Teaching notes

Upd: Recursion is a great topic to get kids interested.

It appears to be naturally beautiful/novel, even for those not yet into cs. I wonder how it felt for the first guy who discovered it.

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Ask them what they do in their free time. Find out what appeals to them. “What do you want to get out of this class?” Show them the promise of this class i.e. pitch the outcomes

How to motivate?

Traditionally, people all progress from

• authority approval (e.g. parents giving attention when they do right)
• peer approval (parents matter less. more about peer recognition)
• self actualization (internalized the desire for greatness. being good at cp is part of their identity, so they put in the hard work because that’s just what the masters do). To move them through these stages, they have to put in the time, develop a habit, and get better. We can start out rewarding with praise and points and prizes for concrete tasks Then make their peers also consider status to come from being a good learner. Then hope they leave the class having internalized cp in their identity.

Concrete task so it’s benchmarkable and turns into a habit that continues when prize is no longer there.

• Completing a lesson
• Solving a problem a day Then points exchanged for personalized prizes of different prices. Choose b/w (is there gonna be food for tdy)
• Candy or food
• Little toys like bouncy ball etc. (I can prob find a few at home collecting dust. See if u have any) Maybe ask them what items appeal and price it high