Teaching Python to the young and impressionable

by Georgina Wilcox and Katie Bell

Note

Missed most of this talk. :(

National Computer Science School: http://ncss.edu.au

Challenges

• Laptops issued to students are so locked down the students can’t install programming languages

  • They use silverlight
  • The also use a JavaScript version of Python

• Sometimes the level of knowledge from some of the students can be both intimidating and discouraging.

Teaching CS in Australia

• Not enough people are teaching programming in high school
• We’re doing a good job of supporting students who already know how to program
• The students who start out with nothing, have a (very) hard time catching up.