The conversational classroom

  • Authors:

  • William M. Waite;Michele H. Jackson;Amer Diwan

  • Affiliations:

  • University of Colorado at Boulder, Boulder, CO;University of Colorado at Boulder, Boulder, CO;University of Colorado at Boulder, Boulder, CO

  • Venue:
  • SIGCSE '03 Proceedings of the 34th SIGCSE technical symposium on Computer science education
  • Year:
  • 2003

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Abstract

Concepts taught in large, lower-division computer science courses are carefully explained in standard textbooks. Thus we hypothesized that the classroom experience should not consist primarily of a restatement of those explanations by the professor. Instead, it should provide an opportunity for the students to learn through a process of conversation among themselves and with the professor. We were able to establish such a process in a sophomore-level course with an enrollment of 116 students. This change led to a doubling of the percentage of A and A- grades compared to historical values.