education, didactics, methodology; Natural sciences, medicine, IT, technology > IT, data processing > IT; Informatik, Programmierung, programmieren, computer science, Allg. Informatik