Teaching Python

Kelly and Sean stream their show on Twitch as the world moves to quarantines and distance learning. What does this mean for teaching and coding? Learn about the things we took home from our classroom and how we are planning to teach in this new COVID-19 quarantined world.

20 Maalis 202050min

Trying to find an easier way to get students excited about programming? Feeling stuck with the PyGame library? Paul Craven, maintainer of the Arcade Python library joins us to talk about using game design to teach programming. Arcade is a easy to use Python library that lets you quickly create games using OpenGL and a simple API that's perfect for beginners. Better still, the Arcade library includes a wide variety of sample programs and comprehensive documentation that is written for new programmers. Whether you want to make a platformer, recreate the Asteroids games of your youth, or teach students how to make a roguelike adventure game, the Arcade library may be a great way to start. Paul is the chair of the Computer Science department at Simpson College in Iowa. He started programming in Python more than 10 years ago and has used nearly every game library in Python to teach introductory programming. Special Guest: Paul Craven.

2 Maalis 202041min

It's not always easy to be a Python teacher. Whether it's trying to find the right words to explain something, handling severe frustration, building perseverance, or losing students while coding together, Python teachers are facing problems beyond just the code. Sean and Kelly discuss five of the things that frequently go wrong in the classroom and how we handle it. Helping the naturally gifted- keeping up; keeping them learning Developing the vocab that allows students to solve problems Losing students during code-alongs Kids stuck in Turtle module Getting past the frustration level - waiting on the “click” As a special bonus, we talk about a few of the new arrivals in our classroom, including the newest LEGO Education Robot, the Spike Prime!

3 Helmi 202052min

Peter Chan is a 4th grade teacher in Quebec, Canada. In addition to using Python in his classroom, Peter also employs maker techniques, math exploration, and English language skills. Kelly and Sean talk with him about how Python can be used as part of a decentralized teaching style where students are more self-directed and have more agency and control in their learning direction. Special Guest: Peter Chan.

12 Tammi 202054min

In this episode, Kelly and Sean explore the idea that everyone should learn to code-- not to become a programmer but for so much more! How do we continue to foster an interest in coding for those kids that are not so interested in computer science?

18 Joulu 201938min

In celebration of the great retail holiday of Black Friday, Kelly and Sean share their holiday buying guide for computer science teachers, including 3d printers, #PythonHardware, and books. Also this week, Bob and Julian from the PyBites website are making their Newbie Bites 40% off, with half of the proceeds going to the Teaching Python podcast! Check it out on their latest newsletter post (https://mailchi.mp/pybit.es/pybites-black-friday-2019)

28 Marras 201916min

Kelly and Sean interview Eric Matthes, author of Python Crash Course (https://amzn.to/2Okgzr3), about how he began programming, what led him to teaching, and the important lessons from Python to be learned both inside and outside of the classroom. This episode is sponsored by Real Python. As a special offer for listeners and friends of the show, you can get a free copy of the video course Cool New Things in Python 3.8 (https://www.realpython.com/teachingpython) when you visit realpython.com/teachingpython (https://www.realpython.com/teachingpython). Note: there are a limited number of free copies available for the next few weeks, so get yours now! Special Guest: Eric Matthes.

25 Marras 201956min

This week, Kelly and Sean embark on a journey with Twilio Developer Evangelist Kevin Whinnery using TwilioQuest to learn more Python in the classroom. What is TwilioQuest? Learn to code and lead your intrepid crew on a mission to save The Cloud in TwilioQuest (https://www.twilio.com/quest), a PC role-playing game inspired by classics of the 16-bit era. Free forever, and available now for Windows, Mac, and Linux. Players will learn how to code in Python, set up a developer environment, use Git to contrubute to open source projects, and access Twilio APIs to communicate using code.

20 Marras 201943min