Research-Based Practices for Integrating Pair Programming in the Classroom

Judith Canner, Allison Theobold

Cal State, Monterey Bay, Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo

Overview

  • Pair Programming
  • Establishing Equitable Participation
    • Broken Circles Activity
    • Discussion
    • Pair Programming Activity
    • Discussion
  • Classroom Integration

Access Slides and Activities

bit.ly/uscots-pairs

Ice-Breaker

Find someone with whom you have three things in common (that do not include Statistics / Academia).

Pair Programming History

  • Originated in Computer Science (Beck 2000)
  • Common in academia and industry
  • Pair programming involves two students sitting side-by-side, working on one computer to collaboratively work through a programming problem (Beck, 2000).

Pair Programming

Programmers alternate who is the “driver” and “navigator” (Williams and Kessler, 2002)

  • The Driver is responsible for designing, typing the code, and having control over the shared resource (e.g., computer, mouse, and keyboard)
  • The Navigator is responsible for providing support to identify errors, offer ideas, or opportunities for improvement.

Pair Programming Challenges

  • Status: Group collaborations fall prey to issues of status—the distribution of power among peers (Cohen and Lotan, 1995)

  • Power & Authority: Who speaks and whose voice is are recognized are indicative of power and status (Chiu & Khoo, 2003; Esmonde, 2009; Mulryan, 1994).

  • Marginalized Identities: The oppression students with marginalized identities when collaborating with peers in the mathematics classroom (Leyva et al., 2021) impact the development of students’ mathematical identities (Langer-Osuna, 2011; 2016).

Training Students in Equitable Collaboration

Complex Instruction as a pedagogy focuses on practices that create structures, protocols, and norms that attend to the ways that status characteristics lead to unequal power and participation (Cohen et al., 1997).

Triangle with teacher at top, Student in the left corner and Content in the right corner, with two-way arrows pointing between each. An arrow pointing from the Teacher to the middle of the arrow between Content and Student states 'Manage'.

Complex Instruction

Develop autonomy of and interdependence of small groups through the use of norms, roles and other structures of participation

Provide curricular activities that are open-ended, rich in multiple abilities, and support learning important math concepts and skills central to a big idea.

Attending to the status of individuals through instructor who manages status and holds individuals and small groups accountable for participation and understanding.

Activity 1: Broken Circles

Broken Circles

Goal

Your group is finished once everyone has a complete circle.


Rules

  1. No talking or other noises!
  2. No pointing or hand signals!
  3. No taking pieces. You may only give pieces to others.

Broken Circles Discussion

  • What do you think this game was about? What was its purpose?

  • What did your group did that made you cooperate more successfully?

  • What did your group did that made cooperation harder?

  • What are some behaviors that could be implemented in the future to make cooperation easier?

Establishing Norms

We can’t just say “you need to work together”, we need to say “you work together by…”

  • Not doing the task for another person

  • Not just giving an answer but an explanation

  • Providing concise sharing / description of what is being done and reasoning for why it’s being done

Equitable Participaiton Training Procedures

What behaviors encourage equitable participation?

  • Say your own ideas

  • Listen to others

  • Give everyone a chance to talk

  • Ask others for their ideas

  • Give reasons for your ideas

  • Discuss (and be open to!) ways your ideas might differ

Evaluating Group Participation

How do we know our group is engaging in equitable participation?

  • Is everyone talking?

  • Are you listening to each other?

  • Are you asking questions?

  • What could you ask to find out someone’s ideas?

  • Are you giving reasons for your ideas?

  • How do you ask for reasons from others?

Pair Programming Protocols

Roles in Pair Programming

Coder: Proposes Solution Strategies

  • Reads out instructions or prompts
  • Directs the Developer what to type in the Quarto document in RStudio
  • Talks with Developer about ideas related to ways they could solve the problem.
  • Manages resources (e.g., cheatsheets, textbook) for aiding in solution strategy.

Developer: Evaluates Solution Strategies

  • Asks the instructor group questions.
  • Types the code specified by the Coder into the Quarto document.
  • Listens carefully, asks the Coder to repeat statements if needed, or to slow down.
  • Encourages the Coder to vocalize their thinking.
  • Asks the Coder clarifying questions.
  • Runs the code provided by the Coder.

Important

Notice the difference between the original “Driver” and “Navigator” from pair programming!

Activity 2: Find the Penguins

ggplot2 Review

Complete this template to build a basic graphic:

ggplot(
  data = <DATA>, 
  mapping = aes(<MAPPINGS>)
  ) +
  <GEOM FUNCTION>() + 
  other arguments...

Notice, every + adds another layer to our graphic.

Peer Activity: Using Data Visualization to Find the Penguins

Artwork by Allison Horst

Using Data Visualization to Find the Penguins

This puzzle activity will require knowledge of:

  • installing and loading packages in R
  • formatting code chunks in Quarto
  • interpreting the context of a dataset
  • data types / variable types
  • different types of visualizations
  • what visualization(s) go with different data types
  • how to make visualizations with ggplot2
  • choosing between different aesthetic options

None of us have all these abilities. Each of us has some of these abilities.

Pair Programming Expectations

During your collaboration, you and your partner will alternate between two roles:

Developer

  • Reads prompt and ensures Coder understands what is being asked.
  • Types the code specified by the Coder into the Quarto document.
  • Runs the code provided by the Coder.
  • Works with Coder to debug the code.
  • Evaluates the output.
  • Works with Coder to write code comments.

Coder

  • Reads out instructions or prompts
  • Directs the Developer what to type.
  • Talks with Developer about their ideas.
  • Manages resources (e.g., cheatsheets, textbook).
  • Works with Developer to debug the code.
  • Works with Developer to write code comments.

Group Norms

  1. Think and work together. Do not divide the work.
  2. You are smarter together.
  3. Be open minded.
  1. No cross-talk with other groups.
  2. Communicate with each other!

ggplot2 Resources

Every group should have a ggplot2 cheatsheet!

On the Front

  • Column 1: the “template” for making a ggplot
  • Column 3: creating plots for two continuous variables
  • Column 4: creating plots for one discrete or one continuous variable

A picture of the front page of the ggplot2 cheatsheet, which contains helpful information on assembling a variety of visualizations all using the ggplot2 package.

On the Back

  • Column 4: adding facets and labels to your plot
  • Column 3: adding themes to your plot (if you have extra time)

A picture of the back page of the ggplot2 cheatsheet, which contains helpful information on assembling a variety of visualizations all using the ggplot2 package.

Discussion

  • Was it easy or hard to stay “in your role”?
  • How did the roles contribute to equitable participation?
  • What was the instructor role during this activity?

Classroom Integration

Think about your classes…

  • How does fit within your current classes / teaching?
  • How do you think this would help your students learn programming?
  • What challenges do you foresee?
  • What opportunities does this provide?

Thank you!