Pedagogy

What is one thing you can change about the way you teach PL to make it more accessible?

The field of programming languages, in both its theoretical and applied disciplines across academia and industry, is missing Black people. Plain and simple. There is strong evidence that computer science instructors subscribe to a bimodal model of student aptitude, disproportionately assuming Black students incapable of learning their material. This attitude amongst instructors, combined with the assumption that there is inherently a high theoretical threshold to work in programming languages, undoubtedly contributes to the unacceptable absence of Black students and scholars of PL.

While there have been efforts to change the way “CS 101” is taught to an extent, no such efforts have been made to change the pedagogy of “PL 101.” This track is intended for anyone who teaches programming language theory, functional programming, or another relevant subject in any capacity. Through challenging your assumptions about your own instruction, you will hopefully arrive at a concrete way you might be able to improve it. (See readings for ideas!)

Reading List

Programming Paradigms and Beyond. This document covers introductory programming paradigm teaching methods. Skim any of the sections that appeal to you, but please make sure to read §4 (intro), §5.2, §6.3, §7.4, and §8.
Evidence That Computer Science Grades Are Not Bimodal. This article deconstructs the perception of bimodal performance among CS students, i.e. that there are some students with innate ability and some without. The study is fairly short, and it‘s worth reading all of it for familiarity with the methodology. If short on time, please read §1, §4, §5, and §6.
Human Languages. This is an exercise taken from the Fall 2019 introductory programming languages course at Brown. Read through the assignment statement and consider what you think is useful (or not) about its structure. What does it do to address the issues enumerated in the first reading?