Episode 6: Gaining a Deeper Understanding of Python With Coding Challenges

Kelly and Sean are back this in this week's episode to talk about the role of coding challenges for student understanding. Coding challenges are teacher-defined coding problems that students tackle individually or in groups with more than one possible solution. The advantages of these challenges compared to passive learning include deeper retention of skills and knowledge, opportunities for social and emotional education, and increased student confidence through subject mastery. What are coding challenges? Coding challenges are teacher-defined coding problems that students tackle individually or in groups with more than one possible solution. Challenges are time-bound, i.e. they must be solved within a set period of time and range in complexity from simple code snippets to complete programs. For example: * A 5-minute challenge to add comments to existing code * A 3-day challenge to create a game in Python * A standing challenge to solve a complex math problem by the end of the course