The purpose of lab demonstration is to help the students learn how to write programs. Lab demonstration involves teaching and explanation. If a student is having problems with their program you should try to discover where their understanding is in error and provide an explanation that will allow the student to achieve a correct understanding. The range of problems experienced by students is large and varied and this is one of the reasons that lab demonstration is interesting.
The lab exercises require the students to apply what they have learned in the programming lectures and so involve active learning. The labs should problem solving, program design as well as learning the syntax of the programming languages taught in the lecture course.
You should collect these from the First Year Laboratory Organiser Peter Cutler from room 220A. He will prepare and distribute them twice a term.
You can get these from the First Year Laboratory Organiser Peter Cutler from room 220A. Please ask him if you need a set.
Lab demonstration involves helping students write successful programs in the labs. If a student needs assistance with their program they will put up their hand and you should go over to help them. The type of problem a student may have can vary greatly. The problem could be simple to solve (e.g. the student has forgotten a keyword). It could be complex (e.g. the student has written a program full of bugs and asks why it doesn't work). The first thing you need to do is discover what the student's problem is. You then need to help the student understand and solve their problem. If the problem is complex you need to avoid telling the student the answer in a direct way but should attempt to get the student to work out the answer for themself. In many cases you can do this by asking directed questions. In other cases you may wish to give a brief explanation coupled with questions to check whether the student has understood. It is often a good idea to get the student to explain their program to you. Often when they do this they discover the error themselves. If you think a student has serious conceptual problems with basic programming concepts you should suggest that they go to the surgery sessions (organised twice a week at 12.00). Below are some suggestions but you will certainly discover many other ways to help the students learn how to program.
The student should raise their hand to get your attention. You should also walk around the lab from time to time so that you are available if a student asks you a question.
Students ask a range of questions in the labs. They may have technical questions. If the question is straightfowardly lab-related you can answer it. If it is more of a systems nature you should refer the student to the CSG help desk or ask them to email help.
Syntax errors are usually pinpointed by the compiler and are the easiest problems to solve. Hopefully if you point them out the student will correct their program themselves. Writing program with syntax errors can be frustrating for beginners especially when their program contains multiple errors. This is simply part of learning to program and they should understand that they will write programs with fewer syntax errors as they learn to program.
This at least is a partially working program. You need to find out why it doesn't work. If possible you should show the student how to debug their program using methods such as structured walkthrough or the insertion of debugging code. You can also point out directly where the error(s) are but if you do this you should explain how you worked out where the problem was. Once you are talking to the student you can get them to explain how they designed their program as it is possible that this doesn't fit the problem to be solved.
If you discover that the student doesn't understand the specification you should discuss the specification with them. If possible you should ask the student if they have a copy of the specification and go over the main points with them. It is important that the students understand the problem given in the exercise specification. Once they have an understanding they need to design a program and then write compile and test their solution. If you are helping a student you should try to find out if they have a clear idea of the problem. If they don't you should get them to read the specification and then dicuss the problem with them. If they haven't read the specification carefully they should be encouraged to do so.
You should use the tutorial support system as described in the UTA introductory page.