alice-teacher What's the most effective way to teach Alice?

[Elizabeth Mirecki]

I use Alice with grades 7,8, & 9.

In grade 7 I use various tutorials, some self created, a lot from Duke U,
and some from CMU workshops and textbook. They work through the tutorials
as self study with me there to answer questions, point out CS concepts etc.
After they have completed a 4 part Princess and Dragon story, they begin to
create stories of their own, writing story boards and pseudo code. After
that they return to the tutorials to learn specific topics like functions,
changing scenes, etc. Then another create your own project incorporating
those newly learned objectives.

Sometimes it can get quite chaotic with 20 students all of different levels
of competency and pace, but I get better results when I don't drag them
along or slow them down. It also allows for customization within the same
concepts. I use an excel spreadsheet to keep track of everything.

Once the student is in 8th grade, we continue to build off of what we
learned in Alice the previous year. Now the tutorials and projects are
bigger and more complex.

In 9th grade we switch over to Alice 3. Here again I use a combination of
self study and directed study. Once we switch over and introduce Netbeans
and Java it becomes more directed.


On Friday, February 7, 2014, Bryant Lazenby <lazenbyb at sedalia.k12.mo.us>
wrote:

>  I am interested in this information as well. Currently, my high
> schoolers work through Alice as an independent study course. But I would
> like to know what everyone else does as well.
>
> Thanks,
> Bryant Lazenby
>
>  Sent from my iPhone
>
> On Feb 7, 2014, at 4:37 PM, "Kelly Cockrell" <
> kcockrell at themeadowsschool.org<javascript:_e(%7B%7D,'cvml','kcockrell at themeadowsschool.org');>>
> wrote:
>
>   Hi there:
>
>  I teach Alice to 7th graders as part of a computer coding class.
>
>  I am curious to hear from other middle/highschool teachers about how you
> teach with Alice.  Do you have kids work through lessons as self-study?  Do
> you walk through the lessons with them step-by-step on a smart board?  Do
> they  go through a lesson and then create  a demonstrative world of what
> they have learned?    What have you found to be the most effective?
>
>  Any information is very much appreciated.
>
>
>  Thanks so much,
>
>  Kelly Cockrell
> Computer Science and Technology Teacher
> The Meadows School
> Las Vegas, NV 89128
>
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