Jack Reichelt
As CTO of Kumo Study – a study and productivity management tool for people with ADHD – and with plenty of varied consulting under my belt, I have a focus on how tech can help other fields progress. I firmly believe that every topic in the world has something interesting about it, and love to try and discover what that is. I love to learn what the problems are and how I can actually make an impact, ideally with as simple a program as possible.
I’ve been using Python for years, working in both the professional and education sectors, and have focused on bringing the power of Python to everyone.
@jackreichelt.bsky.social
He/Him or They/Them
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When teaching computer science, many students stuggle with the wide variety of concepts. One week you're learning programming, the next you're learning cybersecurity, then you're learning about image file formats. It can be hard to see how these topics are related, or if they even are related!
Without sufficient context, these are just abstract topics, disconnected from reality and from each other, with rote memorisation the only tool at hand to help you get things right on the exam. With context, however, things start to make sense. You understand how the topics relate, how these technologies developed and evolved, and can derive solutions rather than memorising them.
This context – "why" is the technology the way it is? – fundamentally changes how students connect with the subject, but with curriculums so jam packed it can be hard to justify the time to go into this level of detail. I found, however, that when I did cover the "why", I spent less time on revision, more time on discussion, and students had better results.
I want to share with you a few examples of how I did this, what happened when I discussed those in class, and how I go about finding the "why" when I don't already know what it is. Hopefully, I can give you some new tools for your own teaching, and – critically – explain the "why" behind these tools too.