How Should I Teach a Basic Programming Course?

riverman writes "I have been 'provisioned' at the school where I work to teach a new Computer Science/Programming course. I'm supposed to be teaching everything from the very-very basics (i.e. where that myspace thing is in your computer monitor, and how it knows who your friends are) to the easy-advanced (i.e. PHP classes and Python/Google App Engine). I'm an experienced programmer, but I'm not sure where to start — I could easily assume that my students know something basic they don't. Are there any resources on the internet that could help me find a solid curriculum? What are your suggestions?" I'm sure many of us have gone through intro-level programming courses of some sort; what are some things your teacher or professor did that worked well, and what didn't work at all?

Comments

I remember...

[Anonymous Coward]

...my first class in programming: the teacher wrote "x=x+1" on the blackboard, and my reaction was "Huh? That is unsolvable!"

Re:You need to narrow the scope

[theshowmecanuck]

110 Teach Basic 120 End

Teach them basic hygene.

[bennomatic]

We need to change the stereotypes of future generations of programmers!

Re:Task based learning

[Alex Belits]

(Considering I'm almost 30, I program computers for a good living, and I've never used it, I'm thinking: it ain't.)

Considering I'm almost 40, I program computers for a living and have to use it all the time, I am thinking you are a some kind of web developer.