Resources for Teaching C to High School Students?

mctk asks: "I'm a high school teacher who, disappointed with the lack of computer science in school, has promised to teach a few motivated students programming after school. As an enthusiastic novice with three semesters of C under my belt and a few side projects worth of experience, I feel competent yet ignorant. I would really appreciate suggestions for resources on C that are written to be accessible to high school students and contain lots of ideas for activities. Perhaps you've had success with a series of books that spans beginner to advanced? Do you have any activities you would recommend? How would you map a student's first year of coding? I welcome any and all suggestions. While we're on the subject, is there a brace style that is most standard in the industry?"

Comments

Don't teach the language

[simm1701]

Don't try to teach the language, any more than you teach someone how to use a pen when writing.

Teach the mentality, the methodology of problem solving.

Teach basic algorithms, data structures and coding theory - give them an understanding of where the libraries they are suing will come from.

More importantly for modern world working teach colaberation, give them a real group project to do, each of them writing different interfaces or different parts of an interface for a whole program (something like a simple game such as tron is ideal for this)

By doing all of this the language becomes almost incidental - which is really what you want, who knows what the demand for C, C++, javam C# will be in a few years time, but learning the right methodology and colaberative practices will stand them in good stead for years to come.

Re:Don't teach the language

[Bones3D_mac]

I definitely agree with the parent post. Without understanding things like basic algebra or how to plan out an algorithm before even coding it, you won't get past "Hello, World" with most of them. You can't assume they'll already know this stuff or have any programming experience.

Try a few exercises away from the computer where the students can learn without the pressure of a blinking cursor demanding some kind of input from them right off the bat. Look at things that are popular in their culture such as games and have them try to break the rules of each game down to instructional steps, as well think about the thought process that goes into planning a move, and then explain it in instructional terms... all of it in plain english.

Another good one, is learning how to sort various forms of data, along with the numerous ways one can achieve a sort (such as the bubble sort). A great physical example of sorting are things like the Towers of Hanoi puzzle (the one with the disks and three pegs), or a deck of playing cards.

Pushing an entire programming language on someone before they know the basics of how programs function will only scare or frustrate them... especially when they have the prospect of a failing grade looming overhead.

Get them thinking outside the box before putting them *in* one.

I know I'll get modded down for this:

[kestasjk]

But don't teach them C. Teach them a language that focuses on how to structure programs without bogging them down with memory management, pointers, etc, etc. A firm understanding of OO would also be much more useful and much easier to grasp.
There's a reason there are so few resources on teaching C to high school students; it wasn't meant to be taught to high school students.

Re:I know I'll get modded down for this:

[AlXtreme]

Remember that these are kids. More than enough time to learn the nitty-gritty malloc-details or pointer arithmetic. Programming should be fun in order to capture their attention.

I agree with the OP, C would be a terrible choice for first-time programmers IMHO. You need to keep them motivated, and that works best when the reward-to-effort ratio is high. Python would be a great choice: learn them the basics (forced indenting! \o/), and introduce them to stuff like pygame which allow nice results with very little code. At the end of the semester they would be able to make small stand-alone games. Kids like flashy things.

For a follow-up course, you could choose to go C/C++. But it would only be of use to those who will eventually get a CS/EE degree, which already (should) have enough courses on C.

Re:I know I'll get modded down for this:

[iamdrscience]

I disagree, I think Python is a spectacular first language. When you're teaching kids to program it helps to keep them away from the nitty gritty at first to keep their interest. Having to learn a lot of foreign concepts before being able to program something fun is what turns a lot of people off to programming, python gives the instant gratification but is also powerful and flexible enough to teach the concepts of programming. Once a student is in the programming mindset you can move them on to more complex/powerful languages like C/C++ and Java.

You need more...

[ForestGrump]

You need more of 3 things.
1. Funding to buy letters.
2. A better lesson plan so you can aim for something higher than a class of C students.
3. A tech savvy room of students.

1. For a class of 30, I would suggest 10 As, 20 Bs, 10 Cs, 5 Ds and 2 Fs. Yes, it doesn't add up to 30, but you should give mostly As and Bs, a couple Cs for those seniors who just want something, anything to take and pass while they transition from HS to college, and the D/Fs are for those who are truly slackers and just don't even give you the half effort.

2. Sorry, I hate to shoot down others, but you seriously want a class of C students? I'm sure administration wouldn't be too happy with that.

3. I hate to lay it to you, but I've seen average college students have a hard time dealing with scripting, and teaching programming is thinking differently to a higher level. You said you want to teach a few motivated students, yet you need to be open to everyone who enrolls. I would suggest you have lower and upper level classes. Lower level will teach the basics of how a computer thinks, and how to write a basic program. Those in the upper level, is more independent study and you're there as their troubleshooter, adviser, and teacher for when they need new concepts and get stuck. And while you're at it, make writing a short paper (maybe 300-1000 words) on the project they did. It's good for them to learn documentation, communication and know you're boss.

Ok, 1 and 2 were a joke, but 3 was serious. If anyone is upset, laugh. it's meant to enlighten your day. god its 3am, and i have a final in 5 hours and i'm only 50% prepared.

Grump.

in high school...

[defy god]

In high school, I took an AP Computer Science class that taught C++. If I understood then what I understand now, learning C++ would have been a whole lot easier. My teacher focused too much on the language instead of concepts.

After several failed attempts at trying to learn how to program, I finally understood basic concepts such as variables, integers, arrays, etc. I then took a more basic computer science class, "Algorithm Design/Problem Solving," that used the book Programming Logic and Design. This book does not use or concentrate on any specific programming language. All our assignments were done in pseudo-code and we had to show the logic of what we wanted accomplished. I have to admit it was a lot easier trying to convey the logic without having to worry about the syntax.

It's been a couple semesters since I've taken that class, without any programming in between, and now I've picked up The C Programming Language. I am currently half way through the book and ,I must say, I finally understand and appreciate the concepts being taught. I wouldn't quite recommend this book to the pure beginner, because it assumes knowledge about basic concepts such as variables, compiling, etc. The book, at a little less than 300 pages, is written and presented much better than the 1000+ page programming books I've run across.

If I were back in high school, I would love to have these concepts introduced at a gradual progression. Basic programming concepts -> Logic & Design w/ pseudo-code -> the actual language of choice using an easy to learn (30 minute intro) compiler. Of course, hindsight is 20/20 and I'm not too sure if I would have paid as much attention to the first two concepts. Since you are teaching in a high school, I take it you have 2 semesters to teach the class. Perhaps dedicate the first half of the first semester with logic. You can have them play different logic games and tie that in with the lessons.

Creating a good foundation makes learning and teaching a whole lot easier.

A free book to learn CS using Python

[bigsmoke]

If you want to teach basic programming skills using Python, there's a very nice free book which can help: How to Think Like a Computer Scientist: Learning with Python