Pedagogical Patterns – a method to capture best practices in teaching and learning

Abstract

In this paper we describe a concept that can be used to capture best practices in teaching and learning and for sharing knowledge between educators – The Pedagogical Pattern concept. We present the emergence and work of the Pedagogical Patterns Project. Its goal was initially to document solutions to teaching and learning problems in Computer Science, especially in the field of object-oriented programming. Many of the problems addressed are, however, of a much more general nature and therefore most of the existing pedagogical patterns can be of interest to educators in other fields. Some general patterns are presented as are also some of our own experiences of using patterns in teaching Computer Science.