Some of you may recall that I told Ashley about rubber ducking. Now she has bought a fleet of small rubber ducks for her entire coding in biology class so every student gets one (all typically students who have never programmed/are often very intimidated by learning to code). They're pretty excited.
This may be my biggest contribution to the future of coding.
I love that this resonated. You can read one of Ashley's open access papers on the experiences of students learning to program in biology here!! She has designed every piece of the discipline-based programming curricula in biosci at UCSD with incredible care and service to these students.
@analog_ashley @shom @grimalkina
I'm not a programmer and hadn't heard of this before, so had to search. So sweet.
I know from experience as the best maths student at my secondary school (unpaid) and supervising undergraduates as a postgrad (paid) that teaching is the best way to consolidate one's own understanding.
I've heard that for little kids, reading a story to a dog is great.
This is the first time I have come across the idea being applied to a "student" that isn't even alive.
@regordane @analog_ashley @shom @grimalkina
Yes!
From personal experience, I agree that teaching improves one's own understanding of a topic.
In my case, I taught "C" language programming at a local community college while in the US Air Force and it helped me secure my first civilian job after my service.
8- )
@analog_ashley @shom @grimalkina
Wow! I've seen some references to "rubber ducky debugging" and this thread prompted me to "look it up"!
As a long-time computer software developer, "rubber ducky" resonates with my personal experience, although I used my colleagues instead of a "desk assistant".
E.g., I encounter a problem and can not make any progress. I start explaining the problem to them and, half-way through, I discover my next step.
Several of us would do this often enough that we graciously listened to each other until the "light-bulb flash"!
I had attributed this to engaging different parts of my brain which only speaking & hearing seemed to activate.
This is super cool to learn that this is a common phenomenon, so much so that some book-writers have published the "rubber ducky" as a "desk assistant"!
I imagine that "pairs programming" overlaps this approach.
Thanks for sharing this!
8- )
Cheers, Bob
@analog_ashley @shom @grimalkina
How wonderful that they had their "desk assistant" with them!
8- D
I am so glad to read that this technique has helped non-CS students develop their programming skills!
:- )
Dr. Cat Hicks
shom 🐧📷🤿🏔️🪚✊🏽
Ashley Juavinett
Hilary
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