Open Ended Lesson Plans and Teaching Code

After nearly 7 years of working with schools, it seems clear to me that the best way to teach code, is with an open ended lesson plan. Here’s why:

• Learners will learn at different speeds
• Different schools have different schedules
• Rigid lesson plans will inventively break

Overly rigid lesson plans can easily be derailed … I hear about it all the time. Once that happens, teachers are scrambling to get things back on track. The other approach is to use a flexible lesson plan that allows for variability in the classroom:

• Student misses a few days.
• Student is talented and moving fast
• Student is struggling and needs more time
• School gets cancelled a few days for whatever reasons …

A curriculum designed for reality

Instead of a set of highly structured lesson plans that can be hard to implement, we provide a fun and outcome focused set of courses that give students the freedom to learn at their own pace.

… A student missing a few days school, working more quickly or more slowly than other students, won’t break the flow of the classroom.

The goal is that students learn to code, and that they understand the basic concepts behind the code. Luckily, this can be achieved very easily and early on in the courses. For students who are high performing and have zipped ahead of the class, you have plenty of course material in StudioWeb, where they can learn another language (Python, SQL, PHP) or build more elaborate web sites and apps.

Thanks,

Stefan Mischook
StudioWeb.com