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Reviewer: Stewart Mark Godwin

This book represents a comprehensive collection of information that is suitable for all teachers and lecturers who deliver computer programming language courses. It can be used to guide a novice teacher who is beginning a teaching career and as a refresher for veteran teachers looking to affirm or consolidate their pedagogical knowledge. There are three broad sections covered over 16 chapters; the first is background information and an overview of the computer science discipline. The second is concerned with topics that represent the practices associated with teaching. Finally, the focus turns toward the pragmatic topics of teacher practicums, preparation, and teacher course programs. The book uses an activity-based approach, which allows the reader an opportunity to reflect on the information in the chapter and how this relates to the classroom. The activities are dispersed throughout the chapters and provide a focal point for each topic. In the early chapters, the authors consider topics like programming paradigms, soft skills, active learning, and research. These topics set the context for later chapters and are significant in presenting computer science as more than a peripheral area of study. The most significant information is in the middle of the book, from chapters 5 to 12, and relates to the actual teaching in the classroom, with topics on problem-solving strategies and teaching methods. In particular, chapters 7 and 8 are worth reading by all computer science educators, as the pedagogical tools that are explored can be transferred to any computer science course. The following two chapters discuss key issues for all educators: types of questions and assessment. The authors present 12 types of questions and provide examples of each. The most underutilized are unsolvable questions that are not fully understood, but that occur in the real workplace and should be explored within the classroom. Chapter 11 examines teacher planning and suggests a top-down approach to the pedagogical activities in the classroom. Chapter 12 looks at the complex abstract idea of recursion. The activities in this chapter are an excellent alternative to the standard Fibonacci series or factorial algorithms. The final chapters deal with teacher practicums and how novice teachers can gain valuable teaching experience within an educational institution. These chapters are more significant for educational administrators and have minimal information for educators in the classroom; however, as a general overview, they offer good points to close the book. This is an excellent book for computer science educators, with a wealth of information that should be used by all teaching practitioners. As a veteran lecturer in this field, I found the book too brief in certain areas and would have liked more depth on the topics relating to in-class pedagogical tasks. Despite this minor criticism, I would recommend this book to all computer science educators and suggest it become mandatory reading for novice computer science teachers entering the classroom. Online Computing Reviews Service