CS352: Computer Science Pedagogy - code.org Lightning Talk (10 Points)

Assignment Goals

The goals of this assignment are:
  1. To present a concept of computing to a broad audience

Background Reading and References

Please refer to the following readings and examples offering templates to help get you started:

The Assignment

In this lab, you will develop and present an 8-minute lightning talk, introducing and teaching a specific widget from Code.org’s CSP Widgets page (https://code.org/educate/csp/widgets) to the class.

Lightning Talk Presentation

Begin by choosing and familiarizing yourself with one of the widgets provided. Then, write up a brief outline for a lightning-talk style lesson that you will present to the class. Include time to introduce the widget, to allow students to explore the widget, and to discuss the key takeaways of the lesson. Budget time for each, in minutes, as part of your outline. Finally, include one take-home question about the activity for the class to answer.

Each of you should write up and submit this individually. As a group, share your responses and develop a single unified plan for your 8-minute lightning talk. During your presentation, all students in your group should have a speaking role.

Suggestions

Here are a few recommendations to help you plan your presentation:

  1. Be creative! Your goal is to convey ideas about a concept of computing in a way that makes sense to a broad audience. Assume that your class doesn’t have much computing experience yet.
  2. Be engaging! The more your students actively participate, the more they’ll remember about your presentation.
  3. Have a goal in mind. What are the couple of big ideas you want your class to take away from the experience? Write those down, and focus on them. You have precious little time to share with your class, so pick just a few things to get across and try to drive those.
  4. Plan for success: how will you know that your students understood your concept and presentation?

Looking Ahead

Pay particular attention to the presentations of your peers! You will be asked to reflect upon each of them as follows:

Student Questions

Each group will generate one or more questions about their topic as part of their presentation. You should answer those questions and include them in your reflection.

Peer Feedback

Each student will be assigned a few presentations to take careful notes about. You will provide feedback to those groups as part of your reflection. A few items to consider are:

  1. What was one thing that the group you observed did particularly well?
  2. What did you learn or find most inspiring about the presentation?
  3. What is one way that the group could revise their presentation to be more effective?

Submission

Submit your presentation materials and answers to the questions raised by your peers.

Please refer to the Style Guide for code quality examples and guidelines.