Abstract: Inspired by martial arts, I have used their philosophies as a template for teaching Computer Science. One philosophy, 'beginner's mind', suggests thinking as if you were a novice; including the wonder from learning something for the first time. Differentiated learning supports these possibilities from learning by presenting concepts through different avenues. This idea expands beyond contextual learning into providing novel exercises for students to complete. A CS student can expect to regularly complete some form of a 'programming assignment' within a course. While these exercises are necessary, novel exercises can be used to give students additional practice on a concept before attempting these traditional assessments.

 

In this talk, I will present my teaching philosophy, examples of my work, and how my life has shaped my teaching style. Because my current research interests are in the creation of novel exercises for college-level CS courses, I will present some of the different types of exercises, as well as their importance.

Short Bio: Adam Gaweda is a Ph.D. student at NC State University. His current research interests are in Computer Science Education, where he is looking into novel techniques for teaching computer science topics. He holds a Master degree in Computer Science and Information Systems from UNC-Wilmington, where his primarily research focus was in facial and gesture recognition. In addition, he holds a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science and a Bachelor of Arts in Theater. Prior to attending to NC State, Adam was a Lecturer at UNC-Wilmington and Lead Software Development Instructor for Cape Fear Community College. Outside of academia, Adam has been training martial arts for 12 years (Second degree Black Belt in Aikido and Purple Belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu). He's also been hit by a truck.