Scaffolded Instructional Support for Teaching AP Computer Science

The best scaffolded instruction addresses the needs of your students, and is why every Codio resource is editable.  In Codio you can add, edit or remove content and even change the layout.

Codio’s approach to instructional scaffolding is based on both cooperative and hands-on  learning and authentic assessment. Our comprehensive resources and flexible coding platform allows for ongoing opportunities for students to engage in real-world coding challenges while building authentic critical-thinking and problem-solving skills.

To avoid becoming overwhelmed and to help students build a foundation of confidence and success, Codio presents it’s materials at a manageable pace.  Students are never given large chunks of code that could result in frustration and an unnecessary cognitive overload.

At the end of chapters, Codio asks students to write code implementing the recently introduced topics. Instead of one large project, students work through five smaller problems, each one harder than the previous.  These exercises clearly lay out what is expected of the student. Example input and output is provided and students can test code as often as they want before submitting for evaluation.

At the end of each chapter, Codio provides a series of labs that take students deeper into the topics covered.  There students have the opportunity to perform more complicated tasks or create interesting projects like command line applications, building a GUI, or coding animations.  Each lab ends with a coding challenge, evaluating students on the topic presented.

To further knowledge construction, Codio Resources presents the student with low stakes opportunities to explore and “play” with the goal of letting students see for themselves how the code works without being penalized.  No longer about right or wrong, students take ideas and put them into practice while becoming curious and confident programmers.

Codio’s AP CS Resources include the option to use Turtle graphics which students love!  Turtle graphics allow students to take code, which is inherently abstract, and translate it to something more concrete and immediate. Commands given to the turtle graphic are drawn to the screen and repeated based on the number of iterations set in a loop, resulting in an instantaneous response and amazing geometric patterns. One small change in code can result in a drastically different pattern.

Codio resources integrate Python Tutor code visualizer to allow students to see “under the hood” of their code. The visualizer also works with our Java and C++ resources. Python Tutor provides arrows to show students which line of code is being executed and state of the variables.

Codio also offers unique scaffolded instructional opportunities for collaboration, meaningful dialog and problem-solving through Code Commenting, Paired Programming and Group Assignments, all of which utilize supportive social interaction to support students in the learning process and through the zone of proximal development (ZPD), the area between the student’s individual problem-solving ability and the level that can be attained through collaborating with knowledgeable peers.