James, a Ph.D. student in computer science at the University of Mississippi in Oxford, is teaching an intro Java course, and he has realized that he has no idea how difficult his class is:
I recently assigned a homework assignment that required the following: Using the Java Graphics library, draw three shapes on the screen (like a square, a rectangle, and a circle). Make each shape a different color.About a third of the class was unable to complete the assignment.
About a third of the class turned in exactly what I assigned.
About a third of the class started giving me their own artwork, recreations of classical art, or art work from video games. One student gave me a pixel-perfect recreation of a screen shot of Space Invaders, and another student turned in a program that displayed the original box art of Super Mario Bros..
Some of my students are turning in beautifully crafted programs using language constructs that I haven’t taught in class nor are found in the textbook. Clearly, they don’t need my help learning Java.
But then there’s the other third of my class. A student sent me an e-mail with this line: “You might as well be teaching Chinese to a monkey.”
That line is depressing. The more that I teach computer programming, the more I wonder if programming is something that you just “get” and can’t really be taught.
About two hours after assigning the most recent homework assignment, two students came by my office to say that the assignment was too difficult and probably could not be completed in two weeks. At the same time, a third student came to my office to turn it in completed.
Every time I get an indication that the class is too difficult, I get another indication that it’s too simple. I have no idea how difficult my class is.
Of course, we already knew that some people have an aptitude for computer programming and others don’t. In fact, just a few powerhouse questions can reveal who has that aptitude.