Introductory Computer Science Lessons--Take Heart!

Judy, I'm unclear whether your primary concern is (a) that KSC's presumptions may be flawed or (b) that some of us are likely already doing what KSC call for.

Granted that (b) is almost certainly true, given the wide variation in teaching styles and philosophies of those teaching introductory programming courses, let's consider (a) for a moment.

I like the idea that there is a cognitive/metacognitive stage issue, and I believe Mark speaks to that: the reversal of guided instruction vs. minimally guided instruction in reading, in particular.

I find myself wondering what a typical person would do, given no prior knowledge of automobiles, if faced with a car for the first time. Presumably, our mastery level goals are for the person to learn to drive (skill), to feel confident driving (affect), and to know the common syntax (dashboard gauges, road signs) and semantics (low fuel, merge right) of driving (knowledge). But what are the cognitive barriers to novices developing those? Finding the fuel tank and understanding the role of gasoline; finding the ignition and understanding the use of keys; realizing the correlation of steering wheel movement to wheel movement; the use of the pedal system; gears; etc etc etc.

Does the mastery level task of driving parallel the novice task of learning enough about the car to be able to drive?

I think KSC speaks to the latter: (a) there are start-up costs to learning about/how to do X that are unlike actually doing X and (b) those costs are difficult to address without guidance.

We tell the novice to put the gear shifter in park, put their foot on the break, and the key in the ignition, before turning the key specifically because they would have a very hard time stumbling upon that combination on their own.

I am an alumnus of Colorado School of Mines in the Class of 1962. During the last almost 50 years I have felt, and bragged to others, that the cornerstone of my training at CSM was being taught how to use the index of a book. I do not have problems with my long-term memory, but, in the fields of engineering and computer programming, knowing how to find the answer has been more important than having it memorized. How else can one make any new discoveries?

In summary, I see nothing wrong with your premises. Your students are fortunate to have you.

Please see my comment blog 45725. thx.