CIC: Semester 2, Week 6: code comprehension

This week we’re looking at another aspect of teaching programming – code comprehension. The key idea here is that learners should be explicitly taught to read and understand code. This is in contrast to previous approaches to programming instruction where it was assumed that the primary activity for novices should be reading code. 

1. Read the Raspberry Pi short article about code comprehension to give you an overview of the topic: 
2. Time for a deeper dive! Read the article about code comprehension by Donaldson and Cutts (2018). If there are sections you don’t understand, highlight them as you’ll have a chance to talk to the author later this week. 
3. Write in your own words: what is the notional machine? Why is it a useful concept? Add your writing to your learning log or Piazza. 
4. Attend the online tutorial (on Wednesday) to hear one of the authors (Peter Donaldson) talk about his work and see a demo of the TRACS technique. Please prepare questions to ask Peter in advance.  
5. After the online tutorial: practice the TRACS technique by completing an example worksheet. If you couldn’t attend the class to see Peter’s demo, watch the video first.