In this interview with Mitch Resnick, we discuss misconceptions people have around the four P’s (Projects, Passion, Peers, and Play) in Mitch’s book, encouraging depth of understanding while playing, what has surprised Mitch during his career, encouraging online communication and collaboration without creating artificial engagement, what Mitch wishes we’d see more of and discuss in CS education, our pet peeves with unplugged activities and computational thinking, accounting for survivorship bias with Scratch, expanding our focus on equity and inclusion to include both the “who” and the “how,” the importance of experimenting and learning through play, and much more.

Click here for this episode’s show notes.

How to Get Started with Computer Science Education

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00:00 Intro

01:34 Mitch introducing himself

02:06 How Mitch got into CS education

04:16 How Mitch's philosophy of education has evolved

08:06 Why do some teachers push back against the Four Ps?

12:32 How to encourage depth of understanding in CS education

17:12 Some misconceptions about Mitch's works

19:32 What has surprised Mitch in his career

23:00 Encouraging community engagement without mandating it

26:51 How teachers are using Scratch during the pandemic

28:04 What Mitch wishes there was more of in CS education

31:50 Mitch's pet peeves with unplugged lessons and computational thinking

36:13 How Mitch accounts for survivorship bias in Scratch

38:52 If Mitch had a magic wand...

43:16 How Mitch prevents burnout

44:40 How Mitch iterates on his abilities

47:49 Recommendations for improving equity and inclusion

49:50 What Mitch wishes there was more research on

51:46 Something Mitch could use help with from a listener

55:34 What Mitch wishes people wanted to discuss more

58:35 The importance of connecting with other educators

01:00:34 How to connect with Mitch

01:01:27 Outro